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There is also hope that the government
will push for inclusion of 'nationalist'
thought in existing educational
apparatus as well.
NEW DELHI: Sitting in a small one room office
in the 11, Ashoka Road complex of the BJP, Dr
Anirban Ganguly, director of party-affiliated
think tank Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee
Research Foundation, talks of some "excellent"
Indegenist work (scholarly work that draws from
ancient Indian history) that has just been
published. He pulls out the books from a lean
cabinet behind his desk. For a political thought
that claims to find its roots in ancient India and
has been fashioning mass movements much
before India got independence, it makes for a
rather thin library.
For all its worth, an intellectual discourse in
rightwing political thought in modern India has
been nearly absent. Due to the unchallenged
lustre of the Nehruvian consensus and the
pressure to conform to it under successive
Congress governments, right-wing philosophy
could not find enough number of adherents. Its
own shortcomings, distrust of the West and the
consequent insularity, was another hindrance.
While the Nehruvian stress helped Left liberal
thought prosper in India's public institutions,
the Indian right chose to focus grassroots
mobilization. Consequently, the right in India
could never come up with a scholarly body of
work to articulate its vision in the intellectual
sphere.
Ganguly likes to call it 'academic apartheid'.
"Left has turned the idea of nationalism into a
pejorative term. Nobody is ready to publish a
book written by a nationalist thinker today. All
social science institutes are dominated by Left
liberals. They never give space to another
stream of thought," he says, elaborating how R
C Majumdar's reputed 11 volumes of 'The
History and Culture of Indian People' had to be
brought out without much government support.
All this may change soon though. Thanks to a
BJP government favourably disposed to creating
intellectual space for rightwing political thought.
An evidence of this has been visible in the
importance it has given to former bureaucrats
and officers associated with rightwing
institutions. Ajit Doval, Nripendra Misra and P K
Mishra, who have all been given key positions
in the government, have been associated with
the Vivekananda International Foundation, a
rightwing think tank established five years ago. There is also hope that the government will
push for inclusion of 'nationalist' thought in
existing educational apparatus as well. "We
need to have our own institutions. We need to
nurture a corpus of intellectuals. But more
importantly, there is a dire need for opening up
of intellectual discourse, for creating a level
playing field. This will have to begin with
existing public institutions. There should not be
a fear among scholars in a public institute that
if they take a rightwing line, their promotion will
be stopped," says Ganguly.
There are others in the right flank who think
there would be little need to push nationalist
thought as "it's an idea whose time has come".
Shaurya Doval, director of India Foundation that
rigorously articulated Narendra Modi's
economic ideas in the run-up to the polls, says,
"The burgeoning middle-class (at 400 million
and counting) will fuel rightwing thought. After
all, they have made a big contribution in
Narendra Modi's victory. As the middle class
acquires prosperity, it will think of identity
which will help creation of an independent
discourse."
Sociologist Dipankar Gupta, however, says
challenging the well-established culture of Left
liberal institutes may not be easy but space
could be created in newer institutions. He,
though, argues that there isn't a leftwing or
rightwing political stream in India in the real
sense of the term. "In the political stream for
the last couple of decades now, there has been
no Leftist thought in economy or strategic
affairs. Rightwing has ruled there- be it a
Congress or a BJP government. It's only in the
socio-cultural sphere that rightwing is still
trying to find space," he says.
There are others, however, who feel influencing
institutions would be of little help. Atul Mishra,
assistant professor at Central University of
Gujarat, argues that experience indicates
creating institutions with rightwing orientation
would not necessarily help create intellectual
discourse. "Historically, Indian institutions have
rarely been sources of original insights on
politics. During the initial decades of
independence, for example, most institutions
elaborated and articulated the Nehruvian
consensus on foreign policy and domestic
politics," says Mishra.
The only exception is sociologist Ashish Nandy
who first said secularism had no cultural
connect in India. Not surprisingly, the
nationalists consider Mahatma Gandhi their
biggest icon after Swami Vivekananda. "It
would be wrong to say nationalists did not
create an intellectual stream. Both Vivekananda
and Gandhi wrote reams of literature. See how
much Narendra Modi speaks of Gandhi," says J
K Bajaj, director of Centre for Policy Studies
that has brought out several books on
"nationalist" thought.
There are others, however, who concede
rightwing's disconnect with intellectual
discourse. K G Suresh of Vivekananda
International Foundation blames Leftist
discrimination and the RSS's aversion to
English for this. But he is hopeful of largescale
change. "We have just published five volumes of
'History of Ancient India' in English. History has
to be nationalized. The Left has been politically
sidelined. It is now going to happen in the
intellectual sphere. Not by discrimination,
though," he says, adding, "Till now we were the
fringe. Now it's their turn."
Bajaj, however, argues for empiricals taking over
ideology in the sphere of social science
research. "In the past 40-50 years, India has
been intellectually barren, largely because
research has been tethered to ideology. I hope
once this government comes into its own, there
will be less focus on ideology and more on what
needs to be done in the sphere of research," he
says.
Even as Bajaj's hope gels with what Modi has
been saying throughout his campaign, Mishra
sums up, "It's not so much about a new vision
of politics for our times. The contemporary
rightwing in India will argue that politics is not
about vision but about management of human
affairs. However, this is part of a global trend to
which Indian politics, including that of the right,
seems increasingly to be conforming."
Post-Modi, right wing seeks to secure intellectual space - TOI Mobile | The Times of India Mobile Site
will push for inclusion of 'nationalist'
thought in existing educational
apparatus as well.
NEW DELHI: Sitting in a small one room office
in the 11, Ashoka Road complex of the BJP, Dr
Anirban Ganguly, director of party-affiliated
think tank Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee
Research Foundation, talks of some "excellent"
Indegenist work (scholarly work that draws from
ancient Indian history) that has just been
published. He pulls out the books from a lean
cabinet behind his desk. For a political thought
that claims to find its roots in ancient India and
has been fashioning mass movements much
before India got independence, it makes for a
rather thin library.
For all its worth, an intellectual discourse in
rightwing political thought in modern India has
been nearly absent. Due to the unchallenged
lustre of the Nehruvian consensus and the
pressure to conform to it under successive
Congress governments, right-wing philosophy
could not find enough number of adherents. Its
own shortcomings, distrust of the West and the
consequent insularity, was another hindrance.
While the Nehruvian stress helped Left liberal
thought prosper in India's public institutions,
the Indian right chose to focus grassroots
mobilization. Consequently, the right in India
could never come up with a scholarly body of
work to articulate its vision in the intellectual
sphere.
Ganguly likes to call it 'academic apartheid'.
"Left has turned the idea of nationalism into a
pejorative term. Nobody is ready to publish a
book written by a nationalist thinker today. All
social science institutes are dominated by Left
liberals. They never give space to another
stream of thought," he says, elaborating how R
C Majumdar's reputed 11 volumes of 'The
History and Culture of Indian People' had to be
brought out without much government support.
All this may change soon though. Thanks to a
BJP government favourably disposed to creating
intellectual space for rightwing political thought.
An evidence of this has been visible in the
importance it has given to former bureaucrats
and officers associated with rightwing
institutions. Ajit Doval, Nripendra Misra and P K
Mishra, who have all been given key positions
in the government, have been associated with
the Vivekananda International Foundation, a
rightwing think tank established five years ago. There is also hope that the government will
push for inclusion of 'nationalist' thought in
existing educational apparatus as well. "We
need to have our own institutions. We need to
nurture a corpus of intellectuals. But more
importantly, there is a dire need for opening up
of intellectual discourse, for creating a level
playing field. This will have to begin with
existing public institutions. There should not be
a fear among scholars in a public institute that
if they take a rightwing line, their promotion will
be stopped," says Ganguly.
There are others in the right flank who think
there would be little need to push nationalist
thought as "it's an idea whose time has come".
Shaurya Doval, director of India Foundation that
rigorously articulated Narendra Modi's
economic ideas in the run-up to the polls, says,
"The burgeoning middle-class (at 400 million
and counting) will fuel rightwing thought. After
all, they have made a big contribution in
Narendra Modi's victory. As the middle class
acquires prosperity, it will think of identity
which will help creation of an independent
discourse."
Sociologist Dipankar Gupta, however, says
challenging the well-established culture of Left
liberal institutes may not be easy but space
could be created in newer institutions. He,
though, argues that there isn't a leftwing or
rightwing political stream in India in the real
sense of the term. "In the political stream for
the last couple of decades now, there has been
no Leftist thought in economy or strategic
affairs. Rightwing has ruled there- be it a
Congress or a BJP government. It's only in the
socio-cultural sphere that rightwing is still
trying to find space," he says.
There are others, however, who feel influencing
institutions would be of little help. Atul Mishra,
assistant professor at Central University of
Gujarat, argues that experience indicates
creating institutions with rightwing orientation
would not necessarily help create intellectual
discourse. "Historically, Indian institutions have
rarely been sources of original insights on
politics. During the initial decades of
independence, for example, most institutions
elaborated and articulated the Nehruvian
consensus on foreign policy and domestic
politics," says Mishra.
The only exception is sociologist Ashish Nandy
who first said secularism had no cultural
connect in India. Not surprisingly, the
nationalists consider Mahatma Gandhi their
biggest icon after Swami Vivekananda. "It
would be wrong to say nationalists did not
create an intellectual stream. Both Vivekananda
and Gandhi wrote reams of literature. See how
much Narendra Modi speaks of Gandhi," says J
K Bajaj, director of Centre for Policy Studies
that has brought out several books on
"nationalist" thought.
There are others, however, who concede
rightwing's disconnect with intellectual
discourse. K G Suresh of Vivekananda
International Foundation blames Leftist
discrimination and the RSS's aversion to
English for this. But he is hopeful of largescale
change. "We have just published five volumes of
'History of Ancient India' in English. History has
to be nationalized. The Left has been politically
sidelined. It is now going to happen in the
intellectual sphere. Not by discrimination,
though," he says, adding, "Till now we were the
fringe. Now it's their turn."
Bajaj, however, argues for empiricals taking over
ideology in the sphere of social science
research. "In the past 40-50 years, India has
been intellectually barren, largely because
research has been tethered to ideology. I hope
once this government comes into its own, there
will be less focus on ideology and more on what
needs to be done in the sphere of research," he
says.
Even as Bajaj's hope gels with what Modi has
been saying throughout his campaign, Mishra
sums up, "It's not so much about a new vision
of politics for our times. The contemporary
rightwing in India will argue that politics is not
about vision but about management of human
affairs. However, this is part of a global trend to
which Indian politics, including that of the right,
seems increasingly to be conforming."
Post-Modi, right wing seeks to secure intellectual space - TOI Mobile | The Times of India Mobile Site
