‘Only Dalits can fight RSS culture’  

Carnatic vocalist and musician TM KRISHNA in his 2016 Raman Magsaysay award address shook up the cosy world of Indian classical music when he asked the question: What is music, its history and purpose? This question has acquired a new urgency with the growing intervention of the Hindutva ideology in classical art, music and theatrical performances. Patriotism and nationalism, it appears to suggest, is expressed truly only when it accepts the hegemony of upper caste primacy. Bhasha Singh caught up with the musician to understand this mutation. TM Krishna was in New Delhi to receive the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration 2015-16. Excerpts from the interview:

How do you view the current socio-cultural scene?

India has always had this idea of a dominant culture. Whether it’s BJP government or not, we have always promoted upper caste, upper class culture. What is extremely disturbing today is that there is this obvious need of the government to re-assert upper caste identity through art and culture. Since culture and religion are intertwined in our country, it is being done through religious practices and festivals. Singularity of culture is being stressed upon. This is being linked to national identity.

A monolithic India?

Today India is being tied to a certain kind of cultural idea. Your relationship with the country as a citizen has been narrowed down to caste and a cultural idea. Hegemony kills creativity. This is dangerous.

What’s its impact on culture?

What is happening is that diversity in the field of art and culture is being curtailed or crushed. Dalit music, art and culture, which is already marginalised and stigmatised, is now being put down in a very organised way. There is another aspect to it. In society, if we talk about protest and resistance, it generally has its roots in the marginalised. It is rare for upper caste culture and art to spearhead socio-political resistance. But they often borrow this from oppressed classes by using their narratives in their presentations. This has also happened in theatre and writing. I want to make it clear that by making and promoting upper caste Hindu culture as national culture, they want to do away with culture of protest and resistance. This has a multiple, cascading and damaging impact on everyone.

RSS claims to be a cultural organisation. How is it damaging India’s multi-cultural identity?

Relationship between the RSS and BJP has to be understood very clearly. The RSS, because of its inbuilt independence, functions on its own. No political organisation has that kind of partner on the local “cultural” ground. It gives RSS tremendous clout. They don’t need accomplished writers or artists. They interact directly with people by asserting the importance of dominant culture, of homogeneity, by making it aspirational, by promoting the idea of the proud Hindu and the proud Indian. Add jingoism to the mix.

How is the classical world responding to this twist?

They are always ready to partner with them because the classical world thinks they represent Indian culture. Bringing the classical and the devotional world together and tying it up with Hinduism and RSS is a dangerous combination.

Who can fight this?

I think only Dalit organisations can fight them. Because they also work in communities. They have the tradition of resistance, a culture of protest. The problem is that we have not built alternatives. We don’t have secular autonomous cultural bodies in villages, in towns, in cities. Without them, we will not be able to counter or fight the Hindutva cultural onslaught. We need to build cultural alternatives to protect the concept of a multi-cultural India.

How important is it for an artist to dissent?

The answer to this is embedded in the freedom of creative pursuit. The classical Brahamnical culture never gives you this freedom. We have lost Devdasi voice and face from music and dance. It is a loss. Brahmins segregate things into classical and folk forms. For me, if art doesn’t give me the freedom to dissent, I can’t grow. I am an insider and outsider of classical world. I want to create disturbance inside, challenge the caste structure, very carefully.