The Curious Case of Anti-Intellectualism in MODIfied India—Ananyo Chakraborty

Since May 2014, India has seen a rule which can be safely termed as authoritarian. Just like any other authoritarian regime, the Narendra Modi government has strengthened a cult of Anti-intellectualism through various propaganda methods. Anti-intellectualism is the complete disdain towards rational thinking and nuanced critical analysis. It propagates shallow knowledge and understanding of issues and topics. It has largely been seen that states have seldom encouraged the development of the rational, analytical minds of their people. This was probably because they were fearful of dissent and opposition to their authority. We can also see a desire to create conformists and loyalists even among the most democratic of the statesmen. Intellectuals and rational, free thinking individuals have mostly been seen as non-conformists and hence, they have earned the loath of the political power-holders. Such regimes can almost entirely be seen as intolerant to dissent.

The present regime has been no exception. There has been a dedicated attempt on part of the government to denounce and debunk all the criticisms in a much coercive manner. Narendra Modi had remarked (quite infamously) on how “Hard Work” is more important in nation-building than knowledge from “Harvard”, when Amartya Sen had criticised the government for its economic policies. The government allegedly appointed members of the RSS and other sympathisers at the helm of several eminent higher educational institutions to unleash a new wave of “saffronization”. This wave of saffronization has also robbed History PhD scholars of their freedom to choose their preferred thesis topic. Only topics of “national importance” (read: topics palatable to the Sangh) can be counted as thesis material now.

The erstwhile Finance Minister, Late Arun Jaitley, slammed the 108 acclaimed economists, who had issued a statement expressing concerns on the increasing employment crisis in India as “compulsive contrarians”. The administration of the University of Hyderabad had rusticated Rohith Vemula, a Dalit PhD scholar for standing up against increased government intrusion into the University space and the institutionalised caste discrimination, which ultimately led Vemula to commit suicide. The arrests and sedition charges levelled against Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and other student leaders of Jawaharlal Nehru University sparked the “anti-national” debate into the limelight. Many government ministers and BJP members often showcased their loath for criticism and tried propagating the message that those who criticise the Modi government are anti-India and anti-development. This has been coupled with most of the “prime time” media houses assisting to entrench the myth of a monolithic Hindu Rashtra and the indispensable Supreme Leader, Narendra Modi.

The BJP and its various wings have systematically tried to suppress voices of dissent and free thinking against the growing wave of Hindu nationalism. The murders of dissenters like Kalburgi, Pansare, Gauri Lankesh were accompanied with BJP workers celebrating those murders. Artists and rationalists citing concerns about the dismal state of the Indian democracy have been vehemently trolled and abused by members of the BJP IT cell. Many eminent academicians are subjected to murder and rape threats almost everyday in India. Particularly interesting are social media trends that have emerged in the recent years. Rational and well – thought arguments on comment threads of Facebook and Twitter are met with statements like “Par aaya toh Modi Hi” and “Modi hay toh mumkin hay”. Such is the monolithic image that everyone needs to feel proud of their government and its PM, irrespective of their policies. If such pride is absent, such citizens deserve a place in Pakistan or Bangladesh.

I wish to draw attention to an important process that has significantly affected the Indian psyche. The government and ruling party machinery has been successful in propagating the sense of urgency and action in the masses against an imaginary enemy, which is either internal or external. The external enemy is generally Pakistan, incessantly up to evil designs. The internal enemy is the band of “left liberals”, “Sickulars”, “Commies” and “Naxals” who are the major impediments to India’s development since they always criticize the “humble efforts” of the Prime Minister. This process can be attributed to the dissemination of Anti-intellectual ideas. WhatsApp is filled everyday with fake news and most of them are glorifying the government and demonizing its critics. Such Anti-intellectual attempts are also seeking to legitimize the image of an all powerful “One Hindu Nation” through the flawed image of a prosperous Hindu past. Finally, with the advent of the UAPA Act, the government gave itself a freehand to call and try any dissenter as “terrorist”. Such acts and trends can only be classified as a new kind of “thought police”. With our big brother at the helm of affairs, wishing to control all aspects of human life, we dismally look at a dystopic society where intellectual pursuit is inhibited by fear.