Pratap Bhanu Mehta - Why every patriot should be worried, and, yes, ashamed
Patriotism invoked as a closure, rather than a starting point, is the worst form of chicanery.. we are experiencing an insidious closure of language itself
NB - Professor Mehta deserves thanks for this defence of Aamir Khan and for highlighting the atmosphere of hostility that is being deliberately cultivated in civil society. We are tolerant! You better believe it or else!! We are
losing the capacity to communicate - as he says this is 'an insidious closure of language itself'.' The fact that we
can still protest implies that there is
something worth defending in India’s democratic institutions. It is a misleading argument for Modi enthusiasts to say "you are being permitted to speak, so what is there to complain about?" To say
democracy is in danger is NOT the same thing as saying that we have become a dictatorship. Rather, it is to take note of the disturbing
trends towards authoritarianism.
The critics of these trends quite clearly believe in Indian democracy. To denounce them as
traitors goes to show their fears have a real basis. After
all, venerable men such as Pansare, Dabholkar and Kalburgi have been
murdered in cold blood for their ideas, and Mohammad Akhlaq merely for eating his dinner - there is no sign the assassins
will ever be caught. Shouldn’t we think about these matters before
launching a passionate tirade against everyone who differs with the RSS? Should they not listen to the BJP's own MP from Begusarai, who referred to Modi and Amit Shah's campaign as maryadaheen (undignified)? Is it not a matter of deep concern that the ruling party resorted to shameless communal propaganda in a vital election, so much so that it had to be pulled up by the Election Commission? Whom do they think they are fooling?
India is not a secular country because only its minorities wish it to be secular, but because a vast majority of Hindus want it to be so. What do the ideologues of Hindu Rashtra want - as per their explicit utterances for several decades? Are they are proud of or disgusted by Indian liberality? Or do they play both sides of the divide as per convenience? The more anger you attach to your truth, the greater the chance that truth will turn into its opposite.
The Sangh Parivar and its abusive camp-followers want us to silently experience the intimidation around us and pretend that is
ordinary. That we refrain from protesting, for protest implies that we are less
than patriotic. Let us tell them that the health of India's polity
is the business of all of us, and that critics of the BJP/RSS are
not going anywhere, not to Pakistan, and not to Wembley and Madison Square Garden, the kind of places where the Indian Prime Minister feels most at home - DS
Aamir Khan soberly articulated an angst that many citizens
feel. It is easy for many of us to identify with that angst. It would be
helpful if those who attacked him bothered to read what he actually said. The
worries he expressed about growing intolerance and, more specifically, the
helplessness that the lack of a proper political response from those in highest
positions of authority produces, are spot on. Even the homely conversation
gesturing at the question of whether our children will live in an environment
where they feel secure, protected by liberal values, has a familiar ring.
But it would be presumptuous to say that Aamir’s angst is my
angst. He is a celebrity. In this age, one twisted act of retribution is to
teach celebrities a lesson to put them in their place. There are many
disturbing aspects to the response to Aamir Khan. One is the idea that because
he is a celebrity, he deserves even more odium: To the sin of political
transgression we can add the charge of ungratefulness. How can he, we intone,
be so ungrateful to the country that made him a star? Once you are a celebrity,
you forfeit the luxury of voicing concerns as an ordinary citizen.
Aamir’s
transgression and that of dozens of artists is that they made the transition
from celebrity to citizen. They acted as patriots and reclaimed the idea that
they cannot remain silent on the question of civic values. It is a sign of the
tone-deafness of our democracy that Aamir’s critics would not for a moment even
countenance a reverse question: If even someone as privileged and loved as
Aamir’s family is feeling a little under siege, what must be going on?
Of course, people can legitimately disagree with Aamir. But
we are experiencing an insidious closure of language itself. Take two examples.
The first charge against those who talk about intolerance is exaggeration. It
is then countered with the false scienticism — look, the number of violent
incidents has not risen dramatically, and so forth. As a piece of social
science, this can be important. But data often tells yesterday’s story. We
forget that averages are not helpful in assessing specific threats and
experiences, and there is no data that can capture the suffocation that
discourse can produce.
But the charge of exaggerated description fundamentally
misunderstands the nature of the artiste’s speech act. When an artist
intervenes, she is not only providing a description. She is articulating a
warning about the future. We are so besotted with the politics of self-esteem
that we even close off the sensible response to such warnings. The sensible
response, even if you think it is exaggerated, is not to dismiss it as a
conspiracy. Because, if you construct all warnings that way, you not only close
the space for dialogue, you exhibit intolerance. You deny that there can be any
individuality, you deny that they can be their own persons, not cogs in a vast
conspiracy.
The proper response to a warning is to say, “We hear you.
Let us stand together. We all want a country where no one will be targeted for
being who they are; where your surname, or choice of life partner, or eating
habits will not make you a target; that the state will ensure that these basic
norms will be protected without discrimination; that those who spread poison
from high office will be reprimanded; and that leaders will lead by example.
Rest assured.” This, followed by commensurate actions would be far more
reassuring.
Instead, what we get is a grudging odd sentence from the
prime minister that talks at people, rather than to them; mendacious evasions
from the finance minister, who seems more concerned about our image and
lawyerly complications than articulating basic moral truths; and an army of
party spokesmen and trolls that accuses critics of treason. There is no
question it is being done in ways in which those who carry certain names are
made to carry an extra burden of proving their patriotism. Many of my friends
are experiencing this, silenced by this burden, and it is hard to disagree.
The second coded form of intolerance is patriotism. So let
us say it gracelessly. True patriotism requires the possibility that you are
able to say, as an act of civic identification, that I am ashamed of my country
in certain respects. A patriot who thinks we should never be ashamed of our
country is a charlatan with no moral compass. A patriot who never contemplates
the hard truths that the atmosphere in the country — both in a literal and
metaphorical sense — might become suffocating to some citizens is no patriot.
He is parroting a script that is repeated ad nauseum to avoid serious moral
dialogue. Aamir had the grace to say that he is a patriot and he is proud of
India. Some of us do feel like saying, “We are patriots and on several issues
we are ashamed of India.” We are patriots, and rather than giving ourselves
certificates or comparing ourselves to countries we don’t identify with, we
worry about India’s future.
Patriotism invoked as a closure, rather than a
starting point, is the worst form of chicanery. All of us, from Arundhati Roy
to Aamir Khan, are patriots in the true sense. The poet Jayanta Mahaptra, when returning his award, used
the curious but evocative phrase, “moral asymmetry”. This can have many
meanings. But in the context of artists and celebrities, one meaning
immediately comes to mind: The asymmetry of responsibility placed on critics
and artists on the one hand and political rulers on the other.
The standard way
of knocking down critics and celebrities these days is to make them responsible
for the whole universe: You have no right to criticise X if you did not
criticise Y and so on. You disable them by overburdening them. On the other
hand, with politicians it is the reverse; they are exempt from even carrying
out the duties of their station. All that critics are asking is that those in
positions of power behave responsibly, in terms befitting the best values and
duties of their station. This is not too much to ask for.
I don’t believe that the average Indian is growing more
intolerant. But it is certainly the case that those setting the standards of
public life and public discourse do not reflect this liberality. The norms are
being set by people with small minds, resentful hearts, constricted souls and
hateful speech. Every patriot should be worried about this and, yes, be
ashamed.
http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/who-is-a-patriot/
The emperor's masks: 'apolitical' RSS calls the shots in Modi sarkar
