On Saturday 19 May 2007 8:39 pm, Abhijit Menon-Sen wrote: > Frankly, it's sometimes hard to escape that impression -- even though I > know it's not true -- without ever having heard of Nussbaum's book. The > "vocal minority" seems to enjoy a frightening amount of support from > "ordinary people".
Empirically this appears to be true in my opinion. Hindutva has more widespread support than is generally recognized. The Hindutva that people support is not exactly the same violent Hindutva that is depicted in the media and in Nussbaum's article. However the violence - or the threat of violence is always there when it comes to "Hindu issues". Except for the elite, there is (again in my opinion) a general Hindu lack of empathy for anyone who asks people to be repentant about the riots in Gujarat. The general sentiment is that the Muslims had it coming to them, and there is a curious lack of remorse or regret about that, despite the "vocal minority" of the other kind - the liberal global Indian who also gets heard and puts up he pretence that there is widespread repentance and apology for the Gujarat riots in India. There isn't. What I am getting at is that entities like the RSS and BJP are taking the rap for sentiments that are more widespread than people will acknowledge. Since these sentiments are no threat to Hindus, and 80% are Hindus anyway there is no pressure to read or understand the sentiment. Parties opposed to the BJP and other Hindutva parties find it quite convenient to blame Hindutva parties for some things, while their own voters and party cadres can be as "Hindutvic" as needed - since the country is full of Hindus anyway. The same Hindus voted in the BJP, later booted them out and voted in the Congress and have now voted in the BSP in UP, booting out both the Congress and the BJP. Connecting electoral results with religious sentiment in India is just like Western "South Asia" experts saying "Islamists have got only 0.7 percent of the votes in Pakistan - so there are only that many Islamist supporters in Pakistan". Such are the myths propagated by "scholars". It is partly for reasons relating to these observations that the article hurt me. There is a Hindu sentiment that needs to be acknowledged. Hindu sentiment has some things that are in common with the sentiments expressed by the "Hindutva" groups. Most "scholars" making general observations about Hindutva do not have a clue about where Hindu sentiment ends and where Hindutva begins. They sometimes end up treading roughshod on Hindu sentiment when their ostensible intention may have been to be critical only of right wing Hindutva. The problem with this is IMVHO manyfold. The "average" Hindu, who actually does go around believing that his faith and his temples have been under assault sees more insults as being "par for the course" and he has stopped caring. Nowadays he is making money to boot, ensuring that he need not be apologetic or subservient to any viewpoint other than his own. Martha Nussbaum's nuanced attacks have a ripple effect on others down the line who carry forward such arguments and I believe she has scored a self goal in some ways. For example - she calls for improvement of the law and order apparatus. That is fine and dandy, but in India 80% of the people are Hindus and many are walking around with a chip on their collective shoulders. The policemen too are Hindus and they too carry a narrative of subjugation (like everyone else), that Nussbaum insultingly refers to as feelings of failed masculinity. Such a conclusion can only be insulting, and does not in any way accurately describe the chip on the Hindu shoulder. The policeman's lack of action in a communal riot because of a personal grouse he has about another community is something that should be taken seriously and not explained away as failed masculinity and a right wing Hindutva plot. It is deeper than that. India will not become a fascist state, but it won't give up Hindutva either. But this cannot be understood as long as scholars are making up facts to suit their narratives. If you have several hundred million people with a grouse it pays to be realistic and try and suss out what is bugging them, rather than pretending that the grouse is restricted to some mysterious minority Hindutva parties who can take the blame while everyone else carries on being angry and ready to condone the death of every Muslim. In a country of 800 million Hindus, it is stupid to be derisive or insulting of Hindu sentiment. It would be far better to get to the bottom of what is bugging Hindus. And something is bugging them alright - which is exactly why Abhijit-Menon-Sen says " it's sometimes hard to escape that impression -- even though I know it's not true -- without ever having heard of Nussbaum's book. The "vocal minority" seems to enjoy a frightening amount of support from "ordinary people"." My only disagreement with him is his statement "even though I know it's not true". It is unfortunately at least partially true. shiv
