The Bangla Dream, Part 5 - Shuddho
Shuddho - শুদ্ধ
At the stroke of midnight hour, the Fabian Dream found itself in-charge of a neutered nation. Its aspirations for the eleventh hour worker were suddenly subjected to the annoying distraction of the forced displacement of millions of people within their own nation. The reality check of Partition finally forced the Fabian elite to pay attention to a group of people they had been condescending and ignoring for decades: the old Muslim elite of India.
Did the Fabian elites really think that an organized minority with a memory of “ownership” over Hindustan that lasted centuries, would not want a share of the country? That they wouldn’t have ambitions of shaping the Subcontinent’s future according to their will? That Khilafat wouldn’t evolve into Partition? As we all know, this other Elite had Dreams of their own. And it could only have been enabled by a willing victim: a Fabian elite who refused to - did not want to - see the truth for what it was. Of course, we unfortunately know this tragic tale ends. The fruit of the Fabian faux-pas was a searing line drawn at the two limbs of the nation. Naipaul famously said in his book A Bend in the River:
“The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it.”
Unfortunately for us, this Fabian Elite did have a place in India: at the very top.
We must understand, however, that the reality of Partition did spring the minds of our Fabian elite into action. We might think of their behavior in this period in terms of cowardly inaction, but they were acting. Just not in the way that was required. They “accepted the reality” of the violent vivisection of the nation, but also thought of it as an important event that needed to be dealt with in a very particular manner. This approach to the fallout of Partition created the third ingredient of the broth that is the current Dream of the Legacy Indian elite: শুদ্ধ (Shuddho).
The delicious irony, of course, is that this discussion about about the শুদ্ধ Dream cannot be had without us getting very, very অশুদ্ধ (Aushuddho).
The first thing we observe as we wade into the শুদ্ধ Swamp, is that the primary goal of the শুদ্ধ Dream, even while the Panjab and Bengal were still bleeding, was to “ensure the safety” of the Muslims who chose to remain in India after Partition. In the শুদ্ধ mind, a hard line needed to be drawn in the sand after August 15, and everyone was to start at ground zero. Despite the nature of the facts at hand, শুদ্ধ decreed that Indian Muslims, even their elites, were not to be blamed for Partition in any way or form. And to accomplish this, the শুদ্ধ Dream felt that it had to fight every actual, as well as perceived, criticism of Islam in the Indian Subcontinent. This is not too different from the behavior of a parent trying to fight back criticism of a spoiled child. And this sense of “parental responsibility” is a good way of understanding the শুদ্ধ urge to bury their heads, and to force us to bury our heads, deep into the sands of the Thar desert. The শুদ্ধ mind also naturally thinks it is doing this for a good cause: the “Communal Harmony” of the nation. They are definitely the heroes of their own story. They are the good people fighting against hatred. This is the noble lie of the Legacy Elite, a sense of enforced-harmony that must be maintained at any cost. Any cognitive dissonance and contradictions produced by the execution of the শুদ্ধ Dream are simply ignored.
It has therefore necessitated that every piece of cultural and historical memory be put through what I call the শুদ্ধ shredder. অশুদ্ধ (Aushuddho) goes into this magical machine, and শুদ্ধ (Shuddho) comes out on the other side, ready for us all to repeat, just like we repeat our puja prayers. Sometimes the shredder is formalized, like Shourie’s circular, but it more often acts on instinct. The শুদ্ধ Dream also has very particular requirements from a Dharmic person: their duty is to become a “secular person”, adopting an adjective that has historically only been used to describe States, not persons! The শুদ্ধ Hindu must always be repentant, and be constantly on-guard against the ever-advancing forces of “majoritarianism”. It is a state of constant praxis, and it is no wonder that it is attractive today to the younger elements of the Legacy Elite.
So the current শুদ্ধ equilibrium was conclusively established: a ceasefire agreement created to enforce the Commandment of Communal Harmony. Over time, however, this practical ceasefire agreement has evolved into a self-fulfilling mythos and ideology. This is what we know as “Indian secularism”: a post-hoc rationalization and idealization of a pragmatic ceasefire. This is the anatomy of the শুদ্ধ Dream, a deep moral impulse felt by our current Legacy Elite.
And this শুদ্ধ self-righteousness also means that they reject any efforts to make them see the truth for what it actually is. They obfuscate, deflect, pathologize, label, emotionally manipulate, but stubbornly refuse to accept the factual reality and causes of Partition. In the words of C.S. Lewis:
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
We all know what this tyranny, this শুদ্ধ Sophistry, looks like:
“Why are you digging up the past?”
“We need to look forward, not backwards”
“The British and Savarkar actually caused the Partition”
“If we accept that Islam caused the Partition, we would be no different from the Pakistanis”
We have all rolled our eyes while trying to reason with these শুদ্ধ prayers.
But there is another layer to this manufactured myth, one that I call “শুদ্ধ cynicism”. Because the reality is, if you actually talk to someone drenched in the শুদ্ধ Dream, and refuse to get carried away by the pathos (emotional appeal) of their arguments, you start peeling away the idealistic layers of the onion, slowly but steadily. And the bulbous portion of the শুদ্ধ Dream that remains is one of harsh pragmatism and cynicism. Once poked in the axioms, the replies suddenly change to:
“There is no other way to keep the peace in this country”
“There would be riots if we did not do this!”
“Do you know what would happen if we taught history honestly?!”
And suddenly, as the non-sequiturs, ad-hominems and insults are brought out, the শুদ্ধ Hindu in front of you gets replaced by a pale imitation of the British colonial historian’s view of India: if the British State and ruling class did not exist, these animalistic Indians would be at each other’s throats and devour each other. The internalization of the British Aristocrat’s Hegelian analysis of India is complete. The শুদ্ধ Dream makes just one modification to this: it replaces the British State with the শুদ্ধ equilibrium. (Ohh, and naturally, Indian civilization is not worth saving in the first place, because of Caste! and Sati!)
Only when one sees the cynical core of the শুদ্ধ Dream, can they understand it for what it is: a Tired Dream of a Tired Elite. A faulty dam built to stop an onrushing river. From the day of Partition, this শুদ্ধ Dream has been a death-row convict waiting for the day of his execution.
But despite these contradictions, the শুদ্ধ Dream successfully ossified itself in the institutions, and in an age without social media, also in the minds of a few generations of the Indian people. Perhaps it was due to the fact that the only other viable Dream in the 1950s-90s period was the Red Dream. To many, this haunting specter of a Red Takeover made the শুদ্ধ Dream look moderate in comparison. A great example of this is the criticism of Nehru by Leftist British historian Perry Anderson: “Where the Hindu majority ends, AFSPA begins”
If the only other viable alternative was calling Nehru a proto-Hindutva figure, would you not find the শুদ্ধ Dream comfortingly moderate?
There is more complexity to this story of course. The Fabian Dream part of our Elites’ thaali definitely started leaning towards a mimicry of Russia in the 1970s, but it was not a permanent mimicry. The Fabian Indians in the 20th century constantly oscillated between Ruskinism and Bolshevik Barbarism. Indeed, they played jump-rope with this line. So, for most of the 20th century, the শুদ্ধ equilibrium prevailed.
Eventually, due to a long list of complicated events (primarily the proliferation of social media breaking the iron-grip of the Legacy Elite over the minds of the people), the edifice of the শুদ্ধ Dream started cracking. The Demos, more educated and eager to have a say in the governance of their own country, started parsing through the details of the শুদ্ধ equilibrium, and were left in a state of confusion.
Why did the State employ the Brahmo Dream over the majority (essentially enacting Laïcité against them) but enacted Laissez-Faire for the minorities (in relation to one minority in particular)?
Why did the State grant some communities resources and complete freedom to manage their education, and not to others?
Unfortunately, the people of India started asking very অশুদ্ধ questions. And all they got from the শুদ্ধ elite in reply was cynicism, dishonesty and obfuscation. In the face of this groundswell of public opinion, the শুদ্ধ Dream retreated and started to bend, fulfilling the destiny owed to it by its creaky foundations.
Authored by Samyak Dixit. Published by Brhat.