India's many voices: Conversations on culture, democracy, and dissent

Can writers, artists, or citizens exist in a political vacuum? This collection of conversations by Githa Hariharan delves into culture, democracy, and dissent

This Too is India: Conversations on Diversity and Dissent

Author: Githa Hariharan

Publisher: Context

Pages:  347

Price:  Rs 599

 

This book is a collection of 20 interviews with 20 figures from different walks of life, including writers, translators, artists, filmmakers, theatre persons, musicians, dancers, teachers and activists. All the conversations, which cover issues concerning culture, democracy and dissent, are edited versions of videotaped interviews or lengthy exchanges on email, most of which were published in their original form on the Indian Cultural Forum’s website. The core point of the book is a question that Delhi-based author and editor of this anthology Githa Hariharan asks: “Is it possible to be a writer or an artist, a reader or a student or teacher, or indeed a citizen, in a political vacuum?” The answer is provided in the questions, debate, dialogue, and conversations in the book that highlight the many facets of the Indian nation and society.

 

Nayantara Sahgal was among the first of a group of writers who returned their Sahitya Akademi awards in 2015 in protest against the growing attacks on free speech, rationalism and diversity. Two years later, she spoke to Ms Hariharan on how the nation is being transformed in the name of Hindutva— through violence, exclusion, the suppression of dissent, and the growth of an ideology that parades as religion and distorts Hinduism. “We must heed the warning that we are not a Hindu Rashtra yet. We are very much a secular nation, and we must remain that way,” Sahgal cautions.

 

In 2016, Ms Hariharan spoke to historian and teacher Romila Thapar about how Jawaharlal Nehru University has time and again taken up issues beyond the university— from the neighbourhood to the city and the country. According to Dr Thapar, lectures at JNU are more like “discussion lectures.” “Institutions do not exist in a vacuum. They have a social context. If you create a situation in which an institution is attacked by  the social context, then you destroy both the context and the institution,” she explains.

 

In 2019, Ms Hariharan spoke to activist Martin Macwan about the injustice Dalits and Adivasis have continued to face in recent years. According to Mr Macwan, the atrocities have continued even though the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance coalition made promises to both these communities during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. “Unfortunately, caste discrimination has generally been perceived as the problem of Dalits rather than the problem of the nation, though it is the biggest challenge to the Constitution of India and its core value of equality,” he writes.

 

Though born in a poor family of labourers, Chinnaiah Jangam went to school and several institutions of higher learning. He now teaches at Carleton University, Canada, and works on the social and intellectual history of Dalits in modern South Asia. In an environment where NCERT textbooks are diluting accounts of caste discrimination, anti-caste figures and movements, and Dalit lives, Dr Jangam believes that India is walking backwards in terms of social justice and the equity agenda. “In a few decades, India will witness significant upheavals by the dalit-bahujan as they are being left behind, crushed under the weight of both brahminism and the crony capitalism, which flourishes in this nefarious tie-up between the state and global capital,” he writes.

 

Dalit writer and feminist Bama Faustina Soosairaj’s autobiography Karukku brings out the fact that caste, class and gender are the three axes on which discrimination plays out in the country. There are countless examples of Dalit students, among them Rohith Vemula, who take their lives because they are unable to bear the burden of day-to-day prejudice. “We need to equip ourselves to fight against caste. And standing firmly on the idea, we can extend our solidarity to other groups, other movements, and fight for everybody’s equality, fraternity and freedom,” she says.

 

Karnatik vocalist and writer T M Krishna, well known for his “musical activism”, spoke to Ms Hariharan in 2015 about, among other things, the casteism that exists in the world of classical music. “It makes it very difficult for those not part of the brahminical environment to break through,” he says. Moreover, he points out that the gender bias in Karnatik music is blatant and obvious. “The officialdom of Karnatik music is also a male bastion, making the environment quite difficult for women in general,” he adds.

 

In 2018, Ms Hariharan spoke to Padma Shri Shashi Deshpande about the fact that it is gender that separates the powerful from the powerless. She also reiterates that home is where inequalities and patriarchy begin. Ms Deshpande also spoke about dissent, feminism and the role of a writer amid the growing polarisation in the country. She underlines the fact that dissent is important, whether as a woman, a writer, or a citizen. “Democracy means dialogue, debate, discussion. To stifle dissent is to take away the voice of the people,” she writes.

 

Linguist, translator and activist Ayesha Kidwai talks about how the nature of the public space in a city like Delhi was completely altered by Partition. Ironically, Partition made the public space available to women. “Women who had never stepped out were in the kafilas and caravans of the displaced; women and children were all over the place as victims,” she writes.

 

Under the name Volga Popuri, Lalitha Kumari has written about women’s lives and their struggles to be free partners in the political, professional and personal spheres. In 2023, she spoke to Ms Hariharan about building a nuanced sisterhood that can take us closer to a more “inclusive solidarity”. “The modern woman is one who steps forward to fight inequalities in whatever form she chooses,” she writes.

 

The reviewer is a freelance writer based in New Delhi