The authors of Gandhi and Philosophy: On Theological Anti-Politics respond to A Raghuramaraju’s review of their book published in EPW (3 August 2019), “Gandhi in the Company of Western Philosophers.”
Gandhi's Hind Swaraj is more than a political text. It is an ontological drama staged by Gandhi, reflected in his treatises against "modern civilisation", and his critique of "modernity".
Scholars of modern Indian history have often pointed to the continuities in the colonial constructs of Indian society and the nationalist imaginations of India. The village was an important category where such continuity could be easily observed. However, a closer reading of some of the leading ideologues of nationalist movements also points to significant variations in their views on the substantive realities characterising rural India. Focusing primarily on writings of Gandhi, Nehru and Ambedkar, the paper attempts to show that though the village was a central category in the nationalist imaginations and there was virtual agreement that it represented the core of the traditional social order of India, the attitudes of the three leaders towards village society varied considerably. The paper tries to show that while for Gandhi the village was a site of authenticity, for Nehru it was a site of backwardness and for Ambedkar the village was the site of oppression
It is too early to make a detailed analysis of the general election for the 13th Lok Sabha. The proximate cause of Congress downfall are fairly obvious. The Congress vision of the nation is incomplete, underdeterminate and inconsistent in theory, and gravely dubious in practice. The BJP as a part of the Sangh parivar touches all aspects of our life. Its model of the nation is at variance with the true principles of Vedas. Yet it has potentially tremendous appeal to the caste-conscious, sanskritising Hindu masses. Not too long ago you heard a chorus of lambs: Indira is India. Expect soon a kirtan of hanumans: India is Hindia.
