India first
I am a gujarat bred, maharastra settled, marathi, hindu, brahman. There. Thats how many people expect me to define myself. Actually thats not accurate, since I have no clue how others expect me to define myself. I never asked them. But looking at many other’s behaviour, I do have suspicions they may choose to define themselves along similar lines. So be it. At least that was my take. But no more. Because such classifications eventually end up isolating, not defining me. I am an Indian.
Looking at history of nation states, India is but a recent entrant. For long it was a continuously fickle set of shifting boundaries, changing dynasties and deeply distinct cultures (or subcultures if you will). The british exploited it. Big time. They rode the fissures. They ruled us. And they plundered us. They left. And it seems they took the learnings of that era with them as well. Because I don’t see those learnings around me.
1947 was an experiment. It was an experiment where someone decided to actually form a country called India. They started an experiment to forge a national identity that never existed in the thousands of years of a continuously thriving culture and economy. Thus was born a nation state without any corresponding consistent cultural identity, and a history that documented far more internecine wars than external conflict. A state where the neighbouring household could sometimes be perceived as a far bigger threat than a massive army across the border. A state which basically was given no reason to really survive save one – democracy. 62 years later, this state is starting to move just a little faster. And it is starting to get noticed. But it is like a vehicle from a post apocalypse movie – a torn down vehicle which is powerful but is struggling to move since the friction of its own parts substantially exceeds the friction it really needs to conquer – the one with the road. And its manned by a group of continuously bickering and bitching, rag tag motley crowd, who are paying more attention to who is able to sit more comfortably in the vehicle rather than where and how fast the vehicle is moving. This is the generation I see today. Around me. The midnight’s grandchildren. More than a billion of them. Who basically have been spectacularly unsuccessful at overcoming the same prejudices their parents, grandparents and all other forefathers suffered from. All while cynically attempting to protect the sacred heritage their forefathers left them. Cynically since they disregarded that heritage wherever and whenever necessary – and yet never giving up on the issue when it came to livingroom debates.
Back to the nation. We attempted to define a common identity was a strong message from the pulpit. But the subidentities forged from centuries (nay millenia) of continuous history were simply too strong to be messed around with. The stories I’ve heard of the post 47 era were much worse. People wouldn’t sit in the vehicle of someone who belonged to another religion. And they wouldn’t eat the food prepared by someone of a different caste. Some of these have changed for the better. Some haven’t. And some things have gotten worse. The last name of a person is still eagerly requested as a pathway to understand his linguistic, religious and casteist identity. Religious representations in companies are disproportionately high or low compared to the population. The political system is just so full of casteist computations. And both government and private sector are rife with allegations of some particular linguistic group dominating another or hiring more of self. Some localities end up serving as the area where a people of particular language or religion are to be found in far more proportion than local populations. And affirmative action seems to be restricted to a set of historically identified and perpetuated set of people and their offspring – as if diversity management was supposed to be restricted only to those constitutionally identified as economically challenged. And the state doesn’t fall behind. Lack of diversity in the police forces has at times become the bone of contention.
We have fissures. Deep fissures. Fissures that splinter us. These fissures are the arcs that are just so easy to exploit. But allow me to be explicit. We are idiots. Idiots for treating these very fissures as walls. Walls that somehow protect us from those beyond. But one thing I must give ourselves credit for. We are not dumb idiots. We are actually smart idiots. We are smart enough to understand that there is a whole ecosystem of vultures out to exploit these fissures. We know these vultures are upto no good. We are smart enough to understand that the only way to defeat these challenges is by overcoming the prejudices, breaking down the inner walls and treating each other as friends. The only thing that makes us idiots is that we believe these behaviour need to be adopted by “everyone else”. I imagine my language, my religion, my caste, my subcaste, my region is under threat by vile, evil, beyond the wall participants. So the assessments I make are convictions and the same by others are prejudices. So the actions I take in forming tighter groups or specifically promoting or supporting people of my ilk is a defensive action while everyone else across the wall who does the same is offensive.
We’ve paid some costs for these fissures. We’ve had to deal with severe caste strains in post independence India. We see massive agitations grounding states to a halt for segments of the population to be listed for special constitutionally accorded benefits for the economically deprived. We’ve had to deal with the army marching into strongly fortified sacred religious sites. We’ve seen a communal backlash post a prime minister getting assassinated, the assassination itself being the end result of a long journey that started off with politicians attempting to exploit these very fissures I referred to. We’ve had another prime minister getting assassinated – again as a eventual culmination of a process of attempting to further fan linguistic divisions in foreign lands. We’ve seen a train getting burnt followed by a government abdicating as a state burnt. We’ve seen strong agitations against the inflow of migrants from a neighbouring country. We now see protests against intra India migration, violent incidents to redraw linguistic demographics, and even state legislature members attacking each other for the choice of language used. Notwithstanding the fact that there certainly were some aggrieved parties in each such episode or in the history leading to each such episode – the fact is people on all sides of the table actually believe they were the aggrieved party. A fissure. And common to all these is the cynical exploitation of these fissures. Exploitation which undermines the very principles of equal rights within and across the nation. Exploitation that takes away the very protection from discrimination thats the essence of a vibrant society. Exploitation by those who are supposed to represent us. Those who we call leaders. Those who come to seek our votes. Those who preach holier than thou from the podium. Those very people we shudder to even consider to lead our household. The very ones who we instead elect to our legislatures. They tell us the other castes need to be shown their place. They tell us our religion not the country defines our brotherhood. They tell us our language is under threat. They tell us our state would be so much better but for all the others making it such a bad place. They tell us that to extract our vote. We listen. We see the craftiness. But we are blinded by it. The trap appeals to the emotion even as it dulls the rationality. We actually come under the influence even as we believe others are getting waylaid. We vote. The machiavellian victory is complete. Our loss, invisible behind a smoke and mirrors act. At least for a while.
There’s only one way to beat this. There’s only one way to resurrect ourselves. Use the yardstick – India first. For this the most important ingredient is to believe that our identity as Indians dominates and overrides our identities defined by caste, creed, language, religion, region etc. Sure we have a debt to pay to our gods. But I suspect thats an activity thats best left to doing when in heaven. While on earth pay the debt to humanity first in order to get to heaven. Sure we need to protect our language. But do that through supporting its literature, theatre and most importantly using that language at home within the family. Sure our region needs to be supported. So work hard to make the region that much more economically prosperous and pay your taxes diligently. There are ways to support and strengthen all such affiliations without being derisive or divisive. When you form social, professional, or organisational affiliations – encourage diversity and try to find the best Indians you can affiliate with. When you go out to vote – make sure you think of whats right for India. And we will run into those who place their linguistic, religious, regional or casteist affiliations above that of the one with India. Grant and respect the freedom of expression accorded to them, hear them out if unavoidable. But do make sure you exercise your freedom of expression as well, as you greet them – a slight smile even as you politely say – Fuck You.
[...] Nene makes a case for putting India first to resolve regional differences and put up an united [...]
India first | DesiPundit
11 Nov 09 at 6:30 am
Dhananjay,
Superb post, actually I got it on Twitter. India First, we will create a topic out of this on Twitter and spread the message.
Jiggs
11 Nov 09 at 10:03 am
Excellent post!!! Thought-provoking. And in the end author gives a very simple and effective solution to a ver complex problem.
I wish a follow up thought on how to spread India first campaign beyond blogosphere and Twitter.
Once again thanks for writing this post.
Kartik Shah
11 Nov 09 at 10:19 am
Nice Article. Good to see that there are few people who does not belong to specific region but belong to India. I am impressed!
Vijay Zala
11 Nov 09 at 10:32 am
I am an Indian
Sasi
11 Nov 09 at 11:10 am
Very articulate indeed! The issues of Britishers not having left the learning/ the living room discussions on casteism / the way we define our identities are very real and poignan. I think Dhananjay has brought them up very effectively. The solution at the end is simple I gree, but I suspect not very new ‘in information’ to a lot of new-gen Indians. What is perpelxing is the lack of pratise even by the so called ‘new-gen’. Thanks for the grt post DN.
Aparna Kalantri
11 Nov 09 at 11:30 am
Nicely put. If you have not yet read Shantaram, then I suggest you should read it. In the book – authors mentor says – While deciding good and bad the fundamental question you should ask – what will happen if everybody did this. And based on the answer you should decide what is good and what is bad.
India first etc is not much of an issue in my opinion. Because most important question is what is right and what is definitely wrong. Our approach should always be to do what is right and while calculating scope of the (side) effects we should consider Humanity (for now, till we discover alien civilizations).
So sorry – but everybody who says I am Indian, I dont have problem with you. But I do think saying I am human is far more important than saying I am Indian.
ajit
11 Nov 09 at 12:13 pm
Brilliant Danny.
Geeta
11 Nov 09 at 1:10 pm
This is awesome. Let the moral reach to everyone
naveen
11 Nov 09 at 1:48 pm
Aparna, Ajit
Thanks for your comments. The solution is obvious. We’ve stared at it for long. So I’m sure there is no ‘freshness’ in the same.
What this post actually emphasises is our thought that we are the aggrieved and others are guilty. It also points out that often we believe others are being cynically exploited even as we are unaware of us being victims of the same cynicism, craftiness and prejudices.
It finally really means to drive home the point that the new-gen who believe themselves to be literate, articulate, imaginative and objective are also the victims of prejudice. And unless they figure out a way to crawl out of the self dug hole, the problem is here to stay. To that end – India First is a possible solution.
Dhananjay Nene
11 Nov 09 at 1:55 pm
Very well written post…
and very importnat and relevant in today’s scenario.
Prats
11 Nov 09 at 1:57 pm
Thanks for this post. It’s amazing to see well educated people supporting the parochial view. People like you who oppose to that view are branded as ultra-liberals.
It’s amazing to see people clapping to appreciate a ‘gesture’ towards ‘marathi asmita’…what they don’t realize is it’s just that…an empty gesture, a well planned marketing ploy. Sadly people try to see the content behind it. Like they say, you can’t fix stupid
Sarika
11 Nov 09 at 2:10 pm
Why should I subscribe to the notion of a country? In true free-world I shouldnt have too right? At least I dont want to. If I am in Pune I am more Punekar than Indian. If I am in mumbai I am more mumbaikar than India. Same if I am in New york or London or some where. I didnt opt in to being an Indian or any country for that matter. I chose to live in mumbai and hence would call myself mumbaikar with pride.
Its animal and human instinct to care abt things that matter to people who are closer to you either emotionally, physically, socially or geographically. And hence all this Marathi Vs Bihari etc issue is justified to same extent. Not the violence but the issue.
Anonymous
11 Nov 09 at 3:17 pm
I believe we are a “India First” society – you wont find greater evidence than during a cricket match when the entire populace applauds equally for a Zaheer or a Nehra taking a wicket. As a nation we have been successfully gnawing at the divisive customs of our past and have come a long way.
But as evidenced during the Los Angeles riots, its easy to fan the flames of hatred and no country’s masses are immune from that. Our statesmen, though, have converted it into an art-form and do it without any fear of retribution. The only reason for their nonchalance is the poor judiciary – how many of these *elected* leaders have truly been convicted for holding the country at ransom? Bring back the faith in the judiciary and honor to governance and you will have your smiles and India back.
Unmesh Mayekar
11 Nov 09 at 3:24 pm
Unmesh,
Cricket and to some extent Bollywood have acted as strong binding forces. So your point is well taken.
However I shall choose to differ on your opinion about the poor judiciary being the cause. A democracy always gives us a government we collectively deserve – judiciary quality notwithstanding. There is however an extension I would make to your argument. A democracy gives us the ability to be the jury as far as the verdict on our leaders is concerned. To the extent we are given the powers to judge by our vote – I would agree that the judiciary has failed us (though I believe thats not the point you were making
)
Dhananjay Nene
11 Nov 09 at 3:40 pm
Need to tread carefully here now
No – thats not the part of “failed judiciary” I was referring to, its too big a first bite to take. Where the judiciary has failed is to give ALL its citizens a sense of security and right to justice. Not to the extent of demanding remuneration from McDonalds for spilling hot coffee on your own lap, but surely a citizen wronged by another shouldnt have to worry about the other’s affiliations when filing suit nor be made to wade through a lifetime of adjourned hearings. Is it a true democracy when the law of the land is the privilege of only a handful few?
Unmesh Mayekar
11 Nov 09 at 4:02 pm
Strange. Nation state is an artificial and that too, political creation. It’s just the current experiment in governance by human race. How can it override the more natural bonding and grouping based on a Language? Why to stop at the notion of India? We are humans, umm actually mammals, or vertebrate, na we are living beings, better, we are all having hydrogen atoms in common….
Now, about the fissures and walls part. There is just verbal assurance from you and nothing else. You don’t provide any evidence to indicate that the Marathi is not under attack while the Marathi people are seeing the evidence in the form of Azamis of India everyday. Did you speak with the same vigor against Azami when he demanded assembly proceedings in Hindi and English? Is he not forcing Marathi people to learn these foreign languages by these demands? Did any of your ilk preach ‘India First’ to him at that time? Did you not see it as attack on India’s integrity? Didn’t you expect a reaction from Marathi people on such things? Raj Thackaray is a reactionary symptom. There was a feeling of discomfort. Someone spoke about it openly. Don’t try to treat the symptom by painting MNS as villain but go to the root cause. I know how comfortable it is to take a so called ‘liberal’ stand when you are facing non-Marathi people everyday. But, remember, it’s at the expense of your own language and your own people. We are not asking people in Chennai to speak Marathi in their assembly. We are trying to defend our state from the invasion. If you think this is not true come up with the evidence. We need hard evidence and not just your verbal assurances to prove that Marathi is not under siege.
India, as a nation state, is an artificial and temporary phenomenon. It was not there 63 years back. We don’t know whether it’ll be there after 63 years. Marathi has been around more than 10 times of that period. Importance of language on bondings can not be overemphasized. Hence, it’s more obligatory to strive for survival of one’s language than to for a nation state. To that extent, I’m perfectly agreeing to Ajit’s comment about ‘doing right’.
swabhashanishth
18 Nov 09 at 2:08 pm
swabhashanishth
I am not the one deciding at starting from or stopping at the notion of India. A decision was made in 1947. I inherited it. My inheritance includes the “commons” we call India. Even if described as artificial, it is for all practical purposes more real than anything else. My rights as a citizen of the country stem from the constitution of the Union of India and not from the Gujarat bred or Marathi speaking communities I am a part of. The threats my country faces from the external world are far more severe than the so called threats you refer to against Marathi language. I simply respond to what is practical and appropriate rather than getting emotive about it. I would much rather Indians got together and competed better with the rest of the world rather than isolate ourselves into multiple internally conflicting subcultures and again suffer the brutal subjugation we’ve been subjected to in the past under the British rule.
You read far too much into my statements. It was not even an assurance. it was an opinion – an opinion borne out of analysis through by highly individualistic, opinionated, subjective self. It was an opinion which someone can choose to agree or disagree with, albeit an opinion made with full honesty.
If I go to some other state and speak marathi with those who are willing to speak marathi with me – is that an attack ? I still speak Gujarati in Maharashtra whenever I get a chance, just as I spoke, Marathi, Gujarati and Hindi when I was staying in US whenever I got a chance and whoever I got a chance with. is that an attack ? If yes, thats xenophobia. Thats something I wholeheartedly disapprove of. In addition of course it violates my constitutional rights since these are not a function of the language / caste / religion / region I belong to.
No, I do not see it as an attack on India’s integrity. In fact just like when the MLAs in Karnataka legislature took their oaths in Marathi or when others in other assembly choose to take their oaths in non state majority languages – I simply see it as a celebration of India’s diversity. Quite frankly I am not sure if you use these words loosely when you suggest it as an attack on Indias integrity. I see constraining Indian citizens from exercising their constitutional privileges as an attack on India’s integrity.
While topically driven by the happenings in Maharashtra legislature, I have been very careful in not treating it as an MNS or Marathi Manoos specific issue. I am against every single incident where people from any region of India treat any Indians any differently from other – irrespective of what such differentiation emanates from – domicile, religion, caste, language. PERIOD.
My own language is irrelevant and my own people are Indians.
What the British did was invasion. What we could see in a few years if things go haywire on our northern borders is an invasion. What happened on 26/11 is an invasion. I am far far more concerned about India under siege rather than Marathi / Gujarati / Telugu / Tamil / Bengali / Assamese / under siege. And you seem to have completely misunderstood the whole notion of proof and evidence. The onus of proof is on the one making the hypothesis. I have not made any hypothesis whatsoever in the context of Marathi (or for that matter any other language) being under siege or not. If thats a belief that you carry, you are free to offer or not offer evidence for your hypothesis.
Every long running idea, concept, notion, or entity has always been too young at some time. That per se does not make it any less important. Nevertheless I shall remember to pray for it to be around for at least another 6300 years
I’m afraid you are completely at odds with the essential genesis of our nation state. Quite frankly I think English is a far far bigger threat to Marathi. So if you would like to back up your assertion I would suggest you work along two lines of activity. a). Get in a constitutional amendment to offer state and domicile based citizenship so that the loyalties you suggest and as expected by the current polity can at least be consistent with each other. b) Stop using English and use Marathi everywhere you would otherwise use English. Because remember – in the long run if and when Marathi becomes less important English will have played a big role in that.
Dhananjay Nene
18 Nov 09 at 4:29 pm
And you seem to have completely misunderstood the whole notion of proof and evidence. The onus of proof is on the one making the hypothesis. I have not made any hypothesis whatsoever in the context of Marathi …
It’s your claim that the people are unjustly feeling cynical and are prejudiced in thinking that Marathi is under siege as you explain in one comment here:
What this post actually emphasises is our thought that we are the aggrieved and others are guilty. It also points out that often we believe others are being cynically exploited even as we are unaware of us being victims of the same cynicism, craftiness and prejudices.
This is YOUR hypothesis that it’s a delusion. You need to prove that this is just delusion and not a real thing.
BTW, the Karnataka oath incidence was not without resistance. Vatal Nagaraj protested and it was exactly the same situation that Sanskrit or English was not resisted but Marathi was resisted. It didn’t lead to physical level only because it didn’t involve Azami and MNS together. But the rationale is same.
If a Marathi insists that the assembly proceedings (please note, the proceedings and not the oath) be done in any other language than Tamil in Tamilnadu assembly it’ll be considered attack on Tamil language and state of Tamilnadu. I find that justifiable. Similarly, anyone demanding any other language for proceedings in Maharashtra assembly is an attack on Marathi and Maharashtra statehood. The way you are worried about someone attacking India’s north boarders I’m worried about my language. We’ve similar feelings albeit about different things.
Your nation state concept is fragile. Not many “such” nation states have survived long in the history. The main reason India in not yet disintegrated is mainly due to the status-quoist attitude of the populace at large. Who bothers these days about nation except at the superficial level of a cricket match? There too, it’s more about us vs them. Not during the team selection. If Ganguly is out, Bengali’s feel offended and take it to streets. Not because of worries about India’s loss but because a ‘Bengali’ got dropped. That is why, the concept of India as a nation based on some book (constitution) is flawed and riddled with excess baggage. If India becomes something like a European Union it’ll be of great help to most of the people here and their respective cultures and languages. Till then, she’ll be pushed and pulled in opposite directions again and again from within and will keep dragging her feet.
Please remind me the significant contributions to the world. Remember, it’s India of age 63 that I’m talking about. Compare and contrast with other nations. Reflect why it is so.
swabhashanishth
18 Nov 09 at 6:50 pm
swabhashanisth
I have never believed actions such as speaking in a different language is an attack/invasion etc. That to me is the very first example of the aggrieved / guilty syndrome. That we are cynically exploited is a statement based on what I see happening in various states in India. I could drag references, observations into this but that simply takes the focus of this away from the essential topic – India first. So no thank you for the request for “proof”, but I have stated what I wanted to – you have the freedom to choose to not believe it if that is not consistent with your observations.
I have been careful enough to not make this a Marathi vs Non marathi post. Suggest you don’t unnecessarily drag me into it. Thats not to say I don’t have strong feelings about it. Its to say my feelings extend equally strongly to where Indians discriminate against each other if and whichever side of fence Marathi happens to be in that particular incident.
With regards to the remainder of your thoughts on Tamil, Bengali etc., my philosophy remains consistent. India First. My beliefs are not a function of how others behave – they are a function of how I think I should behave and that still remains India first.
And finally on your thoughts about India. I believe India will do what it has done. Lumber, slumber, straggle, wobble even as she eventually does triumph. And triumph she will. As will the notion of the Indian over the various subcategorisations.
Fair enough – you do have a point of view and so do I. I think we can healthily agree to disagree even as we allow full power of expression to everyone involved. A power that stems to us from the book you refer to as “some book(constitution)” and I have all the more reason to feel even more attached to that same book – because it grants me the very freedom and liberties that a sheer variety of parochial movements all across India are out to stifle.
Dhananjay Nene
19 Nov 09 at 11:11 am
[...] Inspired by this post http://dhananjay.nene.in/2009/11/india-first/ [...]
I am an Indian at carpe diem
30 Dec 09 at 9:09 am