Madras Literary Society by N S Ramaswami : A Review

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and book

Madras Literary Society

Interior View

The Madras Literary Society founder in 1817 is one of the oldest Research Institutions in India, and perhaps like St. Mary's Church located in Fort Saint George, which is the oldest Anglican Church outside of England, this society ranks as a pioneering institution. There are references in the Early Chronicles of the East India Company to a House of Curiosities called the Pantheon, perhaps the eponymous road in Egmore preserves that memory. 

One of the strategies employed by the western world to enhance the reach of knowledge and gather the information about the world at large was through the establishment of Learned Societies. Charles II was the founder of the Royal Society and the model of having an institution which linked networks of commerce, shipping, military and scientific expeditions was keenly replicated in the territories of the East India Company. Thus Penang, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong all sprouted Royal Societies dedicated to the pursuit of archaeological and historical research. In this we may regard the Madras Literary Society as a pioneer.

The building in which the present Institution stands was probably built in the middle of the nineteenth century. The Society itself was much older. The precincts of the Madras Literary Society, along side the Kovum, was shared in part by the Directorate of Public Instruction which was mandated in the Charter Act of 1833 and the Madras Observatory which was one of the pioneers in the emerging science of Meteorology. Goldhigham  who worked here for several years was in many ways a pioneer in celestial Astronomy. It is really wonderful that such a historic Institution is now gaining attention.

The Madras Literary Society started publishing a Journal from 1833 which grandly called itself the Madras Journal of Literature and Science. Lasting until 1894, this journal was a remarkable venture. Supported entirely by public subscription it published some of the best pieces of contemporary research. Unlike today's API driven academics, the early contributors were men and yes, occasionally women who asked difficult questions and pursued them with passion. One of the most remarkable character was Col Colin Mackenzie who collected Historical documents from the entire length and breadth of the Company territories and the Manuscripts were first housed here before they were shipped off to London. Rev Taylor a Chaplin of the Anglican Church who presided over St Georges Cathedral for some time prepared an excellent catalogue of these documents. The collection of antiquities which included a hoard of Roman coins discovered near the Nilgiris were transferred to the Museum.

The book recently republished by the Society is an excellent introduction to the multifarious intellectual activities of the MLS.

The Terrorist attack at Pulwama, Kashmir: Politics vs Reality

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The attack on the CRPF convoy by a Kashmiri youth who drove his Scorpio packed with 350 kilograms of explosives into a bus carrying soldiers resulted in the massacre of 40 soldiers. The pictures circulated on social media show lifeless mass of flesh strewn all over the national highway. It makes shocking visuals. The Nation was shocked and numb with pain that is now turning to anger. The Pakistani terrorist organization, Jaish-i-Mohammad has claimed responsibility and there is growing clamour for resolute action. The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi speaking on behalf of the Nation has stated that this attack will not go unpunished. The immediate withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation Status for Pakistan seems to be the beginning and it is likely that the River Waters Treaty which guarantees the flow of water into Pakistan will be invoked to reduce or curtail the waters. The support for the militancy in Baluchistan will be stepped up and the long standing demand that the Pahstuns who are divided by the Durand Line be freed from the tyranny of Pakistan will also see some traction. However all these measure lie in the future. What are the realistic options to Punish Pakistan?

After the attack on the Indian Army e at URI, India launched a series of attacks against Pakistani militant targets across the Line of Control. Unfortunately the Congress Party and its allies politicized the reprisal attacks so thoroughly that is now unlikely to be used. The major attack on the Prime Minister was that he chose to launch the surgical strikes across the Line of Control in order to bolster his political image. This line of criticism is wrong because it attributes a political motive of a rather crass kind to a major decision. The objective behind the surgical strike was two fold: firstly, to demonstrate India's willingness to cross the LOC in hot pursuit and secondly to demonstrate Indian military and tactical capability. For tha past few years Indian special operation forces are being trained in the Negev Desert by Israel and the success of the surgical strikes proves that Israel has been helping India in every respect. As a long term policy India may try to develop the ability to strike first at known militant targets in Pakistan but as of now does not have the ability. Training troops such operations across the border is not an easy venture because the fractious nature of India's social fabric and also the lack of a unified political opinion across the spectrum. Paries like the Congress, the regional dynastic parties, the communist factions will start attacking the policy of defense through offense and thereby compromise Indian policy. Indeed the degradation of Indian Intelligence assets in Pakistan started with I K Gujral who was Prime Minister for a brief time. The 2019 General Elections must ensure a strong and stable Government if India has to deal with pakistani challenge successfully.

The most disheartening aspect of the present crisis is the senseless and tragic politicization of the tragedy. The former Hom,e Minister of India who served under the dynastic fascists, one Sushil; Shinde even blamed the Prime Minister's surgical strike as the provocation for the attack. In order to protect their vote banks in India the dynastic Fascists are even willing to give aid and comfort to the enemy. A resolute response can be expected but it will not happen immediately.

India I think is finally opening its eyes to the fact that if Pakistan survives as a nation it is a threat to India and the fact that the Islamic identity has not prevented Pakistan from falling apart in the past is now being given some traction. Pakistan is a highly militarized state armed with nuclear weapons. This fact alone atays India. But now, the time seems to be running out and gradually a political consensus which eluded India for long is emerging.

"Rahutatva": Ideology and Political Discourse in India

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Rahul Gandhi, the fifth generation Crown Prince of the dynastic fascist political party the Congress is propounding a new political philosophy in India and we can call it Rahutatva or the Political Ideology of Rahul. Like any political ideology this too is pragmatic in that it seeks to  explain complex interplay of politics by emphasizing certain discrete elements for the sake of coherence and simplicity. As an ideological system Rahutatva pits itself against an agenda of inclusive and all round development or vikas by invoking identity, religion and through the systematic instigation of caste and other such atavistic elements. Rahutatva is reductionist in its approach because it empathizes form more than content, rhetoric rather than reality, and is a discursive formula for endless rehash of certain pet themes.  And Rahutatva is like all ideological systems immune to the basic test of verifiability or truth. In fact Rahutatava abhors truth and it is immune to criticism as mere pronouncement as in the case of any self contained ideological system, enough to validate it.

Since the entry of Rahul Gandhi into the political arena we have seen a series of statements that have unfortunately started framinf the political discourse. Unfortunately Rahutatva is never critiqued as a whole. Parts of it have already proven to be false but that does not invalidate the whole structure of discourse beause the target has now shifted. The introduction of GST, a difficult and politically dangerous move was undertaken by Narandar Modi as the country needed to shift to a tax regime that is more transparent and generates more revenue. The Central Government and the State Governments have both expressed satisfaction over revenue sharing and the prices have not increased as a consequence. However Rahutatva demands that GST be declared a failure and oppressive and even though revenue figures show proof to the contrary, the negative propaganda must circulate as opposition to GST has taken an ideological turn.

Similarly the Demonetization is now being demonized as a highly oppressive attack on the fiscal structure of the country. True there were some major glitches in the implementation. However, the fact that tax compliance has increased 4 times, shows that the shock adminstered has had the desired impact. Also the corporate raiders and carpetbaggers like Mallya, Nirav Modi and others were projected as the favored  corporates of Modi. The fact is all of them got their huge bank loans only during the time when the Congress was dominating the Government and there is documentary proof of the collusion of the then Finance Minister with these corporate raiders. And Modi has succeeded in bringing them to justice and the Insolvency Act has enabled successful prosecution of these  criminals. Rahutatva must deny facts and the reality and with the help of certain sections of the media generates a discourse which is disengaged from the ground reality. Perhaps Post Modernist disregard for truth is at work here.

The Rafale Aircraft deal is another good example of Rahutatva at work. The Supreme Court has given its verdict on this bill and has said that due diligence and process were followed. Rahutatva disregards the wisdom of the Supreme Court as it is not interested in facts that contradict the premise of the discourse. Politics demands that truth and reality be set aside. This attitude toward Politics is not just nihilistic. It is Fascist in that there is no engagement with raw empirical facts. Like Dr Goebbels, propaganda substitutes for argument and facts. The recent controversy over the visit of the Clown Prince of the Congress Party to Shri Manohar Pariker is a case in point. Pariker was a former Defence Minister and now the Chief Minister of Goa and is dangerously ill. Using a courtesy visit to inquire after the health of the ailing CM, Rahul Gandhi true to his basic adherence to Rahutatve spun this visit into the Rafale Controversy by declaring that Manohar Pariker has provided an expalnation to him that he had nothing to do with the deal. Manohar issues a strong letter of rebuttal in which he called out the lies uttered by the man who seems to be incapable of telling the truth even by accident/

I have give a few example of what I call Rahutatva: a discursive rhetorical strategy in which truth is dispensed with and propaganda is the subsitute for evidence and argument. This is the essence of Rahutatva and is fascism in action. 

The Political Scenario for the BJP in the run up to May 2019 General Elections

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

This was written before the Pulwama Attack

The General Election that are due in 2019 are crucial for India. On the one hand we have the rumblings of discontent from sections of the rural population and on the other we have the gradual consolidation of fragmented political forces uniting under the banner of a "Great Coalition" or Maha Gattabandhan. What will be the BJP's strategy under these changed circumstances. We must also note that in the three major Assembly Elections held recently, the BJP lost all three without however, surrendering its vote share The BJP strategists have an unenviable task: they have to forge a winning strategy in a situation in which the NDA Government faces a double whammy: the consolidation of Opposition parties and the anti incumbency which is rising by the day. Since the BJP has a formidable election machinery it will be in a position to worst these challenges, but it needs thought.

The record of the BJP Government has not been bad, in spite of what the Indian Mainstream Media may say. The policies of the Central Government have had a direct bearing on the life and Livelihood of large sections of the Indian poor. The recently launched Health Insurance Scheme, in spite of its teething troubles, is a resounding success. The rural poor have benefited from this Scheme and like all other Schemes of the Government it is linked to ADHAR and is based on the direct transfer of funds from the Central Government to the Hospital in which the patient is treated. The financial inclusion project of the Government has enabled a large number of people to be drawn into the banking network and it is likely that, if the BJP returns to power, it will announce a universal household income to all eligible poor. This policy, may however, result in the gradual phasing out of subsidies. The Swachch Bharat Scheme is undoubtedly  a grand success. It may not have met all the parameters of cleanliness but India is certainly cleaner now than it was five years ago. The Infrastructure growth has been phenomenal and both road and air connectivity has improved. The UDAN scheme has resulted a a number of smaller towns including, Pondicherry, where this blogger resides, becoming linked. The fact that there has not been a single major instance of corruption itself is a testimony to Good Governance. However, in a country like India, Good Governance and Corruption free Administration are not guarantors of electoral victory. How else can we explain the defeat of the Atal Behari Government in 2004. the victory of Lalu Prasad Yadava in Bihar and the repeated successes of DMK and AIADMK in Tamil Nadu.

The Modi Government ignored some of the core issues of the constituents. The fact is that school text books still retain the same nonsense from the days of the UPA shows that the Central Government lacks the intellectual strength to take the task of rewriting the text books head on. Also the Government has prevaricated over the Ram Temple issue.  The issue has now boiled down to a title suit over the disputed site in Ayodhya and there are some like Dr Subramanian Swamy who have been calling for an Ordinance on the issue. Prime Minister Narendar Modi has ruled out an Ordinance on the issue. It is unlikely that the Ram Temple issue will have a decisive impact as people are aware of the fact that a premature declaration of intent will be challenged in the Courts and the matter will rest there for years to come. The recent Constitutional Amendment, the 124th Amendment, by which the institutionalized Identity Politics that prevailed for over 70 years has been given a death blow. The poor of the Upper Castes who were deprived of their share of jobs and educational opportunities will now drift toward the BJP and this segment will prove decisive in North India.

Does the Opposition unity augur ill for the BJP. In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP bagged 73 seats in 2014 and in May this number will come down by atleast 20 to 25. The electoral pact between the Samjwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) of Mayawati is not going to be a great threat to the BJP as the SC votes promised by Mayawati will not trasfer to the SP. BJP will win around 50 seats here provided the Party is able to sell its not inconsiderable achievements to the people. In Bihar, Madhya Pradesh Rajastan, and smaller states like Uttarakhand and Chatisghar the BJP faces an uphill task.

All over I predict that the bJP will get around 230 to 240 seats. It will not be the single largest Party. In Maharashtra with 40 seats, the BJP will face a recalcitrant Siva Sena. In Tamil Nadu except the seat held by Pon Radha Krishnan I dont see any chance. 

The Autobiography of Sashi Deshpande: An Award Wapsi Looks Back

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Indians do not write autobiographies or for that matter good History. The ability to reflect on the fleeting moments of time which constitute our lives and seize that moment even as it dissolves, is the stuff of History and autobiographers choose to locate their puny little lives against the grand events that unfold before their eyes, trying to find meaning for their existence. The Indian tradition of both autobiography and History is the katha, the oral narrative, a story. Sashi Despande has caught this peculiarity of Indian psyche by calling her autobiography,  Listen to Me. 

Sashi Deshpandeis the daughter of the well known Kannada writer and playwright, Shriranga. and she carries the burden of her father's astounding literary legacy rather lightly. Belonging to an educated Deshasta family from Karnataka with her family on maternal side having ties with Pune.

Add Listen to Me

 Her father was a teacher of Sanskrit in a well known college in Dhrawad where she was born and educated. It appears that her father had some vague sympathy for the fashionable leftist causes and hence lost his job and family suffered considerable humiliation as a consequences. Living on the handouts of well off relatives is not a pleasant experience and Sashi's early childhood memories are marred with such slights. Her sister studied medicine and her brother went on to get a Ph D in Physics from the University of Pennsylvania, USA. However tragedy was snapping at the heels and her brother lost his mind and died in NIMHANS, Bangalore. She writes about the events in her life with a sense of detachment and even candour. However, her autobiography reads like an extended Curriculum Vitae dwelling  on her external life-- the books she has written, the awards she received, the famous people she encountered and the literary impact she made in the field of Indians Writing in English. There is little about her personal life and the only character whom she allows us to meet from her life is her father. She even mentions that in a letter discovered after his death, her father wanted his children to stand on their own legs, a statement she promptly dissects using the categories of gender so popular today.

Being the wife of a successful doctor meant travel and she did not have to earn her livelihood and after the birth of her two sons she decided to dedicate herself entirely to writing. She penned 11 novels and a large number of short stories and she won the Sahitya Academy Award for her book, the Dark Holds no Terror. And  this brings us to her latest incarnation as an Awars Wapsi.

Sashi Deshpande is quite forceful in her denunciation of the Emergency and she also states that Rajiv Gandhi was to be blamed for the Sikh Riots that killed 5000 Sikhs in the national capital  after his mother was shot dead. These confessions are welcome as it established a certain authenticity in her work. However, as in the case of other Award Wapsi heroes her decision to return the Sahitya Academy Award was motivated by personal ties with Professor M M Kalburgi who was killed by unknown assailants. A tendency to blame the Right Wing for  all unfortunate events has become the credo of the so called Indian Intellectual. She rushed to return her award and was, of course , hailed as a great conscience keeper of the Loony Left

In spite of such unthinking forays into the public realm, this book is an interesting read. At least it is readable and there are occasional flashes of insight. While she does reflect on the plight of brahmins in India she does not denounce the discrimination that shadows them.

What China and India Once were: The Pasts that May Shape the Global Future A Review

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What China and India Once Were: The Pasts the May Shape the Global Future
Ed, Sheldon Pollock and Benjamin Elman
New York: Columbia University Press
2018.

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Sheldon Pollock has waded into far too many controversies in India, and I must say that his interventions have served no purpose whatsoever except to distract people from the seminal contribution he made to the study of Indian Literary Culture and History in his Language of the Gods in the World of Men. Unfortunately, Sheldon Pollock has become a highly divisive public figure and his broadsides against India and its politics are not his primary call for attention. He is a distinguished scholar and the book edited by him and Benjamin Elman are important interventions in the study of the histories and pasts of China and India.

China and India share a common historical trajectory. Both were highly sophisticated civilizations with a long tradition of scholarship: Mandarin in the case of China and Sanskrit in the case of India. Both were victims of foreign conquest and both civilizations had to deal with questions of political legitimacy, administrative control, protecting the frontiers. While China realized quite early that the Steppes of Central Asia posed a considerable challenge to the stability of the Middle Kingdom and constructed the Great Wall as a physical barrier against invasion, Indian rulers unfortunately had no such wisdom. India was easy to invade as the path to the Gangetic Plain was open to any invader who crossed the Hindu Kush Mountains. China dealt with its perennial problem of devastating floods by constructing the Grand Canal which connected the Yellow River with the Yangtze River, running across China for a length of more than 1800 kilometers. Remarkably this waterway was completed as early as the Tang Period , in the 9th century. Significantly, the new capital Beijing was now accessible to the grain growing areas of southern and central China. Indian dynasties hardly encouraged any construction of comparable social utility and value. The Mughals the contemporaries of the Ching and earlier the Ming were content building tombs and the Timurid rulers though blessed with both curiosity and insight did not attempt anything quite so spectacular. Obviously, there are historical reasons for the difference.

The book reviewed herein looks at a variety of cultural practices from a comparative perspective. Flora and Fauna and its social value in China and India form an interesting part of the first chapter. The elephant became extinct in China fairly early in its history. whereas in India it flourishes until this day. Though none of the rulers seem to have had a conscious conservation policy, India attitudes towards nature was far more reverential than in China. Long distance trade was encouraged at least till the end of the Ming Era. In India, the long coast line spawned a range of communities which specialized in long distance trade: the Kutchi merchants and the Chettiyars come to ones mind immediately.

The advent of modernity both in India and China are beset with both conceptual and historiographical issues. The periodization derived from western perceptions defy smooth transition both in the case of India and China. It is now recognized that both these Asian giants are now re-entering the Global Economy and if Sheldon Pollock is to be believed on their own terms. China has completely transformed its economy while India still struggles with the age old issues of caste hierarchies social problems and of course poverty. China has succeeded in areas in which India has failed miserably. The One Party system seems to have helped China and India's raucous rowdy democracy has been a drag on the energies of the nation. Perhaps the time has come to rethink the developmental paradifms embraced by these two Nations.

One point on which the book is extremely insightful is the History and its uses in both these countries. China developed a strong tradition of writing Local and Dynastic History from the early Han Dynasty. In India, Historiography did not make much headway until the arrival of the Turks who brought with them their own models of Historical texts. Perhaps the lack of critical thought except in the speculative areas of Linguistics and Philosophy may have inhibited the development of Historical ideas in India.

This is a good book and policy makers interested in India and China must read it.

Politics over Sardar Patel's Legacy

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The Patel Statue

There is no gainsaying the fact that History is being re visited today in India. Since Independence the State has propagated a version of history which, while serving the needs of the politically dominant party, the Indian National Congress and its central dynasty.has left a large number of gaping holes in the Narrative. Foremost is the question whether the Indian National Congress did enough to prevent Partition and its huge cost in terms of human life and suffering. Second, if Partition was inevitable as the "historians" of Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Leftist acolytes argue, can they tar all those who opposed Partition as "communal" elements "reactionaries" "obscurantists" and the list is endless. One reason for the lack of diversity in contemporary Historiography of India is the fact that the historical profession has been prevented from reassessing the role of the Indian National Congress in the Struggle for Indian Independence. The recent attempts on the part of the Modi Government to draw attention to the contribution of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose and Sardar Vallabha Bhai Patel are step in the right direction.

First the Statue. One of the many canards that are being spread by the mainstream media is that Modi seeks to "appropriate" the legacy of Sardar Patel. It is unclear hos the mere dedication of a National Monument is appropriation of a legacy. Also there are those in the Congress party who say that since the Patels are restive and are no longer the backbone of the BJP in Gujarat, Modi is seeking to assuage Patel Asmita or Pride. Reducing Patel to a mere icon of caste identity is to distort and undermine the stature of Patel. But then who has ever accused the Indian National Congress and the Dynastic Fascists of caring for people's sentiments or historical accuracy.  The fact is the Nrendra Modi proposed the Memorial to Sardar Patel in 2010 long before he became Prime Minister and in 2010 there was no sign of Modi emerging as the Prime Minister of India. By distorting the very chronology there is attempt to politicize the Monument. Construction began in 2013 and this was also before Modi became the Prime Minister. Projecting History backwards in a teleological arrangement is the favorite tactic of the JNU bran of Historiography and of course, give it a political spin to make that distortion resonate with "progressive" opinion.

Then the cost. The cost of the memorial works out to be 2854 crores. A huge sum of money. The justification for this spectacular Monument lies in the manner in which Patel was treated. A fact that is little recognized in modern Historiography of India is that Patel was chosen by 12 out of 15 Provincial Congress Committees to head the Congress in 1946 and would have become Prime Minister in the Interim Government. Nehru forced Gandhi to seek the resignation of Patel. A repeat of the Bose fiasco all over and given the enormous respect Patel had for Gandhi he stepped aside and let Nehru become the Prime Minister. This singular fact is hidden from History. Further, as the first Home Minister of Independent India, Patel welded the fractious assemblage of princely states into a united country using a subtle blend of tact and force. Junagadh and Hyderabad are good examples of Patel's strategic thinking. The only state/riyasat that was out of Patel's purview was Kashmir which was handled by Nehru directly and it continues to fester till this day. Patle wrote a letter to Nehru about the designs of China and this too Nehru ignored. Further, Nehru the patrician educated in the White Man's land treated Patel with open hostility and took delight in publically humiliating the great statesman. This factor contributed to the early death of Patel in 1950 and Nehru went on to live for 14 long years after the exit of India's saviour. Given this History, there is need to rehabilitate the Memory of this great Statesman. Nehru awraded himself the highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna and many in India seek to have that honour revoked. Sardar was honoured on in 1991 during a brief respite from the pestilence called dynastic rule.

Netaji Subash Chandra Bose remains an enigmatic personality in Indian History. He created the Indian National Army out of the prisoners of war captured by the Japanese in Singapore and turned them into a major force to liberate India. There is no doubt, as Clement Atlee said that it was the Indian National Army that finally convinced the British to leave India after the War. And again Netaji was forgotten. In fact Nehru even conspired with the Soviets to have Netaji declared a "war criminal". The alacrity with which Nehru declared that Netaji had died in the plane crash in August 1945 shows that Nehru was not interested in Netaji returning back to India. The return of Netaji would have meant the end of Nehru's dream of founding a Dynasty and keeping the Office of Prime Minister within his family. Modi rightly acknowledged Netaji's contribution by raising the National Flag on the ramparts of the Red Fort. Finally the fact that Netaji established the First Government of a  Free Independent and United India has been recognized.

Thus there is a great deal of scope for a revision of the dominant hegemonic discourse on modern Indian History. The congress centric narrative rests on distortions evasions and hagiography. It is time to change that and Narendar Modi has begun the task.