BENGALURU: Activists and speakers at a round-table discussion on “Pluralistic India: Challenges and the Way Forward” called for stronger grassroots movements, inclusive education and protection of constitutional values to counter discrimination and communal polarisation.
The discussion was organised by the Karnataka chapter of the Forum for Democracy and Communal Amity (FDCA-K) and CIVIC-Bangalore.
Prof Saleem Engineer, National Secretary of FDCA, said inclusivity was fundamental to Indian society and accused those in power of undermining constitutional values. He said equality, liberty, justice and fraternity were being weakened, adding that uniformity could not be imposed at the cost of justice. Fr Selvaraj Arulnathan, Director of the Indian Social Institute, described pluralism as the “DNA of India” and criticised the idea of a uniform national culture. He also questioned the constitutional principles underlying the Anti-Conversion Bill and the Anti-Cow Slaughter Bills.
Journalist and activist Shivasundar stated that the lack of plurality in the Indian polity and society today is a symptom of a larger malaise rooted in Brahminical and capitalist social order, rooted deep in the essentially undemocratic caste society. Hindutva fascism is the outcome of that structural crisis. Hence it can’t be defeated just electorally since the Hindutva hegemony rules entire society and polity. Only by defeating this symbol of evil in the minds of every citizen and society can fascism be defeated.
Social anthropologist A R Vasavi said commercial and corporate models of agriculture were disrupting local cultures, creating space for homogenised and exclusionary identities. She called for strengthening local cultures through social justice, rights and humanism.