Nationalism and culture, and the effect of their interplay on politics were discussed at various sessions on the final day of the three-day Festival of Democracy, a programme celebrating freedom, here on Monday.
Senior journalist Akshaya Mukul, author of the award-winning book Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India , who opened a session on the ‘Cultural construct of fascism’, said that the basis for Hindu cultural nationalism was laid years ago, and it was bearing fruit now. He said that publishers such as Gorakhpur-based Gita Press, which brings out books on religion, had emerged as one of the sole spokespersons of Hindus in the 1920s itself. It was set up to “correct the decay that had crept among Hindu youth” and to “take them back to the Sanatan Hindu dharma ” .
“The issues that their hugely popular journal Kalyan discussed are in circulation even now, like cow and the regressive approach to women. Though the journal was supposed to debate spirituality and knowledge, what they discussed was highly political. Every election they tell their readers who to vote for,” he said.
In their first issue, they talked about the “Hindu-Muslim problem” and suggested that the solution lies in Hindus putting up a united fight to “give it back to them.” On issues such as Hindu Code Bill, Gita Press, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and all other right-wing Hindu groups were on the same page. The so-called “religious publication” was worried about the advance of communism too, he said.
Historian M.G.S. Narayanan, who earlier spoke on Indian nationalism, said that nationalism in India was not as old as it was being projected. It evolved over a period of time as a movement against the common enemy, the British. Members of lower caste groups, however, were outside its ambit. Mr. Narayanan claimed that August 14, 1947, should be described as the “day of murder” of Indian nationalism as the country was divided into two parts on the day.
M.K. Raghavan, MP, who opened a session on ‘Why freedom should be celebrated?’, said that at a time when Opposition members were not allowed to talk in the Lok Sabha, the future of democracy was in peril in the country. Writer T.D. Ramakrishnan spoke on the need to build resistance movements to fight the “fascist tendencies” gaining ground across the country.
