[INDOLOGY] Ananya Vajpeyi on Hindutva, caste, and Brahminical values

[Tyler Williams]

Dear friends,

Thank you for sharing Vajpeyi's and Tufail Ahmad's articles.  In the case
of Tufail, I find it difficult to take seriously (in a strictly
intellectual sense) the political analysis of a writer who opines
 "Conservatives are rooted, truthful and pessimistic. Liberals are hopeful,
divisive and untruthful when describing realities."  Ahmad's suggestion
that those who desire justice should simply stand back and wait to see what
the state does ignores the thrust of Vajpeyi's (and others') arguments:
that a state ruled by an explicitly fundamentalist party (be it the BJP or
any other party) is not going to do anything in such a case as this.
Public agitation is necessary in order to keep the state accountable, and
to hold elected representatives (including the Prime Minister)
responsible.  To ask for justice through protest is not simply 'liberals
playing politics'.

Similarly, Tufail ignores what Sonia Faleiro (see her Op-Ed in the New York
Times <http://nyti.ms/1KVCBVn>) and others have been pointing out for some
time: that the frequency of attacks on scholars, writers, and religious
minorities has increased observably since the installment of the current
BJP government, and the government has been noticeably silent and
uninterested in pursuing the causes and groups responsible for this
spreading violence.

This is because the enactment of violence upon scholarly, religious, and
caste communities are not isolated phenomena but closely linked-- exactly
what Vajpeyi is trying to point out.  Ahmad and others seem willing to deny
this, but as scholars (one of the groups under threat) I don't think we
have the luxury (moral or material) to ignore such structural and
ideological linkages.

Best,
Tyler Williams


On Wed, Oct 7, 2015 at 1:53 AM, Nityanand Misra <nmisra at gmail.com> wrote:

> Here is a different view by Tufail Ahmed, former BBC journalist and
> Director of South Asia Studies Project at MEMRI (Washington DC), on linking
> the mob-lynching to Modi and the NDA government:
>
> http://indiafacts.co.in/indias-thought-cops-are-angry-with-modi/
>
> Also notable are the statements of Mohammad Sartaj, son of Mohammad
> Akhlaq, published by The Times of India and Firstpost today. Sartaj says he
> wants justice, not politics over his father's killing:
>
>
> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Dadri-lynching-We-want-justice-not-politics-says-Akhlaqs-son-Sartaj/articleshow/49250333.cms
>
>
> http://www.firstpost.com/india/dadri-lynching-case-do-not-politicise-my-fathers-death-says-akhlaqs-son-2456684.html
> On Oct 6, 2015 10:07 PM, "Audrey Truschke" <audrey.truschke at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> This may interest list members:
>>
>> The Reactionary Present, by Ananya Vajpeyi, The Hindu.
>>
>> "Under a government of the Hindu Right, India is witnessing yet another
>> phase of reaction and orthodoxy, a return to medieval Brahminical values
>> that seek to monopolise rights for a select few and turn everyone else out
>> of the body politic."
>>
>>
>> http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-reactionary-present/article7727181.ece
>>
>>
>> Audrey Truschke
>> Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow
>> Department of Religious Studies
>> Stanford University
>> e- <audrey.truschke at gmail.com>mail <audrey.truschke at gmail.com> | website
>> <http://www.stanford.edu/~truschke/>
>>
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