Indian Society: Clash of Perspective-2

Cultural Federalism              

Cultural federalism emphasis not only the need for equality between linguistic and dialectical communities but also gives adequate importance to the maintenance of their specific identity.

However ensuring equality and identity to cultural communities does not squarely address the specific problems of the traditionally depraved in India.  This gives to fourth perspective called as Cultural Subalternism.

Given to  the fact that access to knowledge was denied to the Dalit Bahujanas, SC, STs, OBC and those converted to Buddhism, Christianity and Islam from these categories, the emergence of an intelligentsia from among them was based on an ascending scale of reverence /hatred and a descending order of contempt to recall Dr BR Ambedkar,  It is too early to say as to whether the idea of Sarvaja Samaj and the strategy of Brahmin-jodo campaign are passing political facts floated for political benefits or indicative of a change in perspective to re-conceptualize India.

Social Trends

Thanks to the policy of reservations following social trends are gradually emerging /surfacing:-

Cumulative Domination   

Indian traditional social order is being replaced by dispersed domination in the emerging social order; no social category can exercise decisive dominance in all contexts- economic, political, cultural, and social simultaneously. 

Traditional hierarchy and its values are gradually yielding space to modern equality. These social transformation have thrown up an intelligence elite from Dalit Bahujanas who have started interrogating the knowledge produced by the caste Hindu intellectuals and their conceptualization of Indian–Cultural-Monoism, Cultural Pluralism and Cultural Federalism, none of which specially addresses their unique deprivation.  A Cultural Subalternism perspective attempts to fill this gap. 

 STs are different from the SCs, the Dalits.  The tribes have their exclusive homelands although because of intrusions by non-tribal’s they have been dominated by people from the plains, except in North East.  But after creation of provincial states in central India, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand populated predominating by tribal people they are gaining in political authority and facilitated in nurturing their cultural identity.  In the case of SCs such a prospect does not exist because they are territorially dispersed.

Lesson

If India is to learn from its own history and the experience of contemporary politics, it cannot and should not pursue the goal of Cultural Homogenous action.  Instead India should be conceptualized as a nations state which consciously pursues cultural pluralism and for cultural pluralism to flower one should accept the notion of Cultural Federalism which addresses the issue of equality and identity simultaneously i.e Political Federalism and Cultural Pluralism are two sides of the same coins.

Two Cautions to Achieve Above Objective

Cultural diversity should not be mistaken for Cultural Relativism which insists on cultural purity and is prone to undemocratic practices.

While endorsing cultural diversity it should be recognized that diversity is a fact and pluralism is a value orientation to the fact. 

In India cultural diversity has been in existence for centuries but coupled with institutional inequality manifested in the caste system sanctioned by religion.  This is deadly combination. We need to combine diversity with equality. Simultaneous recognition of equality and identity is a pre requisite to create a modern democratic society in contemporary India. 

The first steps is to attempt an appropriate conceptualization of the entity called India.