Buffalo Nationalism

239 Pages·2013·1.94 MB·English

Nationalism
A Critique of Spiritual Fascism
'O Mother Lachumamma, your blouse is torn,
Your hair is soiled, your sari in rags,
You have no money to buy new ones.
Even in that condition what have you done?
You planted saplings, walking backwards like a bull,
In order to produce food from the mud.'
Kancha Ilaiah translates these words of the Telugu poet, singer, activist Gaddar to
emphasize the productivity of the ordinary people, the Dalit-Bahujans of India,
who receive so little in return, deprived of the gains of development and
globalization but not of the losses in their wake. Arguing forcefully for social
justice, this book contains a selection from Kancha Ilaiah's columns in popular
newspapers like The Hindu, the Deccan Herald, the Deccan Chronicle, the
Hindustan Times among others, and journals like Mainstream and the Economic
and Political Weekly.
Strongly advocating the Dalitization of Indian society that will undo its
moorings in spiritual fascism, which refuses equality or freedom to the majority,
he commends the positive values of the buffalo as a productive animal that
epitomizes the qualities of the Dalit-Bahujans. Among the many issues he tackles
are the right to conversion, the role oll^^BCs as providing muscle power to the
Hindutva forces, the imperative need for the spread of English amongst all castes
and for reservation quotas in education and employment, on globalization and
gender. Combative, heartfelt, intellectually rigorous, these pieces present his
vision of a more just society.
Kancha Ilaiah is Professor and Head, Department of Political Science, Osmania
University, Hyderabad, and an activist in the Dalit-Bahujan and civil liberties
movement.
cover design Rish Barua ISBN 81-85604-69-X
illustration Soumitra Chatterjee
cover printer Roman Printers Rs 200.1
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Buffalo
Nationalism
Kancha Ilaiah
Also by the author
WHY I AM NOT A HINDU: A Sudra Critioue of
Hindtuva Philosophy, Culture and Political Economy
GOD AS POLITICAL PHILOSOPHER: Buddha's Challenge to Brahminism
BUFFALO NATIONALISM
A Critioue of Spiritual Fascism
KANCHA 1LA1AH
PCX/RRUYA^^.
BUFFALO NATIONALISM: A Critique of Spiritual Fascism
was first published in January 2004 by SAMYA,
an imprint of Bhatkal and Sen
16 Southern Avenue, Kolkata 700 026
© 2004 Samya
ISBN 81-85604-69-X
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized
in any form or by any means without prior
written permission from the publisher.
Distributed by Popular Prakashan Pvt Ltd.
Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata
Typesetting and design by Compuset International
85 Park St, Kolkata 700 016 and
printed by Webimpressions (India) Pvt Ltd
34/2 Beadon St, Kolkata 700 006
Published by Mandira Sen for SAMYA,
An imprint of Bhatkal and Sen,
16 Southern Avenue, Kolkata 700 026
To all those who have suffered apartheid, untouchability,
casteism, patriarchy and brutal atrocities because of
spiritual fascism. To all those who fought, wrote and dedicated
themselves for their liberation. Liberation in this world
is more important than salvation in heaven.
•
s
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
INTRODUCTION
1 ON COMMUNAL VIOLENCE
1. Ayodhya: What Stake Do OBCs Have?
2. Consequences of the Call for Epic War
3. Dalit, OBC and Muslim Relations
4. The Rise of Modi
2 ON CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS
5. A Case of Slipping Morality
6. A Lesson to Be Learnt
7. The Invisible Country
8. Heroes Who Made the World Rock and Roll
3 ON SOCIAL JUSTICE
9. A Paradigm Shift
10. Attacks on Ambedkar
11. The Bard Whose Song Is His Weapon
12. Countering the Counter-Revolution
13. Hindutva and the War-Loving Self
14. Spiritual Fascism and Civil Society
15. Freedom Unattained
4 ON CASTE
16. The Buffalo's Unholy Milk
17. Durban, Caste and Indian Democracy
18. Secularism: The Predicament of the OBCs
viii Contents
19. Caste and Women's Sexuality 81
20. Caste Shadows in London 90
21. Caste in a New Mould 94
5 ON THE RIGHT TO RELIGION
22. Hinduism and the Right to Religion 101
23. Reject the Oppressor 105
24. Religion and Democracy 109
25. Spiritual Democracy 113
26. Where Should the Reform Begin? 117
6 ON ELECTORAL POLITICS
27. Sonia, Swadeshi and Videshi 123
28. The End of Dalit Ideology? 127
29. Major Priorities 131
7 ON CULTURE
30. Cow and Culture 137
31. Cows, Buffaloes and Nationalism 141
32. Hinduism and Capitalist Ethics 144
33. The Buddha Smiles in Afghanistan 148
8 ON GLOBALIZATION
34. Cultural Globalization 155
35. Dalits and Globalization 159
36. Death Wish? 163
9 ON EDUCATION
37. A Lesson from African English 169
38. Caste, Clinton and the IT Revolution 173
39. Through Books, Ships and Sea 177
40. Blacks, Science and National Pride 180
41. Education and the Dignity of Labour 184
42. Reservations: Experience as Framework of Debate 188
INDEX 201
Acknowledgements
My thanks are due to many institutions, organizations and individu-
als, who have helped and encouraged me in the course of writing
these articles for many newspapers and journals in India. But for the
willingness of many editors who allowed me to write, that too in a
manner that I wanted to write, which often went against their papers'
policy, many of these pieces would not have been written at all. Of
course, such writing was/is being allowed or asked for because there
is a new readership that has emerged from the social womb of Dalit-
Bahujans that wants to see its own image in contemporary media. A
writer's role in a social movement is to reflect its newly made up face
and see whether it changes the market value of the mirror itself. But
for the positive encouragement of socially sensitive editors like
Malini Parthasarathv of The Hindu, A. T. Jayanti of the Deccan
Chronicle and my journalist friends like R. Akhileswari, the editor
K. N. Shantha Kumar and associate editor A. V. Namboodiri, all of the
Deccau Herald—perhaps the only OBC-controlled English news-
paper—I would not have written these articles. 1 thank them for their
support. The late Krishna Raj, editor of the Economic and Political
Weekly encouraged my contributions. I deeply regret his untimely
death. Sumit Chakravartty of Mainstream also published my writings.
I have indeed been fortunate in my association with both these dis-
tinguished journals.
The journey of my writing continues. Sometimes some papers
close their doors while other new ones open theirs. These encount-