DELHI THE HINDU 8 EDITORIAL THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2019 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Begusarai, metaphor of a secular crisis For the minorities secularism is a survival tool, for the elite it is an ideology. In caste competition, it could be a tactic (RJD) in Begusarai, the latter two Kanhaiya Kumar’s candidacy, not­ been a speed­breaker for Hindut­ are avowedly opposed to the BJP’s withstanding the presence of ‘Mo­ va, could collapse. Alternative dreams Hindutva politics. The RJD is in al­ di­Kanhaiya’ voters among his Politically ambitious OBCs and liance with the Congress and some supporters. But the nearly exclu­ Dalits prefer Hindutva in which K. Chandrashekar Rao’s outreach to regional other small outfits representing sive control of the CPI by a single they have representation to a secu­ parties sets the ball rolling on a ‘third front’ Dalit and backward communities. caste makes it suspect in the eyes lar nationalistic project that is V arghese K. George Its candidate, Tanveer Hasan, is a of subalterns whose politics it pro­ thoughtless of those ambitions at here are two more phases of polling in the Lok respectable modernist leader who fesses to advance. Of the five seats best and exclusive at worst. Lower Sabha election and results are not due until May lost in 2014 but stayed active in the that the CPI wanted to contest as caste politics is broadly indifferent T23. But Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashe­ egusarai, in the Gangetic constituency since. part of the RJD­led alliance, four to the rhetoric of secularism and kar Rao, who heads the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, has plains of Bihar, has long How the principles of secula­ were for Bhumihars, according to their opposition to Hindutva is pri­ sought meetings with his counterparts in other south­ Bbeen a stronghold of the rism and social justice, both com­ Shivanand Tiwari, RJD leader. marily from a social justice per­ ern States as well as with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Communist Party of India (CPI). ponents of progressive politics, in­ The Muslim elites could bargain spective. Many champions of low­ Kanhaiya Kumar, the firebrand teracted in electoral politics could with the upper caste­controlled er caste interests would even president M.K. Stalin in what is a clear attempt to pre­ young leader and former presi­ be understood in terms of the in­ Congress and the backward caste grudge that Muslims are indiffe­ pare the ground for a ‘federal front’ of non­Congress, dent of Jawaharlal Nehru Universi­ tense competition among caste­ RJD and Samajwadi Party for fa­ rent to their struggles against Ma­ non­BJP parties after the elections. Mr. Rao had at­ ty Students Union, is the CPI can­ based interests groups for political RANJEET KUMAR vours and representation, but nuwaad. Hindutva 2.0 under Mr. tempted to bring together such a formation earlier as didate from the Begusarai Lok power over the decades. In the era participants in this caste competi­ their power to do so is in decline Modi has cleverly used this dy­ well. Last year, a pre­election federal front did not quite Sabha constituency. Over the past of Congress dominance in Uttar tion. with the rise of Hindutva. In any namic for its rise, by offering them take off due to the varying positioning of the regional five years, he has become a nation­ Pradesh and Bihar, the upper case, the material condition of av­ representation though no signifi­ parties. Some such as the DMK, the Rashtriya Janata Dal al icon of resistance against Hin­ castes that controlled the party Progressive, oppressive erage Muslims is the lowest com­ cant political power. dutva. His candidacy has so in­ roped in Dalits and Muslims with The elite, vernacular and English, pared to other social groups, A progressive politics, of which and the Janata Dal (S) favoured a direct alliance with the spired opponents of Hindutva that the rhetoric of justice and secula­ articulated the standards of secu­ though the Hindutva narrative secularism is a part, and agnostic Congress and were not part of the TRS’s plans. While they raised all the money that he rism, but excluded the Other Back­ larism, but remained disconnect­ portrays them as undeserving reci­ of all considerations of caste and others such as the Trinamool Congress did not fully could legally spend in campaign ward Classes (OBCs) from power. ed from the dynamics of caste as­ pients of secular appeasement. religion, may be an ideal worth rule out a post­poll alliance with the Congress, the Biju through crowdfunding — ₹70 lakh. The rise of Hindutva changed this pirations at play in the electoral Even for Muslims who do not sub­ pursuing, but questions of repre­ Janata Dal has not ruled out any such alliance with eith­ Actors, academics and activists, dynamic, as the upper castes were arena. The ideologues and leaders scribe to secularism as a principle, sentation for different social er the BJP or the Congress. For the TRS, the idea of a an array of people from India’s the first to abandon the Congress of this elite, the Nehruvian and the it is a survival strategy in a Hindu groups within it is extremely criti­ federal front is rooted in the political contest in its own secular, liberal universe cam­ for the BJP. The emergent OBC pol­ Marxist streams, have been prima­ majority country. The rise of Hin­ cal. paigned for Mr. Kumar. So did en­ itics, with Lalu Prasad and Mu­ rily upper caste. It would be unfair dutva has correspondingly meant State. The Congress is the primary rival in Telangana thusiastic youngsters from all over layam Singh Yadav at the helm in to question their intentions or a decline in Muslim representation The road ahead for the TRS, and so itsantipathy to a Congress­led coali­ the country. If Prime Minister Na­ Bihar and U.P., respectively, of­ commitment but the accident of in politics. Security has increasing­ In the arena of caste competition, tion. In fact, the TRS had late last year abstained in the rendra Modi personifies the march fered an alternative to Muslims as their birth limited their appeal ly become the sole expectation of secularism could be an effective trust vote called by the Opposition in Parliament, sig­ of Hindutva in India, Mr. Kumar the Congress collapsed. With the among the subalterns. The role of Muslims from secularism. But the tactic; for the minorities it is a sur­ nalling equidistance with the BJP and the Congress. personifies the resistance to it. support of Muslims, the OBCs real­ Bhumihars in Bihar politics is in­ RJD and the SP continue to field vival tool, and for the elite it is an However, by now seeking to meet Kerala Chief Minis­ And the fight for Begusarai has ised their decades long yearning structive. Several doyens of the Muslim candidates, and in Bihar ideology. Reconciling these differ­ ter Pinarayi Vijayan of the CPI(M), Karnataka Chief Mi­ larger messages than the fortunes for political power. Communist movement were from and U.P., there are constituencies ing, though not necessarily con­ of the candidates in the fray. The Muslim­OBC social combi­ the community, which also had where Muslims can win. testing, perspectives, is essential nister H.D. Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) and Mr. Stalin, nation, with the Yadavs at its core, the progressive poet Dinkar Begusarai is one such, but the but difficult as the contest bet­ Mr. Rao seems to be indicating a reorientation of sorts. Collapse of binaries not merely ended the upper caste among its ranks. But the landown­ contest between the CPI and the ween the RJD and the CPI shows. Some of these parties are the Congress’s coalition However, this binary world as ima­ hegemony, but also crushed its ing community also mobilised a RJD put the community in dilem­ For secular politics to be sustaina­ partners — the JD(S) in Karnataka and the DMK in Tamil gined by the elite was processed vehicle, the Congress party. There private army called the Ranveer ma. An upper caste communist’s ble as a winnable electoral plat­ Nadu — and the Left has an unequivocal position differently in Begusarai, which is no normative exposition or pur­ Sena, which launched murderous verve to take on Hindutva is evi­ form, it must merge with social against the BJP. Mr. Rao’s outreach has raised specula­ went to the polls on April 29. “We suit of secularism in this context, attacks on Dalits in waves of vio­ dently more than a vulnerable justice politics. That requires a ne­ tion that his party would be willing to be part of a re­ want Narendra Modi as Prime Mi­ but social justice parties were lence in the 1990s, simultaneous Muslim could achieve, and the gotiation between the self­inter­ nister and Kanhaiya Kumar as MP,” against Hindutva for its Manu­ with the Muslim­OBC political community supported Mr. Kumar ests of different social groups as gional front that is clearly more antithetical to the BJP said Binod Singh, a 26­year­old be­ waad, or upper caste dominance. partnership, and as a reaction to in significant numbers. For securi­ they subjectively perceive them and that could be supported by the Congress if the need longing to the same upper caste From the social justice perspec­ it. If Brahminism denotes hegemo­ ty, Muslims are willing to surren­ with the normative claims of that arises. It may not be so simple, as there are other forces Bhumihar community as the can­ tive, the opposition to Hindutva ny, Bhumiharism represents vio­ der their claim of representation — politics articulated by the elite.