Homogenisation of society by pushing a single political ideology, religion and a particular type of identity augments the cultural degradation of plurality
By Nayakara Veeresha
The decline of political morality among the national and regional parties is effectively corroding the constitutional philosophy and democratic tradition in the country. The principles of morality in politics have stooped too low with the rise of greed for power among political parties rather than using politics as a tool of social transformation.
Democratic Decline
• The increasing rate of political repression and the normalisation of authoritarian governance through means of violence: The role of neo-liberalism and its expansion through state’s active intervention is the heart of the problem. The appropriation of citizen’s rights using Gramsci’s concept of hegemony through identities such as religion, race, caste, class, gender and symbolism is the biggest strength of neoliberalism as a political ideology. At the same time, the state does not hesitate to use its coercive mechanisms to indoctrinate these subjective identities as part and parcel of politics.
• The weakening of resistance movements by suppressing dissenting voices in a democracy: The decay of democracy is substantial in this case than the ideological politics in the first place. The heavy-handedness of the state on the dissenting voices is a death knell for democracy and consensus governance.
• Homogenisation of society by pushing a single political ideology, religion and particular types of identities: This augments the cultural degradation of plurality in democracy
• Increased militarisation of the “social” in place of democratisation with security and surveillance agencies is getting a primary stake in directing the path of governance
• Undermining of political values such as freedom, liberty and rights which constitute the core of liberal democracy
At this critical juncture, it is necessary to look into Mahatma Gandhi’s Ahimsa as an instrument to rebuild the socio-political order in the nation. The motive behind Gandhi’s Ahimsa and its principles was the result of Kasturba Gandhi and her nurturing of Gandhi. The patience and endurance shown by Kasturba Gandhi were remarkable and led to the principles of Satyagraha and non-violence.
Supreme Court’s Observation
Last week, the Supreme Court observed that preventive detentions are serious in nature and stand in contrast to the right to privacy and liberty of the citizens. Freedom of opinion and thoughts is the precondition of liberal democracy. Liberty is essential for the growth of a healthy nation. Recognising the importance of Gandhi’s contribution to promoting peace and non-violent societies, the United Nations declared his birthday (Oct 2) as the International Day of Non-Violence in 2007. The UN General Assembly resolution states: “the universal relevance of the principle of non-violence” and the desire “to secure a culture of peace, tolerance”.
Globally, the Russian Revolution and Arab uprising signify the need to look at the constitutional methods for resolving the issues of socio-economic and political inequality and the concerns of rights and justice for the most disadvantaged sections of society.
In the Indian context, the 55 years of Naxalbari insurrection and the so far experience of left parties, including the CPI (Maoist), necessitate revisiting their political strategy to bring social change in the country. To sustain our democracy, it is pertinent to remind ourselves of Ambedkar’s great caution which was expressed in his last speech of the Constituent Assembly, “we must do is to hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving our social and economic objectives. It means we must abandon the bloody methods of revolution. It means that we must abandon the method of civil disobedience, non-cooperation and satyagraha”.
Anthropopolitics
The above paragraph highlights the limitations of revolutionary methods in facilitating social changes to ensure equality, justice and democratic rights. We, as a society, are yet to systematically infuse the concept of Gandhi’s Ahimsa to delineate an innovative and creative antidote for humane governance and politics. This calls for human-centric politics where the rule of love prevails over the rule of force/hatred. It may be called anthropopolitics, a politics which evolves and expand through various insurrections from below, combining the sensitivities of human collective responses in situation of social disorder and political instability.
The non-revolutionary methods, including non-violence, is critical to building a peaceful global order. It is pertinent here to recollect the Fragile States Index, Annual Report 2017 which notes that “a long-term commitment to peace and reconciliation, poverty reduction, and economic growth collectively contributes to a government’s legitimization, and ultimately, the stability of its country”.
With regard to the recent developments in the world where nations are showing their military strengths and the social and political upheavals in the Global South, we can go back to Mahatma Gandhi: “What is happening today is disregard of the law of non-violence and enthronement of violence as if it were an eternal law”. The current politics in India can be best described as Gandhi’s “Politics without principles”.
Ideological Politics
Given this ideological politics, the concept of Ahimsa has great relevance not only to Indian politics but also to developing the Indian Social Revolution through peace and non-violence. The strength of Ahimsa has its potential in moral and philosophical tenets to evolve revolution through a human transformation but not through human destruction.
In times of darkness where governments stop citizens from exercising their freedom of speech and expression, Gandhian peaceful methods are the only ray of hope in this crisis of consciousness and feeling. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan rightly expressed on Gandhi: “He was the only ray of light to help us through these darkest days”. Let us rededicate ourselves to the path of Ahimsa which will be a true tribute to Mahatma Gandhi.
(The author is PhD Fellow, Centre for Political Institutions, Governance and Development, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru. Views are personal)