Hyderabad: Day One of the two-day seminar on ‘Perils to and Preservations of Harmony and National Integrity’, organised by Hyderabad Collective, started off with invitees Professor Gopal Guru of Jawaharlal Nehru University and journalist P. Sainath taking the current state of affairs head on.
Professor Guru introduced the question, ‘what is nationalism?’. Considering the word nation as an “adjective”, the political theorist said one force cannot “dictate” what the term meant. “For example, how do women view ‘nation’? Is it a nation with patriarchy or is it an egalitarian term for them? For Dalits, the word nation has several interpretations and it depends on where they stand in the societal order.Is it an inclusive nation for them? What I’m saying is that nation cannot mean just one thing. We need the freedom to assign different meanings of the word nation. Let ‘nation’ exist in its plurality,” he said.
Professor Guru was speaking on the topic ‘The Nation and Nationalism’.
He continued: “But what if nation becomes a proper noun? As an adjective there is an element of self awareness at play. As a proper noun though, it becomes self confident. You are so confident about yourself, your definition that you do not want any additional meanings or interpretation. You are content with one definition. For example, you make it Modern India... that’s it, no more options.
“But here the problem is you have to defend your assertion — your claim. If you maintain it’s ‘Modern India’ you are ignoring the vital traditions we evolved from — because a nation is an evolving entity. Also, a modern nation requires a modern bureaucracy which is free from caste. But that’s not our reality. So how can your nation be modern? You have to ask these questions.”
In his concluding points, Prof. Guru also touched upon nationalism and its relation with the defence of the country. “We talk so much about our borders. But money keeps crossing our borders. The real lines of control are within our society. Unless we check these problems, we cannot progress as a nation,” he added.
