In
Violence in Urban India (2001), Thomas
Blom Hansen traces the plebeian politics in Mumbai, focusing on the rise of
the Shiv Sena in Bombay. This review traces the basic arguments made in the
book, a brief comparison with other books on the same topic, a comment on other
reviews, some interesting points in the book and the shortcomings in the book.
Hansen
makes three arguments in the book: one, he looks at the politics of xenophobia
and Hindu nationalism not as an anomaly but “rather as possibilities always
folded into India’s unique experience of modernity and democracy” (9). The
notion that communal and secular are clear opposites is a spurious claim. Taking
the case of Shiv Sena, Hansen states that this party “has enthusiastically embraced
modern city life and technological progress” (9); this is what seems to be the
key to its success.
Two, the rise of Shiv Sena was made
possible by the decline of the earlier political culture. Shiv Sena developed
the rhetoric of plebeian politics, employing a violent strategy of political
performance (9).
Three, Hansen traces how the identity
of the Marathi individual is fluid and fragmented and that caste and religious
groups are not a priori but are created through performance and ritual.
In chapter one, Hansen explores “the
ethno-historical imagination centered around the history of the eighteenth
century Maratha empire” (10). Shivaji from the past becomes the rallying point
for the Marathas, a case of the formation of identity which constructs itself
as the descendants of the valiant warrior with the other as the Brahmans and
upper castes. The second chapter traces the changing identities and affiliations
of the Shiv Sena and how it used it violent rhetoric to produce xenophobia. Chapter
three traces the anti-Muslim Hindutva rhetoric of the Shiv Sena and how the
recovery of masculinity found an important place in the programme of Shiv
Sena’s Maratha nation formation. The fourth explores Shiv Sena’s hold in the
industrial city of Thane and how its power played out in that field. The fifth
chapter explores the Bombay riots in 1992-3 and the subsequent inquiry into it-
the Shrikrishna commission reports. This sheds light on the relation between
the police, the residents, the production of truth during the commission.
Chapter six, looks at the Muslim Mohalla, how Muslim identities are shaped, the
rise of gansterism, the dons and dadas of the Muslim community. The last
chapter explores some theoretical issues, elaborating on Zizek’s notion of ‘anticipatory
identification’ and the questions of the beautification of the city, the question
of slums and so on. In the conclusion, Hansen problematises Chatterjee’s notion
of the political society while raising questions about what is acceptable and
what is not a political society.
What are Hansen’s sources? Apart
from the usual academic books and articles for the history of Bombay, Hansen
has used ethnographic material- informants, interviews, pamphlets, newspaper
articles. The pamphlet ‘Shiv Sena Speaks’, Bal Thackeray’s satirical weekly Marmik, the daily newspaper Saamna, other papers like the TOI, interviews with Shiv Sena MLAs, BKS
leader, former mayor of Bombay, confidante of Thackeray, his physician/family
doctor. Apart from interviewing authorities, he also has informants, whose
identities are not cited. Hansen has placed his official informants, but not
his other informants- he hasn’t stated the baggage of his other informants,
those of the official ones are self-explanatory.
How is this book different from the
other book Hansen has written and how does it differ from the other books on
Shiv Sena? Hansen’s earlier book The
Saffron Wave: Democracy and the Hindu Nationalism in Modern India (1999), centres
around the analysis of the RSS, VHP and the BJP. His main contention is that
Hindu nationalism emerged in the broader realm of public culture (Hansen 1999,
4). Though he concentrates on the workings of RSS, BJP and VHP, Hansen does make
some comparisons between the Shiv Sena and these organisations. He writes about
the militant youth organisation Patit Pawan (literally the purification of the
fallen), in Pune, Maharasthra, which consists mostly of students, who are non-Brahmins
and come from poor and middle class families in the slums. Their style of
working is unlike that of the RSS. The latter has the Brahmin quiet style of working;
the former has a vagabond Maratha working style which is similar to the Shiv
Sena- militant, activist, simple and with a highly communal version of the
Hindutva. But yet there is a difference- the Shiv Sena is more plebeian, the
Patit Pawan aims for middle class respectability (Hansen 1999, 122-24).
The Shiv Sena shakha notion is
derived from the RSS, yet there are fundamental differences between the two- the
BJP presents the respectable Hindutva while the Shiv Sena has a strongman style
with a plebeian agenda and an increased criminalization. Apart from that Hansen
does not build any similarities between these two types of organisations. He
has written two books on each topic separately, but he does not offer an
adequate comparison in either of the books.
So far, two scholarly books have
been written on the Shiv Sena: one Dipankar Gupta’s Nativism in a Metropolis: the Shiv Sena in Bombay (1982), and the
other more recent one Julia Eckert’s The
Charisma of Direct Action: Power, Politics and the Shiv Sena (2003). Gupta’s
book claims to be the first full length study of Shiv Sena. It is his PhD
thesis for which Gupta conducted his fieldwork in 1973. It was a study of the
Shiv Sena from 1966 to 1974, and is done from a Marxist perspective. Gupta’s theoretical
framework is structured around the sociology of social movements. Gupta analyses
Shiv Sena’s structure, ideology, areas of activism from ’66 to ’74. He traces
the background and cause of the rise of the Shiv Sena to a decrease in
employment, to the communal history of Bombay, migration, economic structure and
the Sena’s sense of nativism. Its origins lie in Thackeray’s Marmik which
influenced a wide range of readers. The participants of the movement are
sainiks from the lower and middle classes. Gupta uses the Weberian concept of
charisma for Thackeray’s popularity; Gupta also adopts John Davis’ concept of ‘source
credibility’ to explain Thackeray’s credibility. Gupta arrives at the
conclusion that though the Sena holds sway in Mumbai, it has no impact outside the
city- in rural areas- or in other parts of the country. Gupta’s is a
sociological and Marxist account of the Shiv Sena. Though Gupta and Hansen both
use ethnographic material, there is a gap of almost three decades between both
books. Gupta thrust is on sociology; while Hansen’s theoretical framework is psychoanalysis-
he uses Lacan, Zizek, and also Foucault. He also problematises Chatterjee’s notion
of the political society.
Eckert seeks to see how
anti-democratic party succeeds in a democracy using the latter’s framework for
its political success. This is demonstrated by exploring the case of the Shiv
Sena. Eckert writes about the Shakha, popular culture, plebeian politics, charisma
of the leader, militant enmity, violence as a method and ideology. But there
doesn’t seem to be any reference to ethnographic work. The sources are,
scholarly books, newspapers such as the Hindu, TOI, The afternoon and evening
news, magazine such as the Week, Frontline, Outlook, and Samna. Though the
topics covered are the same, the thrust seems different- the question also is
different. Most importantly it is the methodology and sources which are
different. If I maintain that Hansen’s book is more authentic since it involves
ethnographic work, does it mean that I am privileging empirical data?
What are the interesting points of
the book? The ethnographic data and its interpretation is definitely a plus
point. But there are some issues in the second chapter which need some
elaboration since it traces the continuous shift of identities. SMS and later
the Shiv Sena, have constantly redefined their alliances and affiliations with
different identities. The construction of their identity as well as that of
their opponents changes with time and is often contradictory. Shiv Sena is an
ambiguous party with often contradictory alliances which change over time. The ‘others’
were mostly the outsiders, the immigrants, the non-Marathis. But this category
too keeps changing subtly.
During the battle for Bombay in
1956, the emergence of new identities of SMS and Marathi identity clashed with
the economic interest. At that point the unilingual Marathi self was affiliated
to Marathas, Brahmans, Hinduism/Hindu culture and non-brahmans as well. It was
“a rather fragile coalition of disparate forces that never became organized
into a permanent structure” (43). The others were the business communities of
Gujaratis, Marwaris and Parsis, the urban western elite. The identities were
mostly linguistic urban/rural, regional and economic. The religious angle was
added later-“the religious supplement- Hindu and anti-Muslim- to the regional/
linguistic construction” (43).
Hansen mentions how the Shiv Sena
included the peasants and lower-caste politicians and how the previously
aligned Brahmans, intellectuals and artists didn’t find a place in the
linguistic movement (45). There is this shift in defining whom to include in
the movement.
When the Shiv Sena was formed in
1966, the rhetoric indicated the sons-of-the soil movement, with a
hyper-masculinity, tiger images and construction of the other as the South
Indian who was rather not more in number but stealing the Maharashtrian’s white
collar jobs.
At the same time there is an
ambiguity of class in the party. The Sena depends on the marginalised, brutal,
street lower class males. At the same time the Sena emerged from the middle
class environments. “From Shiv Sena’s early phase, rather disparate elements of
proletarian street culture, entrepreneurial aspirations, as well as Marathis
speakers’ middle class desires of respectability and recognition have
co-existed within the organisation”. (47)
The Sena also projected itself as a
group for the common man, to the lower-middle-class families “squeezed between
the city’s powerful economic and political elite and large, self-conscious
working-class communities” (50). Though it supported the cause of Marathi, it
demanded in the 1970s that English be the medium of instruction at all levels
(52).
The
others keep changing too. First it was the South Indians, then the Communists
then the Muslims. The categories of the others change from regional to
political to religious. The Sena in 1969 had as its primary opponent the
Communists. This attracted the support of the Congress and the big business
houses: the Ambanis, Nirlons, Bajaj. The latter is unusual since during the
primary opponents during the Battle for Bombay were these very business houses
and communities- the Gujaratis, Marwaris and Parsis.
The Sena’s political affiliations
also keep changing: Shiv Sena supported the Congress during the emergency and
since the 80s has shifted its allegiance to the BJP.
In
1979, the Shiv Sena also tried to have negotiations with an unlikely ally: the
Muslims. According to one of Hansen’s informants, this was a desperate measure
to survive.
The
one identity of Shiv Sena is constant: the Marathi- linguistic/regional and the
Hindu- religious identity. The other factors like, class, caste, economics,
political party affiliations keep shifting.
This
gives rise to a question which remains unanswered in Hansen’s book: why didn’t
other cities go the Mumbai way. Several other cities were renamed- Kolkata,
Bengaluru, Chennai. These Metros also had immigrants coming in to work; even
they had business communities such as the Marwaris, the Gujaratis and so on.
Especially Kolkata has a large Marwari population. How is it that there was no
such party formation/assertion of linguistic/regional identity in these metros
revolting against the immigrants, or business houses or the move to maintain
regional and linguistic purity? Why didn’t these other cities go the Mumbai
way? What made Mumbai out of all other metros go this way? There is a
discontent against immigrants such as in Bangalore or Kolkata. Why is it that
that doesn’t give rise to identity politics like in Mumbai?
The
other interesting point is the constant references to Thackeray urging the men
to regain their masculinity.
In
Lacanian terms, the Muslims in India are the objet petit a representing what is “lacking” in the Hindu, namely
weakness, effeminacy and so on. The remedy Thackeray prescribes is to recover Hindu
aggressiveness, restore the martial spirit a-of the Marathas. The recurrent
references to Shivshakti (Shivaji
power), to the myths and anecdotes of Shivaji, to the worship of the war
goddess Bhawani all contribute to that scheme (Hansen 2001, 90).
This
recovery of masculinity is reiterated in Nandy’s chapter on the Psychology of
Colonialism in The Intimate Enemy (1983).
Following the process of identification with the aggressor, the Indians,
according to Nandy
Saw
their salvation in becoming more like the British... they may not have fully
shared the British idea of the martial races- the hyper-masculine, manifestly courageous,
superbly loyal Indian castes and subcultures mirroring the British middle-class
sexual stereotypes- but they did resurrect the ideology of the martial races
latent in the traditional Indian concept of statecraft... (Nandy 7).
The
Indians in the pre-Gandhian era, sought to redeem their masculinity to defeat
the British, and subscribe to aggression, achievement and power. (Nandy 8, 9).
There
have been several reviews of Hansen’s book. Apart from the usual delineation of
the book and what it says, and also praises for it, Madhavi Kale and Rachel
Dwyer point out to certain lacks in the book. Kale mentions two lacks in her
review- one is the absence of the Dalit movement which “provided a ‘strong
antidote’ to Hindu nationalism for several decades”. The other is the absence
of women- the wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, friends, of these plebeian youth
involved with the Shiv Sena. Moreover, what is the implication of the movement in
the spheres of domesticity and that of the public sphere for both men and
women? (1278)
Dwyer rather concentrates on the nature of
sources: the scarcity of Marathi language material, printed as well as electronic
media, the lack of discussion of how masculinity and criminality changed in the
70s, the relationship between Hindi and Marathi languages otherwise and in the
media, the lack of mention of Marathi fiction and writing, theatre and press.
Dwyer also feels that the glossary needs to be checked by a linguist, the book
also requires a proper index and map (109, 110).
There are a few other things which
Hansen has left unexplored- on is the question of the women participants in the
Shiv Sena and the other is the question of the citizenship of the dada/don
leader figure. The former question seems to have found an answer in Atreyee
Sen’s Shiv Sena Women: Violence and Communalism in a Bombay Slum (2008). She
has done extensive fieldwork in the slums of Mumbai among the women members of
the Mahila Aghadi (Women’s Front), a women’s branch of the Shiv Sena which is
took part in the communal riots in ’92-3. Her book is a continuation and a
complement to Hansen’s which does not elaborate on the women’s role in the Shiv
Sena movement.
Overall Hansen’s book is an
interesting ethnographic account of the Shiv Sena. Even though the critical
engagement seems to be minimal the book provides ethnographic insights which one
would otherwise miss in a critical analysis of the Shiv Sena.
References
Dwyer,
Rachel. . “Review of Wages of Violence: Naming and Identity in Postcolonial
Bombay
by Thomas Blom Hansen”. Bulletin of the
School of Oriental and African Studies. 66.1 (2003): 108-110.
Eckert,
Julia. 2003. The Charisma of Direct Action: Power, Politics and the Shiv Sena. Delhi,
OUP.
Gupta,
Dipankar. 1982. Nativism in a Metropolis:
the Shiv Sena in Bombay. Delhi, Manohar
Publications.
Hansen,
Thomas Blom. 1999. The Saffron Wave:
Democracy and the Hindu Nationalism in
Modern India. Delhi,
OUP.
------------------------------.
2001. Violence in Urban India: Identity
Politics, ‘Mumbai’ and the
Postcolonial
City. Delhi, Permament Black.
Kale,
Madhavi. “Review of Wages of Violence: Naming and Identity in Postcolonial
Bombay
By Thomas Blom Hansen”. Journal of Asian Studies. 62.4 (2003):
1276-1278.
Nandy,
Ashish. 1983. The Intimate Enemy. Delhi,
OUP.
Sen,
Atreyee. 2008. Shiv Sena Women: Violence
and Communalism in a Bombay Slum.
Delhi, Zubaan.
No comments:
Post a Comment