HVK Archives: Delving into Dharma
Delving into Dharma - The Times of India
Sandhya Jain
()
May 6, 1998
Title: Delving into Dharma
Author: Sandhya Jain
Publication: The Times of India
Date: May 6, 1998
We are currently witnessing a spate of writings voicing
misgivings about the Bharatiya Janata Party's hidden agenda, and
rejoicing that the compulsions of coalition politics have forced
it to shelve contentious issues, notably the construction of a
new temple at Ayodhya, abolition of Article 370 conferring
special status on Jammu & Kashmir, and implementation of a
uniform civil code. Such writings ignore the spirit of the
change underway in society, and the extent of the ground covered
by the party since it assumed its present incarnation 18 years
ago.
Surprisingly, even eminent political and social scientists
continue to assess India's new ruling party in terms of the
sterile yardsticks of communalism and secularism; and display an
amazing ignorance of its genesis and objectives. Indeed, they
betray a poor understanding of the Indian concept of political
leadership in general, and this may account for the failure to
properly appreciate the burgeoning assertion of the aspirations
of the majority community that has been taking place under the
auspices of the BJP.
Theories of nationhood and statehood shaped by our colonial
experiences uphold the state as a neutral arbiter between the
competing aspirations of various social groups that comprise the
nation, and fail to appreciate that Indians as a people cannot
conceive of the state as morally neutral. This was the reason for
British unease when quitting they knew Indians would eventually
balk at the exclusion of dharma from the public sphere. It could
also explain the West's discomfort at the prospect of the culture
and ethos of the Hindus occupying the national centrestage by
natural right.
Twin Concepts
In India, dharma was the basis of kingship and legitimacy,
regardless of the ruler's personal religious or sectarian
preferences. Learned Brahmins interpreted dharma according to
the needs of the age, and bestowed legitimacy on the ruler(s). At
the popular level, dharma was disseminated through mythology, the
stories of just and pious rulers, famous sages, etc. It is
important to note that it was not really the Brahmin who
conferred legitimacy, but dharma that did so. Dharma was eternal,
but it was not rigid or unchanging.
It was dharma, in the guise of Mahatma Gandhi's ahimsa the
poignant fact of his death with the name of Ram on his lips, and
Nehru's personal moral code and refined sense of justice and
right, that enabled the Congress to dominate the polity in the
decades after independence, even though it professed an ideology
alien to the spirit of the people. I would add that his awareness
of the Indian concern for state morality led Nehru to subtly
project his twin concepts of socialism and secularism as the
modern-day heirs of dharma, and to modify the strict neutralism
enjoined by secularism to give a better deal to the Harijans (now
called Dalits).
It is no secret that the intelligentsia assented to Nehru's
secularism because the trauma of Partition had shattered its
confidence. What is not equally known is that the proposal for
"Hindu Rashtra" failed to take off because its proponents had no
clear notion of what such a nation entailed, and how different
citizens, especially minorities, would fare in it.
Change in Ethos
>From the dawn of freedom, the Hindus retained an indefinable
sense of needing something, and to my mind this led to the
otherwise inexplicable collapse of the Congress in northern India
in 1967. The search to define India's nationhood in terms of her
own cultural moorings, however, could not make meaningful headway
so long as it took the form of non-Congress or anti-Congress
alternatives.
Both Morarji Desai and Mr V P Singh were too self-righteous to
understand that the people were not merely rejecting the
financial profligacy, corruption or highhandedness of a coterie
or a party; they were seeking a change in the ethos of
governance. Neither Desai nor Mr Singh could comprehend the
dynamics of dharma, which is not a static soulless concept, but
rather a driving force for restructuring the public realm to make
the state non-predacious, and make it supportive of public
enterprise and responsive to public needs. Obviously they failed
to change or improve the system, or even ensure the longevity of
their respective governments.
Ever since the BJP began to make strides in the first-past-the-
post electoral system, it has become fashionable for commentators
to bemoan the 'distortions' of the Westminster model in practice.
In reality, India has merely been interpreting and adapting this
model in light of her own genius. Hitherto, its negative
features have revealed themselves - the emergence of caste and
communal votebank, and the possibility of electoral victory on a
minority vote percentage through strategic alliances of caste and
community. Now, however, the time has come for positive changes
in the people's perceptions to manifest themselves
The BJP's espousal of the Ram Janmabhoomi cause can be said to
have triggered off a fundamental shift in the political paradigm.
Outwardly, an attempt to reclaim the birthplace of Lord Rama, the
movement was actually a potent force to bring dharma back into
the public sphere as the central organising principle of Indian
politics. Mr L K Advani's Ram rathyatra and suraj yatra were
important exercises in translating the concept of dharma from the
domain of mythology and scripture to the public realm. That is
why, despite the seeming reverses suffered by the BJP in the
aftermath of the reclamation of the Janmabhoomi, the movement
actually gathered momentum, and pushed the boundaries of
aryavarta beyond the Vindhyas.
The BJP's success in casting dharma as ideology gave it the
thrust it needed to break out of its north India-Hindi heartland
mould, and acquire a presence in virtually every region and
state. The early projection of Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, with his
impeccable record of rectitude and probity in public life, made
it easy to identify him as a maryada purush. The leitmotif of the
recent elections is undoubtedly a positive assertion of Indian
nationalism, without the negative overtones that have accompanied
such an effort in the past.
Rain Temple
Critics deride the BJP for "betraying" its mandate by postponing
the reconstruction of a new Ram temple - an issue which brought
down the V P Singh government and saw the defeat of the Narasimha
Rao-led Congress. Theirs is a classic case of missing the wood
for the trees. Certainly the BJP heads a fragile coalition, but
it has already, through the rigorous manipulation of public
awareness over the past few years, implanted the ideal of maryada
purushottam in the minds and hearts of all Indians.
Already a new political chemistry has been created, as witnessed
by Mr Chandrababu Naidu, Mr Farooq Abdullah, Prafulla Mohanta and
Mr Om Prakash Chautala's decision to cooperate with the new
regime.
The and arithmetic of the caste-centred, minority-based,
'secular' parties has also failed to add up. The rest will no
doubt follow in good time.
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