Ramachandra
Guha (2016) Democrats and Dissenters, Penguin Allen Lane, pp. 316
This
book, as the author points out in the beginning, is the fourth in the series of
political history and commentary on the career of Republic of India. Beginning with India After Gandhi, Makers of Modern India,
Patriots and Partisans, we have the fourth in the series, a collection of
essays like its immediate predecessor. This book speaks of political events as well as the
protagonists who shaped the contours of modern India. Guha succeeds in bringing
out the nuances in understanding the twists and turns, the largest democracy in
the world has taken. Of sketching the personal eccentricities of the varied
personalities especially scholars like Dharmanand Kosambi and Eric Hobsbawm,
Guha is tender and delicate. It is in these deeply intimate portrayals of the
scholar and his work, that Guha is non
pareil.
Guha
begins with an unerring analysis on the imminent death of the Indian National
Congress and compares it in context with other emerging political alternatives.
Conceding the life these popular alternatives are likely to take on in the
contemporary history, Guha laments the value that an inclusive, nationalistic,
secular political front had in safe keeping some of the cherished ideals of the
Indian Constitution- namely democratic political order, equality and freedom of
expression, political liberalism and secularism. He ruminates on the nature of
Indian Constitution, its elements of idealism as well as caution in the wake of
independence when the foundation of the democracy was threatened by extremism
from the left and the right. The essays in the first part deal with the
political evolution from the birth of independent India, through the contours
of differences that people and political movements shaped, in the country. An
important value of this work lies in the rich comparative perspective with
South Asia with India’s Kashmir problem, Sri Lanka’s Tamil Nationalism and
Pakistan’s fight with terrorism.
Nothing
is more evocative than the author’s tender portrayal of people. The
intellectual and intimate portrayals of ideologues in the second half cover the
celebrated debate with Amartya Sen as much as a sensitive account of his
contemporary Andre Béteille. The arguments Guha picks with these personalities
are also arguments on and about India. The debaters are fierce defenders of
democracy and within its rich pluralistic tradition, they argue, dissent and
concede with fiery logic but with utmost dignity.
These
essays are delightful to read and ruminate on. The book throws light on a
fascinating array of new information patiently researched and poignantly
written by one of India’s foremost historian and tenacious researcher. More
importantly, the work is an invitation to dialogue on some of the searching
problems that modern Indian democracy faces- from citizen rights to freedom of
expression, from equality and dignity to dissent in the democratic tradition.
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