The Indian Ideology By Perry Anderson - 1661 Words

Book Review The Indian Ideology by Perry Anderson is a collection of three essays originally published in the London Review of Books. As the title suggests, The Indian Ideology through critical engagement delves deep into the set of ideas (or nationalist discourse) that shape the Indian nation – democracy, multicultural unity and secularity – and deals with ‘conditions and events that generated them, and which they both reflect and distort’ (p.2). For Anderson the idea of India as one in its civilizational aspects of evolution and inherent unity is contested by the fact that ‘subcontinent as we know it today never formed a single political or cultural unit in premodern times’ (p.10).†¦show more content†¦More to it, Anderson squarely holds Gandhi and Nehru responsible for the ills and wrongs that have followed during the trajectory of the Indian state after partition. The three essays in the book thus deal with these pertinent issues. The first of these essays is related to the man known for his steel-like commitment to non violence and humanity – M K Gandhi. M.K. Gandhi was an able political leader, ‘a first-class organizer and fund raiser – diligent, efficient, meticulous †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. (p. 17)’. But that doesn’t exempt him from criticism and there is no need to sentimentalize him. M K Gandhi is held to be responsible for injection of religion into politics, (†¦But it was not Jinnah who injected religion into the vocabulary and imagery of the national movement, it was Gandhi. p. 93), for flirting with non violence like resorting to violence in 2nd non cooperation movement (†¦. ‘in mid 1918 went out of his way to try and drum up recruits for th e imperialist slaughter in Flanders, tramping as far as Bihar in a bid – happily a dismal failure – to round up more villagers for the trenches’ p. 28) and for ambiguity on the question of caste (‘there was no need to adjust balance in this life: Interdrinking, interdining, intermarrying, I hold, are not essential for the promotion of spirit of democracy’ p.37). In