From: srinivas@vision.crd.ge.com (Chukka Srinivas)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Re: hyderabadi muslims, patriotism etc.,.
Date: 21 Dec 92 02:15:54 GMT
Organization: GE Corp. Research & Development, Schenectady, NY

In article <1h2o9fINNdrq@function.mps.ohio-state.edu> vidynath@function.mps.ohio-state.edu (Vidhyarath K Rao) writes:
>In article <1992Dec20.210028.25002@crd.ge.com>
>  srinivas@vision.crd.ge.com (Chukka Srinivas) writes:
>|>A majority of Indian people, be it Hindu or Muslim, belong to the first
>|>category. On the top of it, Indian muslims have an added burden of being a
>|>poor and illiterate minority among a constantly suscipicious majority.
>|>Naturally, they feel much more insecure than Hindus. I am tired of repeating
>|>this -- People identify with the nation only when they feel that it
>|>addresses thier interests.
>
>One of the great ironies of the current situation is that Hindus are saying
>the same thing, about themselves. Except of course, Hindus have no other
>object to which they can transfer their "loyalty" (except such things as 
>Ram Janma Bhoomi, perhaps).
>

I do not know whether a majority of Hindus really feels that
way.  ( I really hope not).
And even if they, I do not know how much they can blame
for thier problems on muslims and secularism.

And if the Hindus, a majority, really perceives that way
we are going to see much more difficult times for the
minorities and everybody. And next, the attention would
turn to each and every weaker section in the Hindu society
and transform the country into a facist country.
That is what I am afraid of with the current communalisation
and criminalization of every aspect of our society.
And, this is going to happen if we people and the current
Indian political leadership does not start addressing the
day to day real problems of common people.

>|>IF a majority of muslims (or any other group X) feel that India is not
>|>serving their interests, they have as much right as you to demand and fight
>|>for thier own country and decide what they want to do.

>
>This is a two-edged sword. What happens if Indian Hindus say the same thing?

Same principle holds for them too.
If majority of Indian Hindus, as a group, feel strongly that
Indian Govt.  is not addressing thier interests, there will
be movements, struggles and militant attacks against Indian 
State. Without taking people interests into account, it will
be difficult to hold the country together. We will be
facing much more voilent times.

Nationhood cannot be imposed on people for a longtime.
For people to start to identify with the nation, the
country and the people have to go thru tough times.
Till then, the concept of nation and national unity,
what it represents remains weak.

(For example, if the majority of people in the country do not
want to be secular, however noble it may be, over long run
it will be not possible for the country to be secular.
People have to address this difficult question: Whether
they want to be secular? Whether it serves thier interests?
Only if they get convinced that it is in thier interest,
it will survive.  Till then, it remains vulnerable.)

And our history does show that this does happen.
For example take anti-hindi movement in Tamilnadu,
the separtist movements in different parts of the country,
the dalit movement, the tribal movements etc.
As more and more sections of people become aware of thier
rights, they are going to demand thier share in the pie.


The outcome of these movements can go either way - 
the country can come out more integrated, mature and
vibrant or broken apart. 
A lot depends how the country and movement's leadership
handles it. And that depends how mature and visionary the
country and it's leadership is. And how mature is the
movement's leadership is.

>
>
>-- 
>Vidhyanath Rao			It is the man, not the method, that solves
>nathrao+@osu.edu		the problem. - Henri Poincare
>(614)-366-9341			[as paraphrased by E. T. Bell]

-srinivas.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian