Title: Bengal's Past and Present: Hindu Nationalist Contestation of History and Identity in a Regional ContextSubmitted by: Michael Gillan, South Asia Research Unit, Curtin University of Technology, AustraliaIn India, over the last decade, the degree to which the "official" construction and character of Indian history has been a site of political contestation appears to have intensified to a remarkable extent (while recognising that history always represents a critical point of ideological and political contestation). The ability of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to capture power in its own right in several states in north India and establish itself as the leading partner in the current coalition government at the centre, has allowed for increased penetration on the part of the Sangh Parivar (and, in particular, on the part of the ideological "guardian" of the Parivar {or "family"}, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) of state institutions relating to historical pedagogy and research (such as the Indian Council for Historical Research) and the so-called "saffronisation" of textbooks and syllabi in many regions. While this contestation between Hindu nationalist discourse and Leftist/liberal-nationalist history has taken place at the level of written history and struggles for control over state institutions, contestation in regard to history and attempts to re-formulate notions of regional and national identity has also been evident within the direct campaign strategies of the BJP, which have appropriated, in a selective manner, the symbolic power of key historical identities (for instance, Gandhi) and social movements (the political heritage of the nationalist movement) from the Indian past in an attempt to integrate such moments and figures within the over-arching framework of Hindu nationalist ideology. Moreover, such efforts have an important regional context for the Sangh Parivar as it attempts to spread its organisational base and political efficacy beyond the "Hindi-belt" states of north India into states in the south and east of the country. In this respect, this paper will examine the BJP's deployment of regionally specific symbolism and appropriation of key figures from the Bengali past (Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Vivekananda, Aurobindo Ghosh, Subhas Chandra Bose and Syama Prasad Mookerjee) within its political campaigns and public discourse in West Bengal over the last decade. The example of West Bengal is particularly noteworthy as the established dominance of the CPI(M)-led Left Front government in that state allows for a dual examination of the counter-contestations and historical/symbolic representations launched by the "mainstream" Indian Left in response to the Sangh Parivar's attempts to re-formulate public culture and received notions of the past in both India and in Bengal. Return to Abstracts menuCarol Burnett Phone: 61 - 3 - 9349 1899 Email: c.burnett@asialink.unimelb.edu.au
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