I AND MY WORDS

The Flag of India as Adopted in 1906 Congress Session Being the proponent of the theory that gave direction to the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, it is often forgotten that nationalism remains a key pillar to the theory of integral humanism. However, the problem with the usage of the term nationalism emanates in modern academia from the manner in which the word itself gets defined. Having its roots in the European nation-state creative processes, the concept of a religion, a language or an ethnicity is the key driver for the understanding of nationalism in the Euro-centric theorization. This is a rather parochial understanding from the Eastern perspectives of the conceptualization of a nation state. Unlike the Western model of nationalism, there is a rootedness in the approaches of the eastern civilizations in general that make the idea distinct. Cultural identity is the actual marker of this civilizational approach, and the individual as part of society rather than an individual or a society

  There has been a lot of discussion about Vinay Sitapati’s book on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the pre-Modi era, especially the Jugalbandi of Atal Behari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani. From the excerpts available online , one is wont to feel intrigued by the manner in which there has been a fresh take on the party and its activities, unlike the lazy trope of communalism, Hindu nationalism, cultural fascism that gets thrown around rather casually. The problems with these narratives, and where Sitapati differs distinctly from the face of it is the fact that there is an attempt to look at the moorings of the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from their paradigm, giving space for a change for an emic viewpoint. Moreover, he has been prescient in pointing out, in not so many words, that the BJP and RSS can’t be called right-wing in the traditional European sense; rather, they would qualify better with a term ‘non-left’ for a variety of reasons. However, the excerpt