“We need to recognise that India is a collection of minorities, not a ‘Hindu majority’ country.”[i]
My daily night walk felt unusual on the eve of the Ram Mandir inauguration in Ayodhya. Walking through familiar lanes, the sights around me were different. Saffron flags atop every second balcony, life-size posters informing residents about the ‘livestreaming’ of the ‘auspicious’ ceremony, a group of SUVs and sedans, all brandishing ‘Jai Shri Ram’ streamers and stickers, patrolling the area, instilled a kind of uneasiness. How is it that my consciousness was unable to identify or even seek even a semblance of devotion from my decked-up surroundings? Was my response to the much-awaited fanfare unfair and rather unbecoming of a Hindu? Were we welcoming and honouring peace, divinity, and religious tranquillity or trying to establish one-upmanship and propaganda?
Nivedita Menon’s latest book, Secularism as Misdirection: Critical Thought from the Global South (published by Permanent Black in 2023)came to my rescue. The book is thematically divided into seven sections. As a concept, an ideology, and a way of living, secularism is critically examined through the lenses of religion, caste, race, citizenship, gender, psychology, capitalism, ecology and environmentalism. In the guise of championing diversity, plurality, and inclusivity, Menon urges her readers to not miss the wood for the trees. What is being sanctioned and appropriated in the name of ‘modernity’ and ‘development’ is in alignment with the goals and motives of capitalist patriarchy, hegemonic Brahminism, and Hindu supremacist politics. Menon is not debunking or abandoning the ethics of secularism in a democracy. Instead, she is attempting to demystify the unquestioned and undisputed glorification of an ideology that could, or maybe it already has, end up serving the interests of a handful in positions of power and political authority.
This is a work of immersive scholarship that compels readers across disciplines and backgrounds to identify gaps and loopholes in the functioning of our democratic and secular society to arrive at plausible solutions and remedies through engaged critical analysis and intellectual curiosity. The Introduction goes beyond the usual act of summarizing the enclosed chapters. Exhaustive and comprehensive in intent, Menon puts the context of her decade-long work in perspective by presenting arguments, ideologies, and theories that have informed and shaped her responses to issues of capitalism, patriarchy, caste and class, migration, and socio-politico-economic situations in India and the world. Countering hegemonic practices and foregrounding multiple and diverse forms of resistance and dissent to institutions of power and privilege lies at the foundation of this book.
The term, ‘global South’, Menon defines is not restricted to the universal or conventional categories of geography or ‘developmental discourse’[ii]; rather, it is about breaking free from the shackles of Eurocentric narratives by understanding the idea of location and space that challenges and defies the prescribed positivist framework of knowledge production. In recognition of multiple contexts and diverse epistemologies, Menon’s reliance on comparative perspectives and narratives with reference to specific histories, lived experiences and identities finds resonance with bell hooks’ 1984 book, Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center, whose central argument was the assertion that the margin is, in fact, the centre. hooks asserts, “For me, the space of radical openness is a margin – a profound edge. Locating oneself there is difficult yet necessary. It is not a ‘safe’ place. One is always at risk.[iii]
Tradition is ‘not an antonym’ of modernity, informs Menon, and advocates the necessity to consider, acknowledge, and engage with diverse cultural, geographical, and socio-economic context before declaring one school of thought superior over others and hence universal. Commonality doesn’t automatically transition into the norm. Decolonial thinking must be practised over essentialism and unilateralism. The critique of Western feminism by African feminists, understanding comparative positionalities between Dalit and Black experiences of marginality and oppression expressed in their respective politics and scholarship, binaries of the global south and global north are pertinent for counter-narratives to emerge. The monolithic view that non-West societies are ‘lacking’ vis-à-vis the superior West in terms of their ‘incomplete’ modernity, ‘impure’ secularism, and ‘immature’[iv] democracy must be refuted.
With reference to the nationwide lockdown during the COVID-19 outbreak, Menon captures the stark disparity between the treatment meted out to migrant workers and Indians stranded overseas. Described as ‘corona capitalism,’ Menon highlights the plight of the working class that was subjected to the dehumanizing way of being ‘sprayed with disinfectant’ and prohibited from leaving the state owing to suspension of transportation facilities while special flights and buses were arranged for those Indians who were trapped elsewhere to ensure their safe return to their state/homeland. This is not what being secular is all about where one section of the community – invariably marginalised, most vulnerable, and disenfranchised – is neglected and ‘othered’. A crucial aspect covered within the paradigm of corona capitalism is ‘data capitalism’ in the form of the ‘Aarogya Setu App’, the downloading of which was made mandatory by the government to detect and identify hotspots of COVID-19 infection. Menon argues that on the pretext of protecting the masses from the virus scare, surveillance by way of extraction of personal data, and tracking of contacts seemed legitimate, which in turn made things simpler for for-profit entities that managed to ‘capitalise on our data.’[v] Again, the authorial intent is not to categorically mistrust or denounce measures and methods of the state in the event of an unprecedented global medical crisis, but the idea being propagated is to not accept or incorporate everything without question and dissent, if applicable. To take everything lying down does not augur well for a democracy. The fundamental right to resist, raise doubts, debate, and engage is and should be a foremost priority. And this fundamental right is under threat and being suppressed strategically and systematically. It is a tragedy and a travesty of justice that dissenting voices in today’s era are being harshly punished leading to their unjustified incarceration.
The question of women’s rights to property and land has been an age-old one and continues to occupy a prominent place in feminist scholarship. Within the realm of legal reforms and amendments, Menon focuses on the tribal and indigenous communities and situates their lived realities in relation to land ownership in the landscape of customary and personal laws. The struggle to address the caste divide and challenge patriarchal approval remains, notes Menon, and gives the example of the ‘matrilineal Garo of Meghalaya’[vi] where state policies and modern land laws compelled ‘community property-oriented tribes’ to change to individual ownership because loans and subsidies were given to ‘individual owners.’ What unfolded was, that the administration failed to include women in the decision-making process regarding ‘land use and transfer’ due to an androcentric perception of men as the controlling authority of agricultural land and commercial crops. Women, even as inheritors of land, did not have any say in matters of land use and acquisition. Though tribal societies are not ‘free of gender hierarchy’[vii], women had an ‘economic power’ that ‘mitigated the higher social status’ enjoyed by men, argues Menon. The need of the hour is to recognise the complexities and specificities of different cultures and traditions before imposing a ‘universal’ template of progress, modernity, and development.
Since it is beyond the scope of this review to bring in and reflect on the various issues and concerns this book delves into, readers, who like myself, are looking for clarity and perspective on whatever is happening around us, must pick up this book and dive in.
[i] P.30
[ii] P.2
[iii] Taken from ‘Choosing the Margin as a Space of Radical Openness’ (1989), appeared in the piece on Feminism in India; link: https://feminisminindia.com/2021/11/16/bell-hooks-margin-sandra-harding-feminist-standpoint-theory/
[iv] P.5
[v] P.279
[vi] P. 305
[vii] P. 304
***
Ipshita Mitra is a PhD scholar at the School of Gender and Development Studies, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi.