Excavating the essence of the ‘Progressive Realism’ in Manikarnika
- Dharmaraj Kumar,
The author has done PhD from the Centre of Indian Languages at JNU, New Delhi and taught as Assistant Professor (Ad-hoc) at the Department of English, P.G.D.A.V. College (M), University of Delhi.
Abstract
The entire world has undergone the process of the massive social and political change intending to emancipate the human beings. Change is the new slogan having its impact throughout the world. But this change seems challenging and disturbing the social orders in the name of replacing ‘the old’ into ‘new’. Such assertion often claims to bring into existence a new narrative through the assertive change in literature.
In India, the political narrative of ‘New India’ is underway. It promises the emergence of the inclusive politics in which unity of all social groups is imagined. At such juncture, a new experiment is being done. Under the political narrative of ‘New India’, old narrative is being kept at bay. Actually, the idea of pushing off the old narrative is the design to negate the assertion of the literature of certain kinds which actually offers the progressive existence of the human beings.
However, no change is possible without the change in narrative. As per the present situation, the conflict is evident between the old and new narrative. to excavate the essence of the ‘Progressive Realism’. It happens largely in the literature. But before the emergence of essence of any proposition, the exploration of difference between ‘old’ and ‘new’ narrative is inescapable. After the emergence and assertion of Dalit literature, suddenly the urge of offering new narrative to make ‘new India’ has increased.
This paper aims to examine the narrative as whether giving the narrative to the making of ‘new India’ is truly new or old with reference to Dalit autobiography Manikarnika. The enquiry into the new narrative requires to be spearheaded through the literature. Therefore, the new narrative cannot be explored without finding out as what is the new literature or new in the literature. Thus, the essence of the narrative of the Dalit autobiographies can be conclusively summed up to be “Progressive Realism”.
Key words:
Literature, Progressive literature, Realism, Dalit literature, Emancipation.
Introduction
Literature is an unavoidable aspect of the existence of the human beings. The production of the literature is the sublime creation by humans. In fact, it is the literature which bear stories of human civilization and progress. It is significant to realize that progress is the only truth and integral part of the existence of humans, no matter what an everlasting burden of catastrophic history runs parallel since time immemorial and stored in scattered records. Interestingly, the question is hardly ever raised as what is the most progressive mark of human progress.
Well, the question seems to be absurd as such questions appear to be naïve in nature. It so happens that one act of progression cannot be placed against another just to devalue the significance of the previous one. In fact, it goes as per rationale that the contribution of each and every invention and progress cannot be underscored. Every act of progress or invention has its own role in particular time and space.
While talking about the literature or its forms, the primary question is what is literature? In response to the question such as these, one has no option but to go deep down to its origin. In the same way, the invention or need of literature is felt after the invention of writing. In this context, the definition of literature given by Jean-Paul Sartre seems remarkable. Concerning this question, Sartre wrote a full book with the title as ‘What is Literature?’[1] In this book, he deals with the question of literature by not defining as what is literature? In this book, the endeavour of taking readers to the deeper question as what is writing is a remarkable literary phenomenon. The explanation of literature is not given in isolation of the worldly experiences. In fact, it is through the explanation of the act of writing he foregrounds that it is not the literature per se is something which is a question worth engaging, but what is writing gives birth to the concept of literature. Therefore, it is clear that the act of writing itself is the act of producing literature. Thus, it can be simply explained that the writing is literature.
Whatever one writes, happens to be the part of literature. Anything written is a kind of literature. Well, the forms and styles differ, so the idea of literature gets fragmented into either poetry or prose, whereas in broader sense it is largely divided into fiction and non-fiction. In any circumstances, literature is something which largely exists in written corpus. So, every form of writing is about producing literature.
What is written? Life is written. Life is real. Life never remains the same, so does change writing. Reality of life changes, so changes the literature. In fact, life is never static, it moves on. It progresses. From such perspective, we are always writing the reality which is changing. However, the invention of script is a major question to rightfully trace the history of writing, but enquiry into this realm would take the entire discussion into different direction.
What is progressive literature?
It is the act of writing through which we capture the essence of the ‘progressive’. Life is moving, and remains never static. The best literature is the one which captures the life, moves readers. It is, therefore, pertinent to say that literature would always be as contextual as life. Life is the ultimate source of the production of the literature. Therefore, literature earmarks the core idea of ‘progressive’. In fact, the idea needs to be contextualised and understood in the context of the origin of acquiescing the material needs. Marx and Engels wrote, “The production of ideas, of conceptions, of consciousness, is at first directly interwoven with the material activity and the material intercourse of men- the language of real life.”[2] From this, it can be concluded that literature by its instinct is progressive. Now the major question is what is progressive literature? Or how does literature progress? It could be widely debated and have been rightly done so before as well. But the straightforward answer to this question can be gives as the progressive literature is the kind of literature which consists the idea of generating awareness about changes in the society for the good of the people in common. This could be the only possible definition having stood on parameters around which the whole discourse of progressivism hovers from the real life to the literature. There cannot be the literature that cannot be progressive, means the idea of responding to the real life in writing as literature.
The movement of ‘progressive literature’ has long history. Perhaps, it should not be taken as an act of exaggeration if it is said that the progressive movement or literature traces by now the longest period of bearing influence over the existential imagination of human beings. It continues even now, despite the fact that it seems trailing in comparison to the time of its narrative of dominance during past hundred years. In short, the period of progressive literature should be considered from 1789 to till now. After the French Revolution, a new kind of literature emerged in Europe. The production of literature after this period turned into a literary movement. However, this genre became very popular after the advent of the Russian Revolution. The Russian Revolution changed the imagination of the entire world. Interestingly, this revolution did not just change the perspective of the political history but a new literary movement also started. This literary movement is referred as the ‘progressive literature’. Well, the terminology of the ‘progressive literature’ does not have a layman or literal meaning, rather it refers to the kind of literature which proposed to change the existing oppressive structures of the world order.
The idea of ‘progressive literature’ in India
Since the form and content of the genre called progressive literature changed the mode of thinking of people regarding their state of being, it also reached to India. When the movement of the progressive literature reached to India, it charged people with a certain kind of consciousness. This consciousness was generated among masses through specific political movement. This movement was started by the Communist Party of India. Following the glorious past of struggle and people’s victory after October Revolution of Russia in 1917, the Communist Party of India was founded. It was a complete political movement. But seeds of this movement already existed in the vernacular languages and literatures. After the set-up of progressive movement, the literature was also proposed to be set-up through the establishment of the Progressive Writers Association in 1936. However, it is very interesting to note that the politics of Communist Party is referred as the progressive politics. Following the pattern of the progressive politics, the genre of progressive literature started. The progressive literature was defined by K. Damodaran to be the literature produced, “After the world economic crisis from 1929-33, to explain more clearly, after the onslaught of the army of fascist dictatorship against all cultural values, a new movement arose in word literature called progressive literature.”[3] As per this definition, two aspects appeared to be significant: first is economy and the other is onslaught of the army of fascist dictatorship against all cultural values. Thereafter, such literatures were carefully produced which deliberately seemed to be injecting the consciousness as per the requirements desired within the definition. This sudden change in the existing form of the literature can be said to be new movement within literature. This movement went on for long years. Some scholars might argue that it still continues. Later on, a new genre which was running parallel to the progressive literature emerged. The emergence of the new genre is called Dalit literature. Dalit literature launched scathing attack against the progressive literature. Dalit writers categorically denied that progressive literature is not truly progressive in its content and said that it only preserves the privileges of the conventional elites.
The emergence of Dalit literature
Dalit literature is popularly said to have emerged in 1970s after the publication the manifesto of the Dalit Panthers’ movement. As it is clear that the pattern of manifesto is taken from the book Manifesto of the Communist Party by Karl Marx, the pertinent question is why was the need felt by Dalits to write prepare their own manifesto? In my opinion, the birth of another manifesto prepared by Dalits in itself is a critique of the previous manifesto. The aim of the progressive literature as declared was to end oppression whether perpetrated by economic crisis of fascistic attack on the cultural values. But before the goal was accomplished into reality, it failed to really grasp the meaning of the fascistic onslaught with reference to India. In Europe, the economic inequality produced the social inequality creating the society of inequality, so the fighting against the economic crisis was somehow directly linked with fighting against social inequality bringing forth the social revolution. It meant that the political revolution was another way to bring social revolution. But in case of India, it was not the same. In fact, the political revolution totally failed to bring social revolution in India. Thus, this analysis miserably failed. After many years of struggle for the social revolution, people belonging to certain section of the society concluded that “Untouchability is the most violent form of exploitation on the surface of the earth, which survives the ever-changing forms of the power structure. Today it is necessary to seek its soil, its root causes. If we understand them, we can definitely strike at the heart of this exploitation. The oppression of dalits still exists despite the lives and work of our two great leaders – Jotiba Phule and Babasaheb Ambedkar. It is not only alive, it is stronger. Hence, unless we understand and give shape to the revolutionary content latent in the downtrodden lives of the untouchables, not a single individual seeking a social revolution would be able to remain alive in India.”[4] However, nothing was written against the ongoing struggles led by the Communist Party of India as it is clear that the very idea of releasing the agenda of struggle by Dalit revolutionaries was titles as ‘Dalit Panthers Manifesto’. The word ‘manifesto’ and the modality of struggle itself traces the communist lineage of struggle, but yet the question remains unanswered that were Dalits and their concerns ignored even by the Communist Party of India? Well, this answer has never been seriously entertained neither by the progressive politics nor in the progressive literature. However, it has become clear that social reality precedes the political understanding in India. As Craig Jeffrey writes, “Social inequalities reinforce and exacerbate economic ones.”[5] With reference to India, it can be said that the imagination of bringing about any revolution for human emancipation without understanding the crisis of caste is nothing more than fancy. It has nothing to do with reality of life. However, it cannot be said that the question of caste was not attempted to be understood in the production of progressive literatures by writers. But the way they drew the pictures of Dalit lives into their literary works was not just imaginary but appeared to be misrepresented and humiliating as well.
Is Dalit literature ‘progressive literature’?
The emergence of Dalit literature may have started a new movement for social change for the emancipation of the oppressed, but the fact is that it could never achieve the regard it should have been given till date. Somehow, Dalit literature has not yet been accepted by the so-called progressive writers. Progressive writers have continuously been critical of the emergence of the Dalit literature. Well, it has not been rejected directly through any declaration, but it has not been incorporated as the mainstream literature is also the fact. This could be understood through sheer struggle of Dalits authors’ complaints that all prestigious awards have been given to non-Dalit authors. The exclusion of the Dalit authors from any prestigious awards to be conferred is the proof that the literature produced by Dalits is considered still the marginalised literature. Now the major question is what lies the centre from where the marginality of the Dalit literature is ascertained? Is there any kind of central of mainstream literature? And, what are the literary elements which differentiate between the mainstream literature and marginal literature? Is progressive literature mainstream literature and Dalit literature marginal literature? If progressive literature is the mainstream society, what are its concerns differently raised from Dalit literatures? And if concerns raised through Dalit literatures are the major concerns also of mainstream then why not Dalit literatures have been provided equal space with mainstream literature or progressive literature?
The answer to all such questions lies in the critical analysis of the Indian society. Indian society is divided and understood within caste. Without understanding the caste system, nobody can ever get the real picture of the way Indian society functions. Understanding the vicious system of caste is the door to Indian society. It is the society from where themes of literature are taken. Therefore, the depiction of the reality of society is the parameter of the significance of the literature. In the context of Indian society, there cannot be the depiction of social truth without the portrayal of castes and its dimensions. Unfortunately, the question of caste was largely ignored in the literature. The reason of the ignorance lies in the very interpretation while defining the parameter of progressive literature. The first parameter was said to be economical and the second was fascist onslaught at the cultural values. In Indian society, the existence of caste itself unleashes the fascist oppression. The existing forms and variations of caste were not paid attention as how the perpetual state of caste produces the fascism. It is, therefore, the objective of the definition to counter the fascism in the Indian context was misunderstood. Thus, the progressive literature fails to produce the result without engaging with the caste as the only truth of the Indian society in response to which emerged the Dalit literature. Dalit literature is the only form of literature which narrated the oppression of the people as it is. It did not seek to create magic through fanciful imaginative writing. The portrayal of the suffering of the Ghisu and Madhav, the characters of Premchand’s story The Shroud, was nothing more than imagination. Well, it cannot be said also that the story would not have generated the amount of sympathy intended by Premchand among readers. But this story seemed to be the example of magical realism in way, in which the fanciful imagination of writing attempts to draw the reality. But Dalit literature did not stand to be progressive in its content but is real in its form. Therefore, it can be said that the forms of Dalit literature seem to give birth a new theoretical paradigm which should be coined, in my opinion, as ‘Progressive Realism’.
Dalit literature as ‘Progressive Realism’
Realism is the major component of Dalit literature. It has emerged in response to the imaginative creation which claims to be real but it is not. The traditional form of literature claims largely to be progressive in nature as discussed already but it does not promise to be real. Interestingly, the progressive literature despite considering itself as progressive and realist in form and content gives more space to the creative form of writing. A comparison can be drawn that the progressive literature in India appeared more like magical realism having not engaged with the existing form. Indian progressive authors did not transform the narrative. The genre remained the same. The Progressive Writers Association had copied the form of literature as per the political urgency in 1936, but it did not change even after the independence of so many years. Whereas, the narrative form continued to change in the countries where the progressive literature was born once. The genre of magical realism entered as a narrative form and many authors agreed to write in this genre. The progressive literature in India seemed to be automatically transforming itself into ‘magical realism’, which is actually a critique of the progressive literature. Before the comparison of the progressive literature with the genre of ‘magical realism’ basically finding a shift from the ‘realist’, it must be understood as “What is “magical realism?” It purports to be more real than reality itself. Its practitioners play humorously with literature through language or use modes of satire to expose existential concerns. A serious attempt to break with the tradition of the conventional novel underlies their preoccupation with form and style….”[6] In the literary representations of Dalits by the progressive authors have the same problem. To generate sympathy for the vulnerability of their Dalit characters, they recourse to such sorts of creative portrayal that only the disconnection from the reality remains at the end. Either it becomes more comical than the real comic character like Shanichar in the famous novel ‘Raag Darbari’. The same happened with the Premchand’s characters of Ghisu and Madhav from the story The shroud. In another story of Premchand, a dalit dies at the house of Brahmin just breaking the logs of wood hoping to get auspicious day fixed for the marriage of his daughter in return of his service which remains unachieved. Bakha, a character from Mulkraj Anand’s novel ‘Untouchable’ is not even shown to be awakened. There are end number of such portrayal in which the vulnerability is depicted but the genuine response of anger is not shown. Even the resentment against such oppression largely remains amiss in these stories. As Christopher Warnes writes about the ‘magical realism’ in the preface, “The term magical realism is an oxymoron, an appropriate condition given that it designates a narrative strategy that stretches or ruptures altogether the boundaries of reality.”[7] In the same manner, the notion of existing forms of progressive literature appears to be ‘oxymoron’ which neither progresses nor does it represent the real life on the ground of which the significance of literature is ascertained.
Contrary to the static notion of progressive literature, it is actually the Dalit literature which has fulfilled the criteria of being progressive and representing the reality in its form and content. Even if the traditional definition of progressiveness is taken, Dalit literature has helped move on the real aspects of life. It is the depiction of dalit characters and their life which makes Rohinton Mistry’s novel A fine balance a classic piece. This novel contains the element of progression and realism existing in life. It shows the brutal way of life and determination to survive against all odds by marginalised and Dalits. Thus, literary works falling under the category of Dalit literature truly showcase the new theoretical paradigm of ‘progressive realism’.
The essence of ‘progressive realism’ in Manikarnika
Manikarnika is a Dalit autobiography written by Dr. Tulsiram. The author of this autobiography was a member of the Communist Party of India and remained its member throughout his life. Well, it is interesting to note that a person who remained associated with the class consciousness had to write an autobiography as a Dalit. It can be understood as the class consciousness in India failed to absorb the crisis borne out of the conscientious society of caste.
Manikarnika is a second part of his autobiography. Its first part was named ‘Murdahiya’. Manikarnika is in itself acknowledged as an autobiography by the author himself but whether should it be part of the Dalit autobiography is actually an issue of contestation. In fact, the author himself in the book problematizes the way society in India functions. He writes, “As a result of the material being published in the ‘Yuva Morcha’ I also realised that when a person belonging to upper caste writes or speaks against atrocities of Dalits, then he is called social reformer, but when the same thing is said or spoken by dalit, then he is considered casteist.”[8] It is from this perspective that this text may be put under the category of the Dalit autobiography. Else, the author categorically identifies himself as somebody who is equally influenced by Marx, Buddha and Ambedkar. But it is also a point of discussion that why was Murdahiya, the first part of Manikarnika, widely received among readers as Dalit autobiography only? Such reading practice of literatures must be brought within strict intellectual scrutiny. Interestingly, such practice is an old practice. Dr. Ambedkar himself has been consistently attempted to be confined as Dalit leader only, which is not justified in any manner.
Manikarnika is a highly political autobiography. In fact, it seems more like Dalit autobiography defined within the conscientious realm of civilizational political and cultural biography. Before the publication of Manikarnika, the assertion of sharp political undercurrents can be witnessed in Marathi Dalit literatures. The emergence of Dalit literature took place after Dr. Ambedkar rose on the firmament of Indian politics. After the Mahad satyagrah, Dr. Ambedkar took centrestage and launched scathing attack on the evil caste practice by writing his seminal essay The Annihilation of Caste. Before Dr. Ambedkar, no one outside the Phule tradition had ever argued and examined the case of Hinduism on the basis of principles and premises on which any religion is understood to rely.
Unlike other Dalit autobiographies, Manikarnika provides a mode of thinking of the conscientious civilisation. Other biographies seem to be largely dealing with three aspects: humiliation, assertion and conversion. All three aspects point out the ways of cultural upbringing of Indian society, and focus on the political aspect is underscored.
This autobiography stands to be exception. It directly lays stress on the nature of the political and ideological assertion. It is not that other Dalit autobiographies have remained untouched from political assertion but covered within the binary of Hinduism and Buddhism. It is more cultural than political. In this regard, Manikarnika breaks the notion of the reading the text in binary. It adds an additional political dimension which provides the sharp ideological scrutiny of Communism and its practice in real life.
In Manikarnika, Tulsiram has given the internal account of the Communist Party of India and its ideological commitment for social and political revolution during 1960s-70s. He clearly writes, “I had written a long pamphlet, in which I had mentioned- ‘despite such casteist people, Dr. Ambedkar a Dalit himself had written the Constitution of India.” Before the publication of pamphlet. Narendra Prasad Sinha removed this sentence. At that time, I had not at all paid attention as why did it happen? But gradually with the passing of sometime it became clear that Dr. Ambedkar had no value in the eyes of the Communist Party.”[9] Actually, this one paragraph analyses the ideological inclination of the Communist Party of India for bringing about social and political revolution. The Communist Party of India had significant roles in shaping the cultural values at large and generating a particular kind of political class. The cultural ethos of the political class prepared by the CPI has always promised to stand by the side the marginalised and vulnerable. It must be remembered that the liberty, equality and fraternity have been the major slogan of the Communism considered after the French Revolution. Undoubtedly, the massive account of people’s struggle exists to fulfil the promise of the liberty, equality and fraternity across the world. Most of the European countries collectively prospered after such revolution. USSR proved to be the epicentre of immense progress of humans and humanity.
It is no wonder that the same slogan echoed in India almost after a decade of the October Revolution of Russia. Interestingly, India followed the same path or pattern to bring about the social revolution like Russia. Therefore, literature happened to be the ground on which the struggle of disseminating the consciousness was fought. Nineteenth Century European realism was the base through which the revolution was made successful in Russia. Thus, the term and goal to produce progressive literature was also coined and spread. Unfortunately, it never saw the success in India. Why did this pattern fail in India? The refusal to engagement of caste was the answer in the context of India. The description of the deliberate negligence of caste question and its affect is highlighted in Manikarnika. Well, such negligence of the concerns of depressed classes is not random rather appears to be thoughtfully planned. The resonance of such ignorance can be directly seen in politics for long. Thus, it is clear that this ignorance of caste question created a vacuum of politics which was later filled by after the emergence of mighty politics of Bahujan as referred by Manyawar Kanshiram in north India.
Taking the discussion further, Praful Bidwai clearly wrote that “The Left did not develop an India-specific understanding of caste, gender, tribal and ethnic identities in relation to class, not a political strategy that could help translate that understanding into a realizable, practical project. At another level, it lacked an analysis of the specificities of Indian capitalism, the nature of the state, and the character of the ruling class, especially since the early 1990s.”[10] Thus, the emergence of the new literature called Dalit literature and new political movement referred as the Bahujan politics can be analysed to be forming a new theoretical paradigm which must be known as the Progressive Realism. Because it asserts that the literature of any genre must find a point of reference in history. For example, the birth of the strong Bahujan politics finds mention way back in 1980s in the discursive politics of consciousness as Praful Bidwai writes, “Kanshi Ram once asked him (Sitaram Yechury) ‘why there wasn’t a single Dalit minister in the West Bengal government. I was shocked, so I said let me find out. I discovered many Dalits and tribals. Kanti Biswas was the education minister for many years in West Bengal. I had no idea he was a Dalit. We used to travel all across the country in the same coupe. I did not know he was Dalit till Kanshi Ram asked this. The point was these things were never part of our consciousness. Unfortunately, instead of raising the country’s level to mine, where I, a Brahmin, did not even know I am in the same carriage as a Dalit, we had to stoop down to the Kanshi Ram level. We are doing it now.”[11]
In a nutshell, we can say that it is the literature in which the history is recorded the way it shapes the society and politics. Whereas, it is to be clearly observed that a certain kind of politics has caught the imagination of the formation of ‘new India’ as Verghese K. George writes, “The proposition is that an aggressive assertion of the collective Hindu identity is an essential precondition for India’s development. This is a point that pro-market supports of Prime Minister Narendra Modi self-deceptively overlooked ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, though he himself had made his position clear. Asked whether he was “pro-business” or a “Hindu nationalist”, he said in 2013: “There is no contradiction between the two. It’s one and the same image.”[12] As, the proposition of ‘new India’ bears the inglorious imprint of both the capitalistic politics and Brahmanical cultural dominance, it is significant to declare a new genre of literature, like partially done in 1936 through the establishment of Progressive Writers Association and to be fulfilled through the formation of Dalit Panthers Movement, which will not just produce a counter of capitalist exploitation but also be able to fight against the cultural fascism of caste in India. Dalit literature, a new genre as a post-colonial literature, should be now given entry to the mainstream literary establishment which has been forced to remain outside the purview of mainstream and acknowledged only as marginal discourse or literature. At last, I propose that it should be called from now on the literature to be theorised within ‘progressive realism’. This is the only theory as ‘progressive realism’ and literature as ‘Dalit literature’ which captures out time, space and spirit of struggle. ‘Progressive Realism’ will prove to be a new emancipatory wave against the human oppression and an egalitarian establishment of history of mankind.
References
Bidwai, Praful, (2015), The Phoenix Moment, Harper Collins Publishers India.
Bartlett, Catherine, (1986), Magical Realism: The Latin American Influence On Modern Chicano Writer, Confluencia, vol. 1, No. 2, Literatura Chicana
Dalit Panthers Manifesto, (1973), p- V. available online.
Dr. Tulsiram, (2014), Mankarnika (in Hindi), Rajkamal Prakashan
George, Verghese. K., (Feb 16,2019), Hindutva 2.0 is in crisis, The Hindu, Delhi Edition.
Jeffrey, Craig, (2017), Modern India: A very short introduction, Oxford University Press.
Marx and Engels, (2012), On Literature and Art, People’s Publishing House & Visalaandhra Publishing House, Ist Indian Edition.
http://transworkshoptps.blogspot.com/2014/03/what-is-progressive-literature-why.html
Sartre, Jean-Paul, What is Literature ?, Philosophical Library, New York, 1949
Warnes, Christopher, (2009), Magical Realism and the Postcolonial Novel Between Faith and Irreverence, Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
[1] Sartre, Jean-Paul, What is Literature?, Philosophical Library, New York, 1949
[2] Marx and Engels, On Literature and Art, People’s Publishing House & Visalaandhra Publishing House, Ist Indian Edition, 2012, p-42
[3] http://transworkshoptps.blogspot.com/2014/03/what-is-progressive-literature-why.html
[4] Dalit Panthers Manifesto, 1973, p- V.
[5] Jeffrey, Craig, Modern India: A very short introduction, Oxford University Press, 2017, p- 80
[6] Bartlett, Catherine, Magical Realism: The Latin American Influence On Modern Chicano Writer, Confluencia, vol. 1, No. 2, Literatura Chicana (Spring 1986), p. 27-37
[7] Warnes, Christopher, Magical Realism and the Postcolonial Novel Between Faith and Irreverence, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, New York, p- vi
[8] Dr. Tulsiram, Mankarnika (in Hindi), Rajkamal Prakashan, 2014, p- 170-171
[9] Dr. Tulsiram, Mankarnika (in Hindi), Rajkamal Prakashan, 2014, p- 170. (translation mine)
[10] Bidwai, Praful, The Phoenix Moment, Harper Collins Publishers India, 2015, p- 330
[11] Bidwai, Praful, The Phoenix Moment, Harper Collins Publishers India, 2015, p – 482-483 (’ Interview with Saba Naqvi and Panini Anand, Outlook, 22 April, 2013.)
[12] George, Verghese. K., Hindutva 2.0 is in crisis, The Hindu, February 16, 2019, p- 6
