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THE POLITICS OF HOPE: PEOPLE’S RESILIENCE AND RESISTANCE IN CATASTROPHIC TIMES India: People’s Resilience and Resistance

Jayati GHOSH (Jawaharlal Nehru University, India) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs1IO5_bKSY
Anuradha CHENOY (Jawaharlal Nehru University, India) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u_idNvmwx4 
Palagummi SAINATH (People’s Archive of Rural India, India)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKk1N1NKUqw 

Centre for Cultural Research and Development, Lingnan University, Global University for Sustainability

Decade without Census data: Governing blind in Amrit Kaal  https://www.deccanherald.com/specials/decade-without-census-data-governing-blind-in-amrit-kaal-1226721.html  M G Devasahayam, Jun 11 2023

In the absence of data, the government makes tall claims about its achievements based on the inputs into its programmes, rather than on the basis of outcomes. Those who question it are dubbed ‘anti-nationals’. Now, there’s even the threat of the government setting up its own ‘fact-checking units’ and to punish those publishing ‘fake news’, when the fact of the matter is that the government itself does not have reliable data on any aspect.

A story was reported on June 2 with the headline, ‘Bengal couple accused of being ‘Bangladeshi infiltrators’ freed from Bengaluru jail after 10 months.’

The couple were Palash and Shukla Adhikari, who were accused of being foreigners. They spent an extra month in jail after getting bail because they could not produce local sureties.https://thewire.in/south-asia/akhand-bharat-south-asia-politics 

Another story, somewhat related, was reported the same day with the headline, ‘Political leaders in Nepal object to ‘Akhand Bharat’ mural in new Parliament’. The story explained that ‘Akhand Bharat’ was a concept espoused by Hindutva nationalists envisaging that neighbouring countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka would become a part of India. Lumbini – the birthplace of the Buddha – is in Nepal but features on the map in the new parliament.

Both of these are again in a way related to something else.

I am writing a book whose title is The Case for Akhand Bharat, which is an attempt to figure out two things.

First, if Indians, especially Hindus of the Bharatiya Janata Party type, really want to unite South Asia, why are they not trying it except in paintings and murals?

Second, what would it take to actually bring about an ‘Akhand Bharat’?

The answer to the first question is easy. The BJP and Hindus who back it do not want a united South Asia. What they want is an empire with subjects. A party ruling India with no Muslim minister or MP or MLA is not going to be attractive to the woman in Chittagong or enthuse the child in Peshawar. What the BJP wants is land, it does not want the people. Look at Kashmir to understand.

It is a reality that the thinking of the Indian elite, as presented to the world in the new parliament, is juvenile and unreal. But it is also a fact that needs to be acknowledged and engaged with.

‘Akhand Bharat’ will not come about through crayons and murals.

by Aakar Patel

06/06/2023