EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE DELHI THE HINDU 8 EDITORIAL FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2019 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE The great Indian political shift The Ambedkarite, Lohiaite and Dravidian parties are visibly moving to a politics without ‘othering’ happened at three levels. First, at most episodic. In fact, the tone cal rivals. The BJP has single­hand­ the symbolic level, wherein the and tenor of the Mahagathband­ edly taken the politics of ‘othering’ founding fathers were pitted han in Uttar Pradesh, particularly from the episodic to incessant le­ Healing touch against each other. Second, at the regarding the SP (Lohiaite) and the vel wherein the everyday life of the societal level, wherein the socio­ BSP (Ambedkarite), signify the be­ people is systematically fused with Kashmiri students elsewhere must be economic interest of one section ginning of a phase of ‘politics with­ the constitution of the ‘other’ and reassured of their personal safety Sajjan Kumar was shown as being unaligned out othering’ at the normative le­ its perpetuation. This has taken with that of sections signifying the vel. In their formal press the form of communalisation of he Supreme Court has agreed to hear a petition ‘other’. conference announcing the grand everyday lives, as reflected in the seeking directions to educational institutions to he 2019 general election is Third, at the political level, alliance, both Mayawati of the BSP instances of cow­vigilantism and Tprotect Kashmiris in the face of harassment and being seen as a test of the wherein idiom, metaphor, popu­ and Akhilesh Yadav of the SP re­ mob­lynching. Besides, the demo­ intimidation in various parts of the country after the Tparties opposed to the Bha­ lar slogan and appeal were delib­ ferred overwhelmingly to class nisation of Nehru by pitting him ghastly terror attack in Pulwama on February 14. Hun ­ ratiya Janata Party (BJP)­led Na­ erately sectarian, exhibiting a and occupational identities, and against other founding fathers has dreds of Kashmiri students, primarily from Dehradun tional Democratic Alliance in forg­ ‘friend­enemy’ simile. It was ar­ only a passing reference was made reached a hysterical level. ing workable pre­election fronts, gued that popular politics was GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO to Other Backward Classes and Da­ At a time when the emerging in Uttarakhand, have already returned home or moved and of the BJP in deepening its about speaking for different However, when the SP govern­ lit identities. In marked contrast to centrality of agrarian issues has to Delhi or Jammu seeking safety. Amid these reports , electoral coalitions. But it is inter­ shades of subalterns, who consti­ ment came to power in 2012, it se­ their position during the Mandal led to the shrinking cultural space the Union Home Ministry had on Saturday issued an ad­ esting to scan the changing politi­ tuted the majority, thereby pro­ lected another set of villages un­ phase of the early 1990s, they wel­ for privileging religious identity in visory to all States and Union Territories to ensure the cal landscape before the campaign jecting the politics of ‘numbers der a new village development comed the 10% reservation an­ southern, western, central and safety of Kashmiris. The Jammu and Kashmir police too for the Lok Sabha gets truly under­ and othering’ as necessary to scheme, Ram Manohar Lohia Sa­ nounced for economically weaker some parts of northern India, the have set up helplines. It is to be hoped that these mea­ way for changes in the ‘politics of serve the ideals of equality and magra Gram Vikas Yojana, and of­ sections. BJP as a compensatory move is sures will be strengthened, especially with the Supreme othering’ that has so far defined freedom. However, this mode of ficially labelled them as ‘Lohia vil­ Whether these shifts indicate shifting its politics of othering most Indian parties. Or in other politics infused a great deal of bit­ lages’. The replacing of Ambedkar the return of Congressism — a eastward, in West Bengal and the Court now hearing the issue. It needs to be made clear words, are non­BJP, non­Congress terness in the societal realm by by Lohia had another dimension. mode of politics without any ‘oth­ Northeastern States. In essence, by the State and Central governments that there will be parties adopting Congressism? treating the ideals of ‘fraternity’ as While the Ambedkar villages were ering’ — is yet to be seen, but cer­ this is an attempt to shift the core no compromise on the State’s responsibility to ensure subservient to ‘equality and free­ inhabited by significantly large tainly it indicates a process whe­ space for communal othering to the well­being of citizens. Equally, there needs to be Episodic othering dom’. numbers of Dalits, the Lohia villag­ rein the Congress does not seem to east and Northeast India, as seen, stern action against the mobs that harassed and tried to The enumeration exercise by the The manifestation of this three­ es had a majority of non­Dalits, be the only claimant of the dis­ for instance, with the politics over frighten Kashmiris. The Uttarakhand police arrested 22 colonial ethnographic state since fold othering was seen in the polit­ particularly the Other Backward course of Congressism. Rather, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. students on Tuesday for trying to have Kashmiri stu­ the late 19th century brought to ical culture across India since Classes. more and more parties which rose This explains why a party that the fore the politics of ‘numbers’, 1990s in an entrenched way. The This three­fold othering had its on the plank of anti­Congressism championed the ethnic sentiment dents expelled from their college, but there have be en thereby reshaping society into the popularity of slogans in Uttar Pra­ parallel in the southern and North­ are adopting the discourse of of ‘Jati­Mati­Veti’ in Assam was des­ other similar instances. It will be a cause for lasti ng binary of ‘minority­majority’ desh and Bihar, emanating from eastern States, which was reflect­ ‘non­othering’. perate to pass the Citizenship Bill shame if young people studying in different parts of the along caste, religion and ethnic Ambedkarite and Lohiaite dis­ ed in the BJP’s slogan ‘Jati­Mati­Ve­ that privileges the religious country were sought to be isolated, and their ethnic lines. By the 1920s, the political course, while championing an ti’ (identity, land and resource) in The BJP exception identity. identity headlined to make them targets of majoritarian discourse in India, barring that of egalitarian quest took recourse to 2016 during the Assembly election However, there is one radical con­ mobs looking to avenge a terrorist attack. Law and o r­ the Indian National Congress, in­ caste­based ‘othering’ that com­ in Assam, privileging ethnic identi­ trast to this emerging trend. While A litmus test der must prevail, and the students must be given haled the politics of ‘numbers’, peted with the religious ‘othering’ ty, and in the controversy over the Lohiaite, Ambedkarite and Dravi­ Barring Hindutva, the emerging enough confidence that they can return to their educa­ which seamlessly metamorphosed of Hindutva. separate flag during the Karnataka dian politics are embracing the fra­ trend of parties that emerged from into the politics of ‘othering’. This This entrenchment of ‘othering’ election in 2018. mework of non­othering, the Hin­ the Dravidian, Ambedkarite and tional institutions and studies without fear. took various forms under parties could be seen most clearly in Besides, going against the ideals dutva discourse led by the BJP is Lohiaite discourse moving to the However, occurrences such as these, of communally such as the All­India Muslim post­2000 Uttar Pradesh when the of fraternity, the fact that any polit­ still caught in the old­mode of ‘oth­ politics of ‘non­othering’ is a mo­ charged attacks, cannot be forgotten with the mere re­ League, the Akhil Bharat Hindu acidic political rivalry between the ics of ‘othering’ becomes a politics ering’ even though its electoral ment of celebration. A liberal de­ turn to a semblance of normalcy. No group of Indians Mahasabha, the Justice Party, etc. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the of exclusion by default underlines slogan appears to be all­inclusive. mocracy needs competing and should be allowed to be isolated by blame­calling mobs, By the 1950s, against the back­ Samajwadi Party (SP) manifested the need for a politics without In fact, it is BJP that has taken contested politics along differen­ and the situation demands a strong, politically­led in ­ drop of the domineering discourse itself in their governments’ poli­ ‘othering’. Therefore, the question the politics of ‘othering’ from the tiated socio­economic interests itiative to end the intimidation and reassure the victims. of Congressism, which was a polit­ cies as they pitted two