NATIONALISM IN INDIA
Abstract: This article is
aimed at an analysis of the imagining of Indian Nationalism and in locating scholarship
that highlights such nationalism’s inability to encompass the intense culturaldiversity
of the country. The article reviews a) early writings on Indian Nationalism that
insisted on some form of homogenising civilizational core that would promote a
sense of‘Indian-ness’ above group identities to b) current scholarship’s
understanding of Indian Nationalism as a nation of multiple histories and
voices not needing any sort of homogeneity and locating firmly the Nation as a
site of debate and dispute. It is at this point that a reading of
B.R.Ambedkar’s conception of Indian nationalism provides a unique insight into
the current thinking on the imagining of the nation. Ambedkar argues that
democracy can provide for a site of debate and dispute and also the much needed
homogeneity or sense of belonging that is required among peoples for effective
non-ascriptive nation building. Thearticle also analyses how this version of
democracy can be viewed as a progenitor ofdeliberative democracy formulated by
Jürgen Habermas and at the same time provide formeaningful perspective on
possibly solving some of the issues that Habermas’ conception failed to answer.
Author: Andrew Jacob
Journal Code: jpsejarahgg160005
