THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After authoring short biographies of the late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the chief architect of the Constitution B R Ambedkar, author-parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor is now working on the biography of one of Kerala’s greatest social reformer Sree Narayana Guru. Tharoor disclosed this while delivering talk on the topic ‘A Myth and an Idea - Tracing the Roots of Modern India’ at the Kerala Legislature International Book Festival on Wednesday.
“It’s a short biography similar to my volumes on our first prime minister and first law minister Nehru and Ambedkar respectively. However, while these two visionaries are known throughout India, the subject of my next biography is sadly not known much outside Kerala even though he should be (known) in today’s India,” Tharoor said.
In his talk, Tharoor referred to Narayana Guru as “the well-spring of the Kerala renaissance” and the inspiring figure of the Vaikom Satyagraha. “It was he who spearheaded one of the most sweeping social revolutions not only of the 19th century but of all times,” Tharoor said, adding that the Guru had a vision of what an enlightened state should look like and how a modern society should conduct itself.
“His formidable crusade against caste system and untouchability played a role in eventually shaping the contours of modernity, liberalism and progressiveness reflected in our Constitution and in today’s Kerala,” he added.
Tharoor said the very notion of Indianness, that was born in the crucible of reform – forged in the flames of the freedom struggle and immortalised in the Constitution – is endowed with a resilience unlike any other. “It is a resilience that can tear through such veils of darkness as long as we remain committed to our foundational values,” he said.
In an oblique reference to the BJP-led government at the Centre, Tharoor noted that a disillusionment with the expansive liberal idea of India has crept into the hearts of many Indians over the past decade, while their minds have been filled with the fears of a vindictive imperialist government.
“It is impossible now to escape the perception that only the bare-bones of our democracy are sustained by elections. Its sinews such as parliament, legislature, judiciary, news media, civil society, public universities and watchdog agencies have either been hollowed out or hijacked,” he noted.
Tharoor said the politics of religious hatred, vigilantism in the name of religion, villianising of minorities and the brazen communalisation of our politics, polity and public life were some of the disturbing trends seen over the past decade. “Taken together, these trends represent our Constitution makers’ worst fears and challenge the idea of India, the cornerstone of our democratic republic. However, these disturbing trends should never deter us from striving for that modern and progressive idea of India,” he said.