Social media was quick to start a debate, as always.

On Tuesday, voices of cynicism rang out on Twitter following a news report that a seminar organised by a Congress think tank to mark Jawaharlal Nehru’s 125th birth anniversary will be attended by eminent historians and political scientists. The question asked was: does their participation in an event associated with the Congress taint their criticism of the Bharatiya Janata Party?

 

 

Many of the speakers scheduled to attend the event have raised concerns in the recent past about the political and social climate under the Narendra Modi government and accused it of failing to address the attacks on Muslims and Dalits.

Several of them – including Romila Thapar, Kumar Ketkar, Mukul Kesavan, and Vrinda Grover – clarified that their participation in a Congress-linked event should not be confused as an act of partisanship but an earnest bid at political engagement and questioning. It is a way to mark Nehruvian ideals. They would, in fact, be willing to engage even with the BJP if it were to ever invite them to a similar public discussion on social issues.

“I suggest it might be more helpful to listen to what is said before commenting,” said Thapar, professor emerita at the Jawaharlal Nehru University and one of India’s foremost historians. At a recent public event, Thapar had pointed out that she had twice refused awards under the Congress’s rule, and that those asking “why now” should know that many had protested against issues such as the Emergency, the anti-Sikh riots and the fatwa against Salman Rushdie.

'Nehruvian umbrella'

The Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies will host a two-day seminar called “No peace without freedom; no freedom without peace: Securing Nehru’s Legacy and India’s Future: Agenda for Action” on November 6-7 in New Delhi.

On its website, the institute describes itself as a “23 year old independent national policy think tank promoted by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation”. It says its research focuses on decentralisation of political and economic power besides issues of social inequality. Congress president Sonia Gandhi is its chairperson and her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra an executive trustee.

A note on the upcoming conference says that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a trustee of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, RGICS’ parent body, will inaugurate the conference and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will deliver the valedictory address. Several Congress leaders will chair panels on themes of freedom, equality, democracy, justice and secularism.

The Economic Times reported that the two-day conference is perhaps the first time that the Congress will be "hosting Marxist historians Irfan Habib and Romila Thapar and other Left liberals under a Nehruvian umbrella”.

Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies Director Mohan Gopal pointed out that the list of speakers was not a roll call of those returning their Sahitya Akademi or National Awards. “These diverse intellectuals have a sterling history of independent thought and action, and cannot be influenced by one political party or the other, or by think tanks,” said Gopal. “The focus will be on the audience, including Congress leaders, to be receptive to them about how best to carry forward the liberal, progressive, social democratic values of the Republic as laid down by Nehru and other founding fathers.”

Gopal added that the institute had hosted talks by several public intellectuals who had no association with the Congress, including German philosopher Thomas Pogge, Justice JS Verma, who headed a committee on amendments to criminal law after the Delhi gang-rape, and even an interaction with a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Swadeshi Jagran Manch.

Secularism and constitutionalism

Apoorvanand, a professor of Hindi at the Delhi University, said he didn’t view participation in a seminar on Nehru’s legacy as support for the Congress’s current avatar. “Professor Mohan Gopal, a very respected academic and jurist, invited me to this seminar on Nehru’s legacy,” said Apoorvanand. “He asked what would I like to speak on, and I told him, on Nehru’s notion of secularism. Do intellectuals live in a world where they should not interact with a political party, or they will get polluted?”

Professor Apoorvanand, however, expressed differences with the seminar’s organisers on Rahul Gandhi giving the valedictory address. “I found out about this just now,” he said. “This will not be correct because senior academics such as Professor Thapar and Professor Habib are going to be speaking.”

Kancha Ilaiah, a writer and activist on Dalit rights, said he saw his attendance at the seminar as a legitimate form of expressing opposition to the BJP and his support for Nehru’s legacy. “If Nehru had not been prime minister, Ambedkar would not have been allowed to write the Constitution,” said Ilaiah. “The Constitution has sustained democracy, secularism in some form and put reservations in place. If Jan Sangh had come to power in 1947, we would have been worse than Pakistan is now.”

Wilson Bezwada, convenor of Safai Karamchari Andolan, explained that he agreed to take part in the seminar to discuss constitutionalism.

Prominent Marathi journalist Kumar Ketkar said he would have accepted the invitation irrespective of who was in power. “I believe that Rajiv Gandhi was trying to modernise India in his own way,” said Ketkar. “The conference in his honour and on the 125th anniversary of Jawaharlal’s birthday is an occasion worth participating. If the minds of the so-called self-styled critics are so shallow and narrow to look at such events in a partisan manner, that itself speaks for the prevailing intolerance.”

Several intellectuals stressed that they saw the event as a form of political engagement.

“I am speaking at this seminar because it’s an opportunity to speak my mind to a political audience of the sort I don’t usually encounter, on a subject I feel strongly about,” said columnist Mukul Kesavan. “I’d speak to a right-wing think tank on the same subject if it cared to ask me.”

Lawyer Vrinda Grover, who is slated to speak on gender justice issues, challenged the BJP to invite her to share her views on gender. “Whether the Congress, AAP, or BJP, we will challenge political parties and compel them to change, our aim is not to capture power but to challenge it,” said Grover. She asserted that she had agreed to take part in the event to express her support for Nehruvian ideals of secularism and equality. “But does Nehru’s legacy only belong to the Congress, or to Rahul Gandhi? No. Is Congress at the vanguard of the on-going fight against intolerance? No, it is the citizens who are fighting to save democracy.”

'Tragic misjudgement'

However, historian and columnist Ramachandra Guha didn’t agree with the others. He said the intellectuals and writers were undermining the liberal case by participating in “a Congress party show”. “It is a tragic misjudgement in the present context,” said Guha. “Who has betrayed Nehru’s commitment to democracy and pluralism more than the Congress? This will undermine the on-going popular movement.” In his The Last Liberal and Other Essays, the historian had mentioned turning down a fellowship offer from the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. “I am happy to be a Fellow of the Nehru Memorial Museum, but I would never accept anything named after Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi,” he had noted.