Hamid Ansari expresses caution against Hindutva agenda

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, December 29, 2014: Amid the ongoing controversy over Right-wing organisations’ Hindutva agenda, Vice-President Hamid Ansari expressed caution against propagating a homogeneous national identity in the context of the country being home to over 4,600 different communities.

The Vice-President, while speaking at the 75th session of the Indian History Congress on Sunday, said the idea of a homogeneous nation is problematic and advised against connecting history and faith. "Our 4,635 communities, according to the Anthropological Survey of India, is a terse reminder about the care that needs to be taken while putting together the profile of a national identity," Ansari said.

Historians’ nod

Historians attending the event voiced their agreement with Ansari. "What he said was very topical for the current time. Any effort to homogeneous culture is not good for our country. We value divergence and differences in our culture and practices," said historian B.P. Sahu, who teaches at the Delhi University.

Ansari pointed out that the global scene in modern times has been replete with complexities and tensions of what has been called the national question. "We live in a world of nation states but the idea of a homogeneous nation state is clearly problematic. Diversity is identifiable even in the most homogeneous of societies today," he said.

He also warned against any straightjacket edifice for national identity that met with failure in other societies. Ansari said the pluralist structures in India that have stood the test of times for over six decades need constant nurturing. While highlighting the practical relevance of history, he asserted that history also cannot be faith-based.

"The domains of the two exist separately and conflation does not further the cause of either," he said.

"History helps us to know and learn from the mistakes of the past. Those mistakes relate to frailties in judgement leading to mistakes in statecraft and governance. These, as one historian has put it, could be due to tyranny or oppression, excessive ambition, incompetence or decadence, and folly or perversity," he said.

The Indian History Congress session was held at the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus for the first time.

Ansari said, "It is no longer a matter of debate that history has to be more than narrowly political or economic. The imperative is to make it comprehensive and inclusive of neglected groups in society."

He also expressed the hope that an approach similar to the Look East policy would be formulated in the future for the region to the country’s west covering the Arabian Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and the East African regions.

"Not much historical research work has been done on certain other regions," the Vice-President said.

The situation of historical scholarship relating to Afghanistan and Central Asian republics is no better. Works worthy of mention relate to the period before 1947.

Each of these societies is relevant to us in economic, strategic and social terms... each necessitates much greater scholarly attention," he said.

 

Courtesy: Indiatoday