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Home , Indian nationalism

The case for reclaiming Indian PRERNA SINGH

2019 may well be termed the year of wer about itself.1 The Modi govern- nationalism. Over the past twelve ment in is representative of months the nationalist rhetoric of the present crop of right wing popu- leaders of the most populous states in list regimes in violently redrawing the world – Trump in the US, Putin in the boundaries of the nation to inter- Russia, Bolsonaro in Brazil, Xi Jingping sect with those of the ethnic majority, in China and of course Narendra Modi explicitly and egregiously excluding here in India – has only gained in ethnic minorities. Such exclusionary stridency. This wave of nationalism definitions of nationalism should be, appears to have confirmed its histori- and indeed are being bravely, vigor- cally notorious association with preju- ously resisted. Yet, in this essay I dice, xenophobia, racism, argue that we must do so without giv- and conflict. ing up on the concept of nationalism Yet the problem is not so much itself.2 nationalism per se but the way in which 1. R. Bendix, Nation-Building and Citizen- the boundaries of national belonging ship: Studies of Our Changing Social are being drawn. Who belongs and Order. University of California Press, 23 Berkeley, 1964, p. 90; M. Walzer, Spheres who does not? This is the key question of Justice: A Defense of Pluralism and Equal- that any political community must ans- ity. Basic Books, New York, 1983, p. 55.

SEMINAR 725 – January 2020 This is because in as much as nation encompassed believers of all highly debatable. Many commenta- nationalism is today, and has histori- religions (and non-believers), speakers tors have pointed out that votes for cally been associated with division and of all languages, members of all the BJP should not be interpreted as destruction, it can also be a powerful, and tribes, and residents of all parts an endorsement of . Social constructive force. At its core nation- of the country.5 To be sure there were schemes such as the distribution of toi- alism is about ‘love’ that generates a at the time, competing, narrower lets and cooking gas, and the absence spirit of ‘fraternity’ and ‘unity’.3 As a visions of who was an Indian, such of a cohesive opposition, figured pro- shared overarching identity national- as that of Savarkar, but these did not minently in people’s decisions to ism can unify diverse ethnic groups. garner popular support. It was a plu- back the incumbent party. Further, the Further, nationalism can be an impor- ral, inclusive vision of India that was BJP has witnessed serious electoral tant driver of political, economic and shared across various strata of soci- reversals, most recently in the state social freedoms.4 ety and which was enshrined in the assembly elections in . The challenge, I argue, is, there- Constitution. Additional evidence for the fore, not just to resist the exclusionary shaky popular support for the BJP’s definitions of nationalism put for- exclusionary nationalism can be found ward by the ruling regime but equally Whether it is the attempt to exclude in the significant resistance to its poli- and critically, to fight to reclaim the Muslim immigrants as citizens through cies – whether it is the uproar against very idea of the Indian nation away the proposed Citizenship Amendment the Citizenship Amendment Bill, state- from right. We cannot allow Bill, the National Register of Citizens, ments against the National Register of the language of nationalism to belong which threatens to render Muslims Citizens, or the refusal of detained exclusively to the . Ins- who might have been born and lived in Kashmiri political leaders to sign tead we must work to reclaim it and India for decades stateless if they release bonds.6 Such was the outrage return it to foundational inclusive don’t have the necessary documents, at Amit Shah’s alleged declaration understandings of who is an Indian. the revocation of the special status about the imposition of Hindi as a granted to in Articles 370 and earlier this year that 35a, the rewriting of history textbooks, he was forced into the uncharacteris- Nations like all political communities or the condoning of violence against tic position of backing down and clari- have boundaries. The key question is minorities – it is this constitutionally fying that he had in fact sought only to – who is in and who is out. Most enshrined vision of the Indian nation encourage the learning of Hindi as a nations answer this question in their that the BJP is eroding and which must second language. constitutions, which specify who is thus, be opposed. Indeed, such resist- considered a member of the nation, ance is very much in place. Especially and who is not. The Indian Constitu- insofar as, despite its relentless and The BJP regime’s recasting of Indian tion gives an unequivocally inclusive aggressive peddling, it is unclear nationalism as answer to this question of who belongs. how much popular support the BJP’s violates foundational, constitutionally In deliberate rejection of the exclusionary recasting of Indian natio- enshrined conceptualizations of who is two-nation theory, and the creation nalism enjoys. Indian and must be resisted. Further, of on religious lines, the Even though the BJP has been it rests on precarious popular founda- foundational boundaries of the Indian decisively elected to a second succes- tions and is already being vigorously sive term in office, its attempt to 2. P. Singh, ‘Nationalism Can Have its 6. S. Karmakar, ‘CAB Protest: Three Killed, Good Points. Really’, The Washington Post, impose an exclusionary definition of Remains Volatile’, The Deccan Her- 26 January 2018. an Indian is a primarily top-down pro- ald, 12 December 2019, https://www. 3. B. Anderson, Imagined Communities: ject. It is driven by the systematic, deccanherald.com/national/cab-protest-three- Reflections on the Origin and Spread of sinister machinations of the highest killed-assam-remains-volatile-784985.html; Nationalism. Verso, London, New York, 1991, echelons of the party. The intensity and ‘Chorus Against “Divisive” Bill and NRC’, pp. 7, 141, 143; J.S. Mill, Considerations on The Telegraph, 11 December 2019, https:// Representative Government. Longmans, extent of support that this grossly cir- www.telegraphindia.com/india/chorus- Green, and Co., London, 1875; E. Renan, cumscribed version of Indian nation- against-citizenship-amendment-bill-and-nrc/ ‘What is a Nation?’, in S. Woolf (ed.), Nation- hood enjoys within the populace is cid/1725874; P. Ashiq, ‘J&K leaders refuse to 24 alism in Europe: From 1815 to the Present. sign Release Bonds’, The Hindu, 26 Novem- Routledge, London, (1882) 2002. 5. M. Tudor, The Promise of Power: The Ori- ber 2019, https://www.thehindu.com/news/ 4. A. Sen, Development as Freedom. Oxford gins of Democracy in India and Autocracy in national/other-states/jk-leaders-refuse-to- University Press, Oxford, 2001. Pakistan. Cambridge University Press, 2013. sign-release-bonds/article30079167.ece.

SEMINAR 725 – January 2020 contested. If that much is clear, what community. They are the key units for ments in social identity theory have con- is less clear is what should come in administrating, and providing justice sistently and robustly demonstrated its stead? For most scholars and com- around social and economic issues, and that once people feel part of a group, mentators the answer would be no for providing voice and accountability their affect toward that group and its more nationalism. to the people.10 members becomes more positive.14 Nations are clearly here to stay. Liberal nationalist scholars have des- Identification with, and allegiance to cribed this as the ‘deep and important This response is certainly understand- nations is here to stay. To hope that the obligations [that] flow from identity and able. The present tide of exclusionary decline of Hindu nationalism will open relatedness’.15 The crux of the argu- nationalism has brought up memories up to a post-national future is unreal- ment is the power of what Yael Tamir of the division and destruction wrought istic. It might also be undesirable. This has termed ‘The Magic Pronoun: by it in the past. Many scholars have is because to give up on nationalism is “My”.’16 The obligations owed to those gone so far as to say that the last analo- to give up on a potent force that has we consider as our own are different gous global surge of nationalism was enormous constructive potential. from and more wide-ranging than those in the 1930s and 1940s in the years pre- we owe others. A sense of belonging ceding the Second World War. Writ- together leads to the transcending of ing in this context, Albert Einstein had A n instructive way to understand purely reciprocal compromise, on which famously described nationalism as the this constructive potential of national- interpersonal relationships, in general, ‘measles of mankind’. Rabindranath ism is to approach it in social psycho- might be said to be loosely premised, Tagore had referred to it as ‘a great logical terms as a group identity.11 As and triggers prosocial behaviour. Inter- menace’. Earning further epithets of a group identity, nations answer both estingly, these positive behavioural ‘evil’,7 ‘the pathology of modern deve- a basic biological need for group liv- effects for group identity have been lopmental history,8 and as ‘the starkest ing, and a psychological need for com- found to occur consistently even when political shame of the twentieth cen- munity as a source of validation and the basis for group identification was tury,9 who would not wish for an esteem. Belonging to a national politi- seemingly trivial. It is therefore not end to nationalism? Indeed predic- cal community has been shown to pro- surprising that in-group favouritism tions of the demise of nationalism tect people from feelings of alienation has been found to be particularly strong have brought together scholars as ideo- and solitude. Nationalism is described when the basis for the superordinate logically divergent as Marxists and as an ‘essential condition’ for the rea- group identification is a powerful, emo- neoliberals. lization of individual autonomy and tionally resonant . Yet as consistently as scholars freedom.12 Further as a group identity, have prophesized its decline, the phoe- nations have a unifying potential, bring- nix of nationalism has risen from the ing together people from diverse eth- Further, it is important to note that ashes of its last incarnation. Since the nic groups. The mutual commitments these positive effects of group identi- treaty of Westphalia established natio- and ethical obligations of nationhood fication do not require groups to be nalism as the legitimate basis for poli- can encourage the realization of col- homogeneous. In fact all groups, espe- tical rule, nation states have been the lective projects of freedom. cially larger superordinate groups basic organizing units for the global There is a vast social psychologi- such as nations, encompass a diversity polity. We continue to live today in a cal research on the powerful, positive of smaller groups, such as ethnic and world of nation states. Even with some consequences of group identifica- class groups. By the well known eth- attenuation of their power associated tion.13 Laboratory and field experi- nic fractionalization index,17 for exam- with processes of globalization, nations remain the central form of political 10. M.C. Nussbaum, For Love of Country?, 13. G.W. Allport, The Nature of Prejudice. J. Cohen, (ed.), Beacon Press, Boston, 1996; Addison-Wesley Pub. Co, Cambridge, MA, 7. K.R. Popper, An Unended Quest: An Intel- D. Rodrik, The Globalization Paradox: Why 1954. lectual Autobiography. Routledge, London, Global Markets, States, and Democracy Can’t 14. J.E. Transue, ‘Identity Salience, Identity 2005, p. 120. Coexist. Oxford University Press, 2011. Acceptance, and Racial Policy Attitudes: 8. T. Nairn, The Break-up of Britain: Crisis 11. E. Theiss-Morse, Who Counts as an American National Identity as a Uniting and Neo-Nationalism. New Left Books, 2003, American?: The Boundaries of National Iden- Force’, American Journal of Political Science 51(1), 2007, p. 79. p. 347. tity. Cambridge University Press, 2009. 25 9. J. Dunn, Western Political Theory in the Face 12. Cited in A. Patten, ‘The Autonomy Argu- 15. Y. Tamir, Liberal Nationalism. Princeton of the Future. Cambridge University Press, ment for Liberal Nationalism’, Nations and University Press, Princeton, 1993, p. 99. New York, 1979, p. 57. Nationalism 5(1), 1999, p. 6. 16. Ibid., p. 95.

SEMINAR 725 – January 2020 ple, India, is one of the most diverse demonstrates this unifying power of In different parts of the world countries in the world. A host of stud- nationalism in the case of India. First, at various points in time a strong ies have demonstrated how bringing we found that at least as of 2012 when and inclusive nationalism has been a together a number of smaller groups we fielded our survey, for most of our powerful force for the extension of together within a single overarching respondents, national symbols contin- social services. The strengthening identity is an important unifying mecha- ued to carry their historically inclusive and widening of national nism. At the root of this are two well meaning. Exposure to the flag and in the wake of the Second World documented facts: first, that our iden- a map of India, for example, cued a War, for example, played a key role in tities are malleable and second, that pan-religious Indian nationalism that the establishment of welfare states we all hold multiple identities. included both and Muslims.19 across Europe. As historian Linda Colley writes Further, we found that the incre- in her influential book about the forg- ased salience of this inclusive, Indian ing of a British identity, ‘identities are national identity promoted generous In Britain the experience of the war not like hats. Human beings can and behaviour across religious lines. When brought together working class and do put on several at a time.’18 We can Indian nationalism was made promi- upper classes, on the one hand, and layer identities and taking on superor- nent, Hindu respondents did not dis- the Welsh, Scots, Northern Irish and dinate identities, such as nationalism, criminate against and contributed English, on the other. This intense, does not require the elimination or roughly the same amount of money to inclusive was an abandonment of other subordinate Muslim as to Hindus in the context of important driver for the institution of identities, such as ethnicity. This was our experimental scenario. Moreover, radical and unprecedented ‘cradle to the premise of Indian nationalism, exposure to a shared Indian identity the grave’ social policies including which was based not on uniformity but had a strong, positive, and statistically education, health, and housing that on a national unity that included and significant effect on contributions from were made freely available to all citi- respected diversity along various Hindus to Muslims.20 zens irrespective of their ability to pay cleavages – class, religion, region, lan- for them. Scholars have argued that guage, , and indigeneity. the gradual constriction of this social In addition to this unifying potential support network over the past few dec- of bringing together people from vari- ades has eroded this sense of British E xperiments within a branch of ous groups into a deep comradeship,21 belonging, reflected by last month’s social identity theory termed the Com- nationalism can also be a powerful election results that clearly showed mon Ingroup Identity model demon- motor for the realization of collective cleavages along the lines of the Scots, strate that when different groups projects. Returning to social psycho- Irish and English. coalesce in a shared identity, mem- logy, a host of studies have found that Nationalism has also driven bers’ perceptions change from ‘us’ the ‘we-ness’ that emerges from a movements for political freedom of and ‘them’ to an encompassing national shared identity, such as nationalism, their homelands. A strong, inclusive ‘we’. The perception of a common fosters an idea of a ‘linked fate’ and a national identity was a key driver of ingroup, such as a nation, extends or ‘shared destiny’ – a sense that my wel- the struggle against colonial rule not redirects the cognitive and motivational fare is connected to that of my fellow only in India, but across countries in processes that produce positive feelings group members, a feeling that we are Asia and Africa from the 1940s to the toward ingroup members to former all in this together. This leads to a 1970s. Through the 1990s, nationalism outgroup members. prioritization of, and willingness to powered the overthrow of Commu- An online survey experiment work for collective projects, notably nist regimes in the Soviet Union and that I conducted with my coauthors the realization of social, economic and across Eastern Europe and Central political freedoms. Asia. The leaders of anti-communist 17. The ethnolinguistic fractionalization index (ELF) measures the likelihood that two ran- 19. For more details on our experiment, movements may have invoked liberal- domly selected people from a given popula- please see V. Charnysh, C. Lucas, and P. Singh, democratic principles in order to tion belong to different ethnic groups. It is ‘The Ties That Bind: National Identity Sali- delegitimize communist dictators, ence and Pro-Social Behavior Toward the based on primary data from the Atlas Narodov but numerous scholars have shown Mira, originally compiled by Soviet ethnog- Ethnic Other’, Comparative Political Studies 26 raphers in 1964. 48(3), 2015, pp. 267-300. how nationalism was the strongest 18. L. Colley, Britons: Forging the Nation, 20. Ibid. force mobilizing the masses against 1707-1837. Yale University Press, 2005, p. 6. 21. B. Anderson, 1991, op. cit., p. 7. communism.

SEMINAR 725 – January 2020 scholars and commentators have in In my book, How Works the past, and especially in the wake of for Welfare: Subnationalism and the present wave of exclusionary Social Development in India, I deli- , argued for a post-national, neate the additional constructive cosmopolitan future. Yet whether we potential of an inclusive nationalism, like it or not, nations and nationalism such as Indian nationalism, that nests are here to stay. But such arguments powerful identities, such as regional- are more than just unrealistic, they linguistic identities, within them. In are also potentially dangerous. By contrast to the European model of giving up on nationalism we cede the nationalisms based on single langu- question of who belongs to the nation, ages, Indian nationalism has rested to the violently exclusive castings of explicitly on the recognition of multi- the Right. ple languages. In response to popular movements, in the mid-1950s, the States Reorganization Commission In as much as we must, and are vigo- redrew colonial provincial boundaries rously resisting the exclusionary along linguistic lines. nationalism of the ruling regime, we Following the logic of the con- must equally work to reclaim the idea structive potential of group identities of the Indian nation and return it to delineated above, I show ed how these the foundational inclusive conceptua- subnational identities have in turn lizations enshrined in our Constitution. been important drivers for social wel- This work of reclaiming an inclusive fare. Drawing on a combination of Indian nationalism will need to hap- statistical and comparative historical pen as much in the artistic and activist analyses of Indian states from the as in the scholarly realm. mid-nineteenth century onwards, I In the US, for example, where I show that states with a more cohesive teach, one of the most powerful acts subnationalism, such as Kerala and of resistance to the White, Christian, , were more likely to insti- anti-minority, anti-immigrant natio- tute and maintain a progressive social nalism of Trump are a set of posters policy and witness better developmen- by Shepard Fairey – the artist behind tal outcomes as compared to states the iconic ‘Hope’ portrait of Barack with more fragmented subnational Obama in 2008. Called ‘We the Peo- identities, such as .22 ple’ these posters reclaim an alternate, Political theorist Margaret inclusive idea of America.24 Originally Canovan described nationalism as a released on the eve of Trump’s inau- ‘battery that energizes much of poli- guration as President and ubiquitous tics’.23 Like all batteries it can be used on placards at protest marches across to power divisive projects, as it is the country since, the ‘We the People’ doing across the world today. But, as posters juxtapose selections from the I have sketched briefly in this essay, it American constitution with images of can and has historically also driven pro- Muslim, Latina, and African-American gressive projects, of unifying ethnic women, coloured in the hues of the groups, and fostering freedom. Many American flag. Loudly and proudly they proclaim: This is what our nation stands 22. P. Singh, How Solidarity Works for Wel- for. This is what we look like. We all fare: Subnationalism and Social Development equally belong. in India. Cambridge University Press, 2015. 27 23. M. Canovan, Nationhood and Political 24. P. Singh, ‘Flag Belongs to the Left, Theory. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, 1996, Too’, The Providence Journal, 14 November p. 72. 2019.

SEMINAR 725 – January 2020