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Eyes Right: Awakening Bharatmata

Eyes Right: Awakening Bharatmata

Swapan Daspupta, Saba Naqvi and Makarand R. Paranjape in conversation with Pragya Tiwari

In a spirited conversation presented by Dainik Bhaskar on the occasion of Republic Day, Swapan Dasgupta, Saba Naqvi and Makarand R. Paranjape in conversation with Pragya Tiwari talked about the Dasgupta’s book Eyes Right: Awakening Bharatmata. The book dismisses the “carefully crafted, stupid caricature of a certain way of life” popularly known as the ‘right-wing’.

Swapan Dasgupta, Member of the Rajya Sabha and author, began the conversation by stating that “there was a sense of nationhood in the pre-constitutional era of India which has faded from public memory.” He added that this erasure of information resulted in “trivialising the configuration” of nationalist beliefs and ideas among people. For him, the book brought to the fore two contrasting views of nationhood: the one which perceived modern India in terms of secular republicanism and the other which sought to blend technological modernity with the country’s Hindu inheritance.

Poet and Professor of Humanities, Makarand R. Paranjape added: “India’s conservative side is not about a set of dogma but looking towards the continuity and unity of a great nation and its civilisation.” He added that the book is a collection to showcase the phenomenon of Hindu Nationalism in terms of how it perceives itself and seeks to identify the nature of Indian conservatism, its similarities and differences with the political thought in the West. On the question of caste-inequality that prevailed in the pre-constitutional era, he claimed: “Savarkar was the biggest denouncer of caste” and that there is “no such scuffle of cultural nationalism with constitutional nationalism”.

Saba Naqvi, political columnist and author, was critical of the book in terms of how the phenomenon of Hindu nationalism “has an obsession with identity-based politics” and that “it thrives on the idea of alienation of a particular section of society”. She also raised questions on how the complete takeover of the narrative on social media has skewed the political discourse. Makarand R. Paranjape disagreed by saying: “If you read a variety of pieces from Swarajya to Outlook, you will feel that the democratic space of debate and dissent hasn’t shrunk and is as vibrant as it always has been.”

The discussion ended on a cordial note with a mention of India’s Republic Day. The panel emphasised the need to study, understand and analyse all sides of the ideological spectrum, since doing that is the only way to familiarise oneself with the multi-faceted nature of India’s history.