There comes a moment in some lives when a sudden, unexpected event makes you look at the world with greater clarity than before. It could be a happy moment: a childhood friend proposes to you, or you stumble into parenthood. It could be a sad one: you are diagnosed with cancer and told you have six months to live. It makes you look at the world differently, and some things seem so clear that you wonder why you did not notice them before. In the life of our nation, the rise of Yogi Adityanath to the chief ministership of Uttar Pradesh+ might well be one such unexpected yet clarifying moment. I was stunned when it was announced; and yet, it makes so much sense that any counterfactual now seems absurd. It was, I have come to believe, a decisive and inevitable event in a conflict that has been simmering in India for at least a century. The great battle that took place on our peninsula was not between the natives and our colonial overlords, but between a new way of thinking and an old way of existing. While the Enlightenment swept its way across Europe and the US in the 18th century, its influence was felt in India only in the 19th. Liberalism, however one tries to spin it, was an import from the West, and it is ironic that many of our finest freedom fighters were influenced by British thinkers. The great early figures of our resistance — heroes of mine such as Naoroji, Ranade, Agarkar and Gokhale — were essentially British liberals.
Sunday, 26 March 2017 09:45
Adityanath’s rise marks the end of a 100-year-old battle Featured
Written by manager
Published in
Asia
Latest from manager
- Mann Ki Baat: Nation stands in solidarity with flood-hit Kerala, says Narendra Modi
- 'Fictional series cannot change facts; my father lived and died for India'-Rahul
- US-China trade war could flood India with steel
- Superstar Gergiev makes no apologies for singing Putin's praises
- Salman Khan and family “shocked” over Arbaaz Khan’s involvement in cricket betting scandal?
Login to post comments
Stay Connected with
More Headline
- Mann Ki Baat: Nation stands in solidarity with flood-hit Kerala, says Narendra Modi Be the first to comment!
- 'Fictional series cannot change facts; my father lived and died for India'-Rahul Be the first to comment!
- US-China trade war could flood India with steel Be the first to comment!
- Superstar Gergiev makes no apologies for singing Putin's praises Be the first to comment!
- Salman Khan and family “shocked” over Arbaaz Khan’s involvement in cricket betting scandal? Be the first to comment!
- Upbeat Afghanistan look to seal series Be the first to comment!
Who's Online
We have 86 guests and no members online