The naked truth: Kejriwal’s non-secular politics

“Tarun Sagarji Maharaj is a very revered saint, not just for Jains but everyone. Those showing disrespect is unfortunate and should stop.” Aam Aadmi Party’s chief Arvind Kejriwal recently tweeted allegedly in response to music composer Vishal Dadlani’s suggestion that the Jain monk’s address to the Haryana Legislative Assembly was “monkery”.

There is one matter that needs to be addressed before moving on to the problem with Kejriwal’s tweet; the manner in which Tarun Sagar’s nudity has been the object of much ridicule, horror and debate. For those who remember, Goans had their own opportunity to deride the Digambara Jain monastic practice where monks do not wear clothing. This was in April 2015 when Digambar Kamat participated in a procession led by another Digambara Jain monk, Pranam Sagar Maharaj, through the city of Margao. Not only was Pranam Sagar the object of much hilarity, but this derision was extended to Digambar Kamat, even as there were attempts to initiate legal proceedings against the monk for obscenity.

As was rightly pointed out by the spokespersons for the Jain community at the time, it was the unfamiliarity with Jain practices that led to the complete disbelief among large segments of the Goan population. However, despite learning that some Jain monks do give up clothing in their practice of austerity, there were still a number of Goans who were not mollified. Their reaction was similar to that of some in Goa who felt that Tarun Sagar too was engaging in an obscenity and ought to be prosecuted for such act.

Both Tarun Sagar and Pranam Sagar are engaged in a practice that, in the final analysis, is not in fact hurting anyone. Just as in the case of the outrage people feel when women or men are dressed in a manner that they feel is inappropriate, if one is offended by their nudity, one need simply turn away. Of course, that both the monks were in public spaces raises the issue of how we, in a country with such a diversity of social practices, are to share public space. However, this is a matter that needs to be addressed through nuanced debate, rather than resolved through police action. At the end, this use of state violence is a fascist resolution to complex social challenges.

I was, therefore, mystified when people raised Tarun Sagar’s nudity when they responded to his sermon in the Haryana legislative assembly. If reports are true, his being dressed would not have made his address any less problematic. Sagar suggested the need for state legislations to be subservient to dharma (i.e. brahmanical morality), just as he suggested that wives ought to be disciplined by their husbands. While actively promoting hatred for Pakistan, Sagar also continued the tradition of making brahmanical sensibilities with regard to the river Ganges a guide for state policy.  Kejriwal’s tweet could have addressed Dadlani’s tweet by making the case for a respect for social practices – such a monastic austerity – while also problematizing the content of Tarun Sagar’s address. It should be mentioned that not everything Sagar expounded on was problematic. For example, he did condemn the practice of female foeticide, and the presence of criminals in politics. There was every opportunity for Kejriwal to show that he was serious about creating a political environment where we can have nuanced debate. He opted to sidestep the problematic content, however, and only express his devotion to the monk.

It is this aspect of Kejriwal’s politics that is deeply disturbing and suggests that he may not be the resolution of our political problems that he presents himself as. Indeed, through many of his actions, including his response to Dadlani, he demonstrates that he is part of the Hindutva continuum. 

Kejriwal’s affinity with Hindutva was first on display when the anti-corruption rallies he organized along with Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev, both proponents of Hindutva, featured Hindu nationalist images of Bharat Mata. Subsequently, there was Kejriwal’s decision to attend the World Culture Festival organized by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living movement earlier this year despite the fact that the festival was being organized in contravention of existing guidelines. Not only did Kejriwal attend this event but, while appearing in his capacity as Chief Minister of Delhi, also played the role of a devotee of the god man just as he did in the case of his tweets in defence of Tarun Sagar. In the case of the latter not only did he indicate that Sagar was revered by many, but demonstrated his personal devotion to the man by adding in a subsequent tweet that “I met Shri Tarun Sagarji Maharaj last year. Our family regularly listens to his discourses on TV. We deeply respect him and his thoughts.”

As I argued in an earlier column, Kejriwal violates principles of secularism by actively bringing in Hindu imagery into politics (I recognize that Tarun Sagar is a Jain, but there is not the space here to elaborate how some aspects of contemporary Jainism work with Hindutva). In this latest action, Kejriwal demonstrates that he is no different from other politicians to the extent that he is willing to be populist to remain in power. He consistently participates in Hindutva politics by portraying himself as a devotee of godmen in the Hindu spectrum, and clearly sees no problem with the same. There was not a whisper about Tarun Sagar’s problematic comments, including the suggestion that dharma must guide secular legislation.

In such a case, it turns out the Kejriwal may be no different from other politicians that we are subject to. In the previous assembly elections, many Goans voted for the BJP because they thought they were voting against corruption. In the upcoming elections, AAP is asking Goans to vote for them for a similar reason. Goans should avoid falling for a limited agenda that focused on corruption and a narrowly constructed idea of good governance and realize that what is at stake in Goa is not some narrowly constructed economic corruption, but in fact a commitment to secular values. One should beware the Greeks (in this case, the Delhi-based leadership of AAP) who come bearing gifts. If we don’t, our Troy will surely fall.

(First published in the O Heraldo dated 6 Sept 2016)

AAP Goa as Colonial Agent?

While large numbers of its members are no doubt motivated by a genuine interest in redressing the many ills that plague Goan electoral democracy, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Goa could in fact be seen as antithetical to the pressing needs of Goans,  pushing an agenda that other national parties, operating from Delhi have done before. If the traditional national parties like the Congress and the BJP had helped, with the help of local elites, to usher in forces of unbridled capitalism in the guise of development and Hindu nationalism in Goa, AAP seems to be operating within this same model. The only difference is that AAP promises that it will deliver Goa from rampant corruption. And yet, when examined from the perspective of the nexus between New Delhi and local dominant caste landed elites AAP’s claims of difference and salvation fall flat on its face.

To examine the claim of this Delhi-Goa colonial nexus we need to explore the case of the much-vaunted Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA) or Save Goa Movement. While it was spurred on by the genuine concerns of many Goans as to the way Goa was being destroyed, one could also see in it the operation of colonial power. The GBA appeared at a particular moment in Goan history, when land in Goa came to be eyed by external, i.e. Indian, realtors. Thus, the existing concerns of the larger populace were whipped to frenzy by the local elite to ensure that it was the interests of the local land-owning classes and construction firms that was secured. After an initial amount of muscle-flexing, that demonstrated to external realtors the power of the local elite the movement was effectively killed, when the representatives of the GBA on the Task Force for the Regional Plan (RP) 2021 resigned their positions.

As a result of this regrettable history, nothing emerged out of the GBA except for a paralysis of the Regional Plan process, even as the real-estate business continues as usual.  Indeed, the lesson that if foreign capital wants to enter Goa it would have to be in partnership with the local elite seems to have been learned admirably in case of the usurping of Tiracol by Leading Hotels. This unfortunate outcome, however, is very much in keeping with the history of popular movements in Goa since 1961, where the manipulation of the Goan population, and especially the bahujan Catholic populations of the Old Conquests, by dominant caste elites has been a standard. In every movement, one sees that the upper caste elites gain greater autonomy for unaccountable behavior, while the masses that agitate receive no benefit at all.

These forms of Goan politics seem to be repeating themselves under the AAP. To begin with, as many have pointed out, the way the AAP is operating, by focusing on the fears of the populations in the Old Conquests suggests that it is repeating this old formula of merely harnessing Old Conquest fears to ensure the success of the upper-caste and elite class leadership. While one need not be immediately suspect if one is upper-caste, the fact that the leadership of AAP, both in Goa, as well as in Delhi is almost exclusively upper-caste is a matter of grave concern.

What is also interesting about AAP Goa is that one can deduce in it the desire of well-meaning non-Goans who have settled in Goa to influence local politics. This desire to participate is welcome, indeed many of them come with exciting ideas that we can benefit from. But one nevertheless needs to question the balance of power under which this happens.  A number of Goa’s problems are in part the result of Indian desires to settle here, as well as the manner in which Goa has been hitched to India. As individuals, we are very often also unconscious representatives of large structural powers. As such, the fact that the articulation of so much of AAP’s outreach is in compliance with a national culture, manifest through the Gandhi topi, the Hindi sloganeering, even the Hindi language outreach of the leaders, makes one question which structural interests are being served, the nationalist designs of the AAP, or those of the average Goan? Is Delhi, or the desires of the national elites, dictating what happens in Goa, or do Goans dictate what happens in Goa? The dominance of Hindi in the outreach of AAP Goa seems to suggest that it is formulating an agenda that wishes to be in sync with the assumptions of the Delhi outfit.  In such a context, especially where Kejriwal chose to holler Bharat Mata ki Jai, what is the position of AAP on Special Status for Goa?

Further, AAP Goa has the grandiose scheme of contesting all 40 seats, with the apparently single point agenda of combating corruption. But is there really a lack of critical issues in Goa that one must focus solely on corruption? In this context, it should be noted that in a rather long interview with the Indian Express, Valmiki Naik secretary of AAP Goa, noticeably skirts issues critical to the bahujan and marginalized groups, such as that of the vexed Medium of Instruction issue. Besides, it can argue that corruption narrowly conceived as economic corruption alone is the most important agenda only when one is speaking from an upper-caste position. Viewed from a bahujan perspective, whether Hindu or Catholic, it is the destruction of the twin evils of Brahmanism and Hindutva that emerges as the priority. While not an insignificant issue, dealing with corruption can come later. A failure to realize this priority, once again because it is the local dominant castes that are in control of AAP Goa, will ensure that the placing of 40 candidates in the fray will only result in the splitting of the anti-BJP vote, and the BJP’s eventual success. A refusal to heed this reality will suggest that AAP’s designs are geared more towards local dominant caste assertion, as well as towards the desire of AAP Delhi to make a national mark, rather than addressing critical Goan needs.

A leaf from Goan history should offer good reason why AAP Goa should heed this caution. In the run-up to the first elections In Goa under Indian rule the Indian National Congress (INC) was extremely confident of a sweeping INC victory in the 1963 elections. Such was its confidence, that as Parag Parobo has pointed out in his book on early post-colonial Goa, the All India Congress General Secretary K. K. Shah announced that the INC did not require any special manifesto for Goa. All of this while tickets were given almost exclusively to individuals from dominant castes. Just as supporters of AAP today dismiss the need for a regional party, so too in 63 the INC was also confident of success because of its national location. And yet the INC experienced a crushing defeat at the polls. Not only did they not gain a single seat from Goa, but in many locations the candidates lost their deposits. The moral of that election was that local issues, not national were critical to electioneering, and secondly that issues of caste justice cannot be ignored and simply dismissed. The result of that election should offer sobering advice for AAP Goa that in many ways could be said to be repeating those mistakes.

This is not, however, necessarily the end. Merely because it currently threatens to operate as an agent of colonial rule, there is no reason, especially given the genuine concerns of large numbers of its members, that the AAP in Goa cannot reinvent itself. The question is, will it?

(This post was not published in any newspaper.)