W’end Links: Fences, Paperback Messiah, Young Politicians, Amarnath

Dear All:  This weekend reading is in a different format from previous ones…Please do give me your feedback or indeed other ideas for improvement. Thanks a lot.

***

“Demography is destiny”, said Augustus Comte, a French philosopher of the 19th century. Demography, to use a simple definition, means the religious, cultural, or any secular, composition of a nation’s population. As the French were the first to understand the ideas of nation-state and national interest that originated in the 18th and 19th centuries, they could realise the criticality of demography to a nation-state. History testifies that shifts in ethnic or religious demography materially alter people’s identity, attitudes, nationality and even worldview.

A recent example of what religious demographic shift could do is the separation of East Timor as a Christian state from out of the Muslim-majority Indonesia, simply because 99 per cent Timorese had become Christians. A decade before, it was politically incorrect to talk of religious demography.

…

…When will secular India realise that demography, not geography, is nation, and demography, not iron fence, is the border?

Read S Gurumurthy on why fence is not the border:

***

I am the Bengaluru launch of Chetan Bhagat’s 2 States: The Story of My Marriage. Publicity has been minimal—a single message on Twitter is responsible for most of the youngsters trooping in. Some are young enough to be accompanied by parents; others come straight from work, laptop cases slung over shoulders; most seem to be college

…A screen loops TV clips of Bhagat: interspersed with upbeat stock music, a breathless voice informs us that after book sales in the millions over the past five years, Bhagat recently quit his ‘well-paid job’ as a banker. Cut to Bhagat chiming in earnestly, “I am the poster boy of Indian middle-class success.”

…Bhagat has said he thinks of himself as 90 percent entertainer, ten percent reformer. This mix ensures that his novels occupy a strange literary register, one in which stories dealing with social concerns are written using the conventions of pulp fiction. In the tradition of pulp, Bhagat’s books employ linear plotlines, simple language and short sentences. Readers speak fondly about how quick-paced Bhagat’s books are and how they never get boring…

…Interestingly, none of the Chetan Bhagat readers I interviewed seemed particularly aware of any larger message or intention in the books. Kavitha Gopinath, an ardent Bhagat fan, works for a telecom company in Bengaluru and was an enthusiastic audience member at the launch of 2 States. She says about Bhagat, “For me he’s the ultimate entertainer. His books are effortless to read.” Asked about the larger significance of his books, she says, “Honestly, I didn’t realise there was any. It was only when he spoke about it during the launch that I went, ‘Oh. Okay.’”

…Bhagat may well be the poster boy of the middle class, but it must be noted that he is the poster boy only of the middle class. The dominant narrative of our times would appear to be one of middle-class aspiration, tracing the collective march of the Rajats towards UB City. But the middle class accounts for only five to 30 percent of the population, depending on whom you ask. One of Bhagat’s fans tells me that he didn’t like the film Slumdog Millionaire and the novel The White Tiger because they show India in a poor light. His complaint is not that what was shown was unconvincing or untrue; it is that such things were portrayed at all. There is no such danger with Bhagat’s novels: they are set entirely in a middle-class world. Perhaps Bhagat will widen those horizons in books to come.

Read Srinath Perur on Chetan Bhagat, the Paperback Messiah

***

…The abode of Lord Shiva, Amriteswara tirtha, is a pilgrimage precious to Hindus; the Shiva lingam manifests itself in the holy cave of Sri Amarnathji. The yatra to Sri Amarnath is as old as the history of Kashmir and Neelmat Purana bears testimony to this. Rishi Kashyap, Adi Sankara, Vivekananda and the common Hindu find peace and solace in the darshan of the Holy Lingam; the soul is entrenched in the divine manifestation.

A levy of Rs 15/- from each yatri (pilgrim) for registration was not considered sufficient by the authorities, so they imposed a charge of Rs 2,800/- per day (earlier Rs 300/day) on the buses and trucks, and Rs 2,300/- on light vehicles, carrying food supplies and pilgrims, in addition to the toll tax on entering the State of Jammu & Kashmir at Lakhanpur. The State Government has not stopped at this, and has further sponsored the radicalisation process by asking the Langar committees, which constitute religious and social organisation, to deposit a non-refundable sum of Rs 25,000/-! At the same time, the area on which the langars are to run has been considerably reduced.

…It will be pertinent to watch what the UPA chairperson will do about this tax on Amarnath, as it was her mother in-law and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who desired the concrete flight of stairs to be made in the 1970s; Indira ji’s love for Shiva and Shakti is well known. Her interpretation of Kashmir was not Islam, but the thousands of years of Advaita Shaivism and Shakti – the fountainhead of Indian Hindu Sanskriti and heritage. She would visit Amarnath and a Shakti peeth in Kashmir with deep devotion…On a recent visit to Saudi Arabia, First Lady Gursharan Kaur, the Prime Minister’s wife, insisted on wearing her usual dress of sari and half-sleeve blouse. Will she stand up this time too?

Will the Prime Minister, for he had said:

Deh shiva var mohe hai shubh karman te kabhun na daroon na daroon ersoh jab chahe laroon, nishche kar apni jeet karoon
[O Siva, grant me the boon that I will never fear to do the right action That I will not fear, will fight when I want, and with determination will be victorious]

– Guru Gobind Singh

Nancy Kaul writes about the Jazia on Amarnath yatra.

***

There has recently been some lamenting over the fact that India’s young politicians have not yet given any evidence of being capable of changing the nature and character of Indian politics. Instead of creating new paradigms, many are being accused of succumbing to reactionary discourses around caste and religion. Worse still, many politicians of promise seem silent spectators on the big issues of the day, generating doubts about their capacity to lead in the future.

While it would be unfair to generalise across a whole generation, the concern about their future leadership potential is not trivial. There is also a strange paradox at work. While the younger generation is being asked to identify with young politicians, it is also more difficult to construct a credible picture of what young politicians stand for, the strength of their character, and their skills as politicians.

…
Everyone laments that young politicians are not given more space and responsibility. But this lament is itself a reflection of the fact that young politicians are not a force to reckon with. In politics, no one gives anyone power. Power has to be created. If young politicians are finding it difficult to do it, it is already a sign of their weakness. Power can be lost by reckless risk. But the reverse is also true. Power also cannot be created without sticking your neck out a bit, without risking something. For how else do you become a focal point for an alternative imaginary? The sad fact remains that there is not one single young politician who has been known for any forward-looking visionary stand that carried with it some risk. The disquieting thought is that this condition is likely to endure.

Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes about the The young and not-so-bold

and finally…

Last week, Pakistan’s Lahore High Court ordered the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) to ban Facebook, YouTube and Wikipedia until May 31, when the court will conduct a hearing on whether to make the temporary ban permanent. The ban is a response to “growing sacrilegious content” on these sites, including most prominently the Facebook group “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day!”

…

But should the Pakistani government limit constitutional rights for fear of what extremists might do? For one, if the government is concerned about public disorder, why hasn’t it issued statements warning potentially violent actors that acts of violence will be severely penalized by the government? The government is focusing on the blasphemous depictions as the underlying problem rather than the individuals who react to them violently. The idea is that blasphemy – real or supposed, intentional or unintentional – would anger some Muslims, who will then cause destruction or otherwise act violently.

Yet Pakistan’s approach is deeply flawed as it protects the wrong party and provides the wrong incentives. The Facebook ban appeases rather than controls violent extremists, giving them license to react violently. Instead of penalizing the speaker in order to prevent violence, the government should compel potentially violent actors to regulate their own behavior. Violence is far more effectively controlled if states enforce those laws which punish criminal behavior.

Read Asma T. Uddin on Protecting the violent?

Have a safe, relaxing weekend.

Past weekend readings are here.