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EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE THE HINDU DELHI WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2019 OPED 11 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE What we owe to the Mahatma A Bolivian crisis In Gandhi’s view, the state should be secular to promote sociability and fraternity among communities The U.S. played a key role in the ouster of Evo Morales from strategic considerations, but presidency when the ‘pink tide’ had been es­ was grounded in deep conviction. It tablished from Venezuela to Argentina. is sometimes said that Gandhi’s When commodity prices fell, many of these views were influenced by Jaina teach­ Left­leaning governments lost power, but Mr. ings. “All religions are true and all Morales remained popular and won election have error,” he said, implying that all after election. But he faced opposition from Rajeev Bhargava religions are inevitably partial, in­ Vijay Prashad Bolivia’s oligarchy and from the U.S., which complete, fragmentary, so that diffe­ had long wanted him removed from office. rent traditions need to complement Where does multiple, forceful Hindu and enrich one another rather than On November 10, Bolivia’s President Evo Mo­ Plans to destabilise the government assertions of the past few years leave behave as mutually exclusive rivals. rales Ayma, who had been re­elected on Oc­ When he assumed power, the U.S. embassy Indian secularism? Some say that Without denying this philosophical tober 23, resigned from office. On November in La Paz called Mr. Morales an “illegal coca secularism lies in tatters. But can it lineage, I would claim that Gandhi’s 9, rumours suggested that the police would agitator”. Plans to destabilise the govern­ also be claimed that it is needed views were shaped even more by the open a corridor for right­wing militias to en­ ment began immediately. The U.S. said it more than ever before? wisdom­traditions of the ancient ter the presidential palace and kill Mr. Mo­ would delay all loans and discussions on Two related but equally distinctive world, in which gods and goddesses rales. Tension gripped the country. Mr. Mo­ debt relief until Mr. Morales displayed “good conceptions of secularism developed GETTY IMAGES of each cultural region are different, rales called for fresh elections, but the behaviour”. If he tried to nationalise any of in India: one constitutional, the prin­ same God are many, but the goal was deep sociability. yet part of the same semantic un­ political parties of the oligarchy, led by Car­ the key sectors, or if he rolled back the anti­ cipled distance model; the other, the one, because God was one and the Humans occasionally wish to live iverse and therefore mutually related los Mesa, rejected the offer. Mr. Mesa had coca policies, he would be penalised. Mr. communal harmony model, attribut­ same. In fact, the roads are as many independently of their communities, and translatable. As a result, no cul­ called for “permanent protests” after he had Morales showed no such fealty to the U.S. ed to the Mahatma. I believe this se­ as there are individuals in the but as participants of historically em­ ture denied the reality of the gods of lost the election. These protests escalated in­ Bolivia has seen many coups. The armed cond Gandhian conception, equally world... The various religions were as bedded cultural and religious tradi­ another culture but always found to a rebellion, with the police joining the forces, influenced by the U.S., were always distinctive, is in need of desperate re­ so many leaves of a tree; they might tions, they also meet each other as ways to accommodate them. For in­ ranks of an insurgency of the oligarchs. Mr. on standby for a scenario when they could vival. What makes it distinctive and seem different but at the trunk they members of religio­cultural com­ stance, the god of another culture Morales might have remained in power had eject Mr. Morales. But the popularity of the why is it needed? To answer this, a are one”. Gandhi dismissed the idea munities. They must actively shape could become a member of the fami­ the military stayed neutral. But General Wil­ President and the MAS prevented any such comparison with European concep­ that there could ever be one religion these encounters, ensure that they ly, say, some other god’s son (Ga­ liams Kaliman demanded that Mr. Morales armed action. Mr. Morales’s socialist agenda tions of secularism would help. in the world, a uniform religious do not become bitter or turn sour nesh, the son of Shiva and Parvati). A step down, leaving him with no choice. improved the everyday lives of the people, code, as it were, for all human kind. but be good, decent, friendly and new god could be created by merging even as commodity prices declined. The Secularism in India and Europe respectful. Humans can’t really be half of one god and half of another Indigenous and socialist agenda ‘coup’ had to be delayed given his appeal. The background of the emergence of Deep sociability good to each other unless they are (Hari­Hara). Most of all, a relation of When he came to power in 2006, Mr. Mo­ The lead­up to the election of October 20 political secularism in Europe is pro­ What is needed then is due recogni­ respectful to each other’s religious equivalence or identity could be es­ rales was the first indigenous President of was fraught with tension. Mr. Morales had found religious homogenisation — tion of different religious communi­ and philosophical traditions. tablished between them (Rudra is Bolivia. Two­thirds of Bolivia’s population sought a fourth term, for which he got judi­ dissenters, and adherents of non­do­ ties and to ensure comfort and trust Shiva), making it possible to claim come from various indigenous communities cial sanction. He beat Mr. Mesa by over 10 minant religions, were expelled or among their members. This was via­ Gandhian secularism that the gods of different cultures who have lived in poverty and suffered hu­ percentage points, but Mr. Mesa refused to exterminated during and after the ble because for Gandhi, all humans Gandhi felt that a large part of the were the same, only called by diffe­ miliation from those who claim descent from accept the result. The Organization of Amer­ wars of religion. Rulers publicly con­ had a fundamental desire for what responsibility for maintaining com­ rent names. Gandhi was inspired by the Spaniards. Mr. Morales had won a land­ ican States (OAS), which is influenced by the fessed allegiance to one of the many might be called deep sociability. munal harmony lies with communi­ these traditions, particularly by the slide in 2005, which enabled his Movement U.S., found irregularities in the counting of churches in these predominantly sin­ They value human relations as an ties themselves. But there are times habit of establishing equivalence, for Socialism (MAS) to push for dignity for votes. It said it was surprised by the “drastic gle­religion societies, thereby conso­ end in itself. They desire a construc­ when this communally sustained and extended this insight to the new the indigenous communities. In the new and hard­to­explain change in the trend of lidating a strong alliance between tive relationship with others. Why harmony is disturbed, even breaks world religions. Thus he claimed that Constitution of 2009, the flag of the indige­ the preliminary results”, but offered no evi­ state and the dominant church. else would they be motivated to seek down. When this happens, the state Ram, Allah, ‘Satya’ (Truth) refer to nous communities, the Wiphala, became dence for this claim. The Centre for Econom­ Trouble began, however, when this agreement, even when it was not has to step in. And for this to be pos­ the same entity. If this is so, every at­ equivalent to the old flag of Bolivia. It was ic and Policy Research found no irregulari­ church became increasingly politi­ really necessary? Why, upon realis­ sible, it cannot already be aligned to tack on someone else’s god was a de­ sown onto the uniforms of the military and ties. Nonetheless, key U.S. officials and the cally meddlesome and socially op­ ing that they can’t resolve disagree­ any one religion but must be distant nial of one’s own god; every claim flown on government buildings. Bolivia, a Bolivian oligarchy tried to nullify the results. pressive. The key issue then was how ment on one issue, would they seek from all. Secularism then marks a that one’s own god is better than the plurinational state, was no longer going to Based on this, the right­wing called upon its to tame the power of this church. agreement on something else? Why certain comportment of the state other’s was tantamount to the humi­ denigrate its indigenous heritage. supporters to flood the streets, and the pol­ The state’s disentanglement from the are they motivated to renew conver­ whereby it distances itself from all re­ liation of one’s own god. Mr. Morales also put forth a socialist agen­ ice forces decided to mutiny. The U.S. and dominant church (church­state sepa­ sation after it has been violently dis­ ligio­philosophical perspectives in Yet, the realisability of Gandhian da. MAS was formed by a range of social and the OAS played a key role in the ‘coup’. ration) was necessary to realise a rupted? Why, after a period of mu­ order to promote a certain quality of secularism depends on faith in popu­ political movements, which included organ­ Mr. Morales has been granted asylum in number of goals, including the en­ tual recrimination, breakdown and sociability and fraternity between lar wisdom traditions which in turn isations of the indigenous communities and Mexico.

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