Report of the National Seminar in Delhi on 13-14th May, 2014
By Anchal Jain,
India stood at the brink of a very important historic moment with the culmination of 16thLokSabha elections. One of the most important issues flagged by the numerous debates on the issue of elections was what these elections meant for the state of Indian secularism. This issue was highlighted even more as the fear of Hindu-right wing political forces coming to power grew in the minds of the secular ranks of society.
However, irrespective of which party comes to power, the Centre of Study of Society and Secularism in collaboration with People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism held a national seminar to discuss the challenges facing Indian Secularism in the current time and space especially in the context of the growing power of right-wing forces.
Thus a two-day seminar was organised, in Delhi just a couple of days before the announcement of the results of 16thLokSabha election in which eminent citizens of civil society from all walks of life were asked to participate and discuss the prospects of the Secular movement in India and the ways to take it ahead.
Before beginning the planned sessions it was deemed prudent to first pay a heartfelt homage to Com. Mukul Sinha and Mr. Thomas Kocheiry who contributed greatly to the secular movement in India and who had recently passed away.
The key note address
The seminar then commenced with the Key note address by Prof. Achin Vanaik which was chaired by Dr. Ram Puniyani. The topic for this keynote address was to look at the Hindu right wing forces (Hindutva forces) in a global context.
Prof. Achin Vanaik who has been closely associated with the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP) started by discussing how in his opinion, there is a decline in ‘substantive democracy’ globally. He very lucidly made a connection between the rise of neo-liberalism, declining welfare-ism and a global shift towards the right politically, economically and culturally.
He charted out a global trajectory of the shift towards the right in various spheres and brought in the question of nationalism in the context of growing global citizenship. According to his analysis, the idea of nationalism hasn’t subsided under the umbrella of global citizenship; rather it has grown in the past few decades.
Focusing on the Indian scenario, he then reflected upon the nature and shifts in Indian democracy. In his view, the shift in Indian democracy has been towards an ‘authoritarian democracy’ where democratic structures are present but weakened and there is strong authoritarian structures also exist.
He further commented that over the last three decades there has been an increasing understanding of democracy as majoritarianism and secularism as just tolerance. This according to him has been a collective result of rightward shift globally and the popular acceptance of the right wing at the national level.
The question then according to him boiled down to how to work against the increasing inclination towards the right and against communalism in the Indian society. He suggested various ways in that direction. One of them was that a broader understanding of secularism as a modern concept has to develop which does not focus just on tolerance. Another way according to him was that the civil society collectively has to work for not just a secular but democratic idea of nationalism which is not limited by religious or cultural essentialism. Further, the way ahead, according to him, has to be in an intersectional framework where local and sectoral struggles are connected towards creating mass consciousness about secular and democratic institutions.
Thus, Prof. Vanaik in his key note address coherently explained the trends and challenges to secularism in a global context and rendered full justice to the opening session of the seminar.
Session two
The next session in the seminar was titled ‘mapping challenges to secularism: The challenge of Hindutva’. The speakers for the session included Mr. Harsh Mander, Prof. Amrapali Basumatary and Dr. Sanjay Kumar and was chaired by Adv. Irfan Engineer.
Harsh Mander, a former IAS and a former member of National Advisory Council (NAC) was the first speaker in the panel. In his crisp presentation, Mr. Mander focused on communal riots and their impact on society. He began by critically looking at the response of civil society to various instances of communal violence throughout the country. According to him, the indifference shown by the civil society is the evidence of the communalisation of our society. He further reflected that there has been a shift in the very nature of communal violence experienced in the country. In his analysis, there is an advent of politics of boycott in the places affected by communal violence. Thus while earlier, the communities used to come together post the riots, one can now see more hostility between those communities especially after the riots. Thus, he explained that the social impact of the communal riots is changing in a very systematic manner. He concluded his presentation by reflecting that among other things, the increasing distance between communities needs to be addressed, appropriate work towards punishing the culprits needs to be undertaken and the idea of public compassion and what it means for public life has to be reclaimed.
The next speaker was Prof. Amrapali Basumatary, a professor of English in Delhi University. Her presentation was focused on instances of racism against the north- eastern population in Delhi who are targeted because of their mongoloid features. She, through various narratives showed how instances of cultural racism and violence have become a lived reality for a lot of people who have migrated from the north east. She went ahead to say that these attitudes show how the society is becoming increasing xenophobic, intolerant and exclusivist in its approach. She concluded by stating that the only way to tackle such a problem is in an intersectional framework where such a problem is given as much importance by the civil society movements as others.
The last speaker for the session was Dr. Sanjay Kumar, Dean Academics at St. Stephens College, Delhi University, who spoke on Neo-liberal economy in India and challenges to secularism. In his very interesting and lucid presentation, Dr. Sanjay Kumar looked at the subject in the context of a neo-liberal economy and showed how because of fragmented subjectivities, the shift towards herd mentality has increased in a neo-liberal world. He further elucidated that according to him, a secular state is one in which social processes are not looked at in either religious or cultural essentialist manner but in their complexity and their totality.
Session three
The topic for the next session was ‘Secularism and Marginalised communities’, in which the attempt was to get the perspectives of various cross-sections of society in order to look at a somewhat holistic picture. For this session Prof. Anuradha Chenoy, Mr. Subhash Gatade, Adv. Vrinda Grover and Prof Ram Puniyani were invited to speak. This session was chaired by Prof. Zoya Hasan, who is an academician and political scientist and currently a professor of political science and former dean of School of Social Sciences (SSS) at the Jawaharlal Nehru University/a>, New Delhi.
The first speaker of this session was Prof. Anuradha Chenoy, Professor in School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, who critically looked at the topic from the perspective of North-East India especially keeping in mind Assam and Bodoland.
In her elaborate talk, Prof. Chenoy discussed and questioned the concept of marginalisation and emphasised that it be understood in a subjective manner. She further elucidated, taking the example of the Bodos in Assam that there are graded marginalisation which need to be understood in particular local and specific contexts. She then went on to emphasise the need for better action by civil society in criticising and questioning the governing structures and making them accountable for their actions or lack thereof.
The next speaker was Adv. Vrinda Grover, a human rights and women’s rights activist. Adv. Grover in her presentation presented a strong case of how the major problem in tackling with cases of communal violence is the implicit complacence of the state institutions. Through various examples, she showed how the need address the inherent communal bias in the state machinery especially police system is one of the major need of the hour. She concluded by pointing out that for effective action, the civil society needs to actively focus on proper policy measures for instances of communal violence like pressuring for Anti-communal violence bill , to rethink the strategies and the rhetoric used and lastly to target the biases in the state machinery.
The third speaker for the session was Mr. Subhash Gathade, a writer and a Dalit rights activist. He in his presentation looked at Dalits in India and their communalisation. According to him, till the time communalism is looked at in the framework of a binary between Hindus and Muslims, an adequate answer to this problem would not emerge. He analysed the communalisation of certain Dalit groups by the Hindu right wing forces and presented a view in the process of examining the communalisation of Dalits, one should not look at the Dalit groups as simple victim of the right wing philosophy but as agents who have a part to play in the process. The secular groups then should not look at the Hindutva forces as homogenous group but deconstruct it and understand the processes by which various groups have been incorporated under its umbrella and target those associations. Thus he presented a strong view in which the question of caste annihilation and work with caste groups should be an important part of the secular agenda.
The last speaker for this session was Prof. Ram Puniyani, chairperson, Centre for Study of Society and Secularism. In his address, Prof. Puniyani focused on the changing strategies of the right wing force. He explained that over the last few years the right wing has succeeded in naturalising its language and its rhetoric so much that it has become common sense to people now. This, according to him is because of the constant innovation in language, ideas and medium used by the right wing. He then went on to say that then, it becomes extremely important that even the secular forces innovate themselves in such a manner that their language and their concepts are able to reach the common public and help in affecting their consciousness. He further addressed the issue of consciousness raising and explained that it is very important for all the progressive forces to come together and mobilize general public in such a manner that there is a rise of an intersectional social movement. This social movement then will not only address specific problems and issues but looks at social issues as interconnected and will succeed in appealing to people’s consciousness only then.
Session four
The final session of the two-day long seminar focused on ‘Role of civil society in addressing challenges to secularism’. This session was chaired by Ambassador Ashok Sajjanhar and the speakers for the session were: Mr. Vibhuti Narayan Rai, Mr.Vikas Narayan Rai, Mr. L. S Herdenia and Mr. Mohammed Hasan. All four speakers were active members of civil society and have worked relentlessly for the secular cause at the ground level.
In the beginning of the session Ambassador Sajjanhar who is currently the secretary of National Foundation of Communal Harmony, made a brief presentation. In this presentation, he said that for Indian secularism to flourish, it is imperative that secularism is understood in a broader sense of not just religious tolerance but a philosophy which allows flourishing of all religions.
Thereafter, all four presentations were a reflection of each speakers experience on the field and the ways in which they felt that a more constructive engagement at the ground level cold be made.
Both Mr. Vibhuti Narayan Rai and Mr. Vikas Narayan Rai spoke from their experiences in law enforcing bodies. Mr. Vibhuti Narayan Rai, former additional DGP and former Vice Chancellor of MGAHV, a central university reflected on the problems of law. According to him, the laws made were more empowering for the state and its machineries rather than empowering for public which needs them. He emphasised that there needs to a paradigm shift in making the victim the centre of law instead of the system. He thus concluded that reform has to be made at the level of institutions as well making them more public centric than centred on authority.
Mr. Vikas Narayan Rai, former Director of National Police Academy, on the other hand highlighted the fact that there is a need to change the approach at the ground level where equal amount of work needs to be done with all communities simultaneously and not just any particular one. He further critically analysed the social movements and said that in his experience he felt that there is a need for better communication and coordination between activists working on the ground irrespective of their field.
Mr. L.S. Herdenia, Senior Journalist and Mr. Mohammed Hasan, a retired Professor, reflected on the similar train of thought. Both emphasised that there is a greater need to communicate with different communities and encourage inter-community conversations for a more peaceful and secular society. Mr. Herdenia, however, went further to say that at the same time the institutions have to be made more accountable by pressures from the civil society activists. Thus both reflected on how individual activists in their own capacities can work together to bring or act as catalysts for the secular cause.
Final reflections
In retrospect, the seminar organised by PADS and CSSS can be seen as a very interesting activity which provided a space for secular activists from various fields to interact, introspect, learn and contemplate future strategies. The interesting topics with experiences speakers and excellent chairs that moderated discussions appropriately provided for a conducive environment for constructive ideas to flow. While the key note address delivered by Prof. Achin Vanaik provided a larger global context to the issue at hand, the speakers reflected in local narratives in various parts of the country and brought out the specificities in each situation. Speakers like Anuradha Chenoy, Amrapali Basumatry and SubhashGathade accentuated the analysis by bringing in not just regional specificities but ethnic, religious and cultural narratives as well. At the same time, speakers like Sanjay Kumar, Harsh Mander, Ram Puniyani and Vrinda Grover reflected on general trends and their analysis in the pan Indian context. Lastly, the final session provided a summing up of all the analysis and constructively reflected on ways in which the engagement with and by civil society could increase and help in creating a more secular environment. The lively discussion at the end of each session enhanced the learning process a lot more.
The impact of the seminar can be seen in the various suggestions that came after two days of rigorous discussion. Few of the many suggestions that came from the speakers as well as the participants were: A need for a more intersectional movement, need for bridging the gap between the left and the NGO workers, a more rigorous training of state machinery especially focusing on police trainings, encouraging intercommunity communications, etc. In conclusion, it could be said that organised at such a crucial juncture in Indian politics, the seminar achieved its goal of looking at the challenges that face Indian Secularism and the ways and strategies for future action.