Democrats and Dissenters


***1/2/*****                                                                                                                                     Essay/Anthology

Democrats and Dissenters
Ramachandra Guha

Ramachandra Guha trained as a sociologist, but is known mostly as a historian amongst readers. His most popular book till date has been a contemporary history of post-independence India ‘Indian after Gandhi’. But it’s difficult to straight jacket Guha’s considerably vast oeuvre of writings into a narrow category. He has written on environment, tribals in India, biographies, sports, history and politics. This collection of his essays portrays his wide-ranging scholarship. Essays are divided into two sections: politics and society, and ideologies and intellectuals. Through these varied topics, what shines constantly is Ramachandra Guha’s unstinted commitment to liberal democracy, his vehement opposition of narrow jingoistic, popular, and chest-thumping, hyper-patriotic nationalism and his rigorous scholarship. He ferrets out greatness from our history where there is only an apparent intellectual void while simultaneously criticizing little appreciated failures of our republic and nation. He is an unabashed Nehru admirer and I can perceive his pain as he writes an impartial essay on the long demise of Indian National Congress. In a scintillating article he expounds on threats to freedom of expression in India. In the present socio-political milieu, where extreme right-wingers- with an all too apparent condonation by the government of the day-are attempting to force an extremely narrow interpretation of patriotism, nationalism and religious expression on our society, this essay is not only timely but a necessity. All individuals who believe in supremacy of individual freedom must read this. In an essay Guha ingeniously compares the democracy in India & Sri Lanka with an emphasis on Kashmir imbroglio in India & Tamil problems in Sri Lanka. He expresses his opinion on legal options that democracy offers its citizens, to voice their opposition to the government’s policies. His discomfiting opinions will surely raise heckles of many nationalists brimming with patriotic fervour. He writes about the abject neglect of tribals by our republic in another essay. The second section includes his essay on well-known leftist historian Eric Hobsbawm whom he praises effusively but without losing sight of his dogged devotion to left ideology, little known Gandhian Buddhist Dharmanand Kosambi, and Guha’s teacher and historian Dharma Kumar, amongst others. In a brilliantly incisive essay, the last in collection, Guha attempts to uncover the reasons and consequences of lack of scholarly intellectuals with conservative ideology in India today. In the absence of such right-wing academicians, a rightist government appoints people with doubtful academic and intellectual credentials as head of institutions like Indian Council of Historical Research, Film and Television Institute of India, Directors of renowned schools of advanced studies, in a blatant attempt to foist a fanatic interpretation of culture and history on the nation.

This is a thought-provoking book. Guha offers his arguments fearlessly but in a civilised, suave prose-which in itself is anathema to his detractors- supported by extensive research. His language is simple, easy on eyes and mind alike and beautiful too.

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