[IMC-Editorial] [India Thinkers Net]Politics of Identity and Exclusion

[India Thinkers Net at Zinester.com]

Outsider as 'Other'  
Politics of Identity and Exclusion

ANURADHA M CHENOY

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2003 


Two hundred years ago, Immanuel Kant wrote that
"we are unavoidably side by side". This, however,
has not prevented communities from continuously
constructing new "outsiders". Sometimes the
outsiders belong to another religion, on other
occasions to another ethnicity, region or caste.
Once an outsider versus the insider mindset is
created, it keeps excluding other groups while
forcibly homogenising itself.

The outsiders and insiders are then seen as
possessing only specific and singular identity
characteristics even though no one has just one
identity. For instance, one may be a mother, a
doctor, a tribal, a Christian, a Bihari, an
Indian all simultaneously. But it is only her
ethnic or religious identity that becomes primary
in such group identification. All other
identities are devalued with the purpose of
valorising a specific identity over the others
for the purpose of group formation.

These kinds of identity demarcations create
categories of citizens that are subject to
various exclusions that range from social and
economic boycott, ghettoisation of communities to
humiliation, ethnic cleansing and genocide. This
is because of the belief that those outside the
group become the ⤗other⤁, who is perceived as
threats and are thus subject to violation or
savagery.

Such identity construction is quite different
from how identities are actually formed. Identity
formation is never a unilinear affair that
develops in splendid isolation. But, on the
contrary, it is influenced by multiple currents
that are full of exchanges, interchanges and
cross-fertilisation but rarely stationary,
isolated or unchanging.

There are, however, forces that are keenly
interested in retaining the myth of purity of
identity formation because identity politics is
the easiest method of political mobilisation and
can be used to construct a particular kind of
nationalism. For such mobilisation, the myth of
identity threats are transformed into violence
through a variety of complex mechanisms. This is
used as a diversion from other issues like a
troubled economy or structural unemployment.
Identity politics and the assertions of cultural
nationalism are used to ride the wave of popular
mobilisation for electoral purpose and the
capture of power. Instances of caste, communal
and now ethnic violence shows how communities
discriminate and are violent against the other.

The political formations behind the recent "sons
of the soil" clashes in Assam and Maharashtra are
proponents of identity-based politics. The United
Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) that is fanning
the anti- Bihari sentiment leaving many dead and
thousands homeless rose to fame on the basis of
mobilising Assamese nationalism for a 'swadhin
Asom' movement three decades ago, against the
entry of Bangladeshi mig-rants as also other
non-Assamese settlers.

When the ULFA attacked the symbols of the Indian
state, they were considered insurgents and
banned. Many of its leaders sought refuge in
Bangladesh, whereupon they began praising
Bangladesh, migrants and all. The ULFA lost out
on public sympathy because of its double
standards and because it indulged in extortion
and violence. Mobilising against the Biharis on
the pretext of railway jobs is a method to
reinstate themselves in the public view as
"Asom's boys" and re-establish a cultural
nationalism of the local variety.

Similarly, the Shiv Sena known primarily for its
anti-outsider movements in Mumbai claims to be
part of the Hindutva brigade which for them is
the binding factor of Hindu nationalism. Hindutva
itself is an exclusionary construction, bent on
keeping out all non-Hindus from the image of a
Hindu nation. The Shiv Sena is now pitted against
Hindus from other states, that they were so keen
on homogenising against the Muslims. The Sena
leadership has led ruthless attacks on poor
Indians (Hindus for them) and openly declared
that they would not allow outside job-seekers
into the state. This establishes that the concept
of a Hindu majority is an imaginary construct and
that pluralities within that religion and between
ethnic groups need to be accepted and respected
to ensure the survival of this plural heri-tage.
A nationalism based on self assertion denies
human rights and even democracy.

The BJP-led NDA has had little comment on these
projects that seek to revive regional chauvinism
except to restore law and order and postpone
railway jobs. This is a method of keeping the
problem under wraps until it emerges again,
rather than confronting, contesting and rejecting
it as an unacceptable ideology, one that will do
massive harm to the fabric of the Indian
multi-ethnic state.

The statistics that have emerged in the case of
railway jobs establish the extent of unemployment
in comparison to the availability of jobs. It
reveals that the euphoria around the high growth
and GDP figures is based on quicksand and that
the image of India as an emerging power is one
with feet of clay. Further, when policies that
vastly increase the differences between the rich
and poor are in place, the theoretical and
political practice of the politics of identity
and exclusion will become commonplace.

A liberal, secular and national project in the
current era can be installed primarily where
there is a humane state and civil society. One
that ensures that India is a space for all its
citizens equally. That access is not denied on
the grounds of religion, caste or region. It is
only when these exclusions are removed that a
national, humane and democratic project is
ensured.
The Times of India
December 25, 2003

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Courtesy:Harsh Kapoor<www.sacw.net>
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/act


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