The first panel of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Annual Academic Conference 2019 was titled Dialectics and Doctrines. Moderated by Dr Rajesh Kumar, Associate Professor of Linguistics at the department, the panel saw papers on the intersection of language, religion and politics.
Utilization of the English Language by the Muslim Community of Hyderabad to Assert their Identity by Maleeha Fatima, B.A., Tata Institute of Social Sciences – Hyderabad
The talk looked at the strategic use of the English language by political parties in Hyderabad that seek to represent the Muslim minority. Through this, it sought to understand the workings of the Anglophonic hegemony that exists in the present Indian social structure but only alongside other structures of power.
The Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (MIM) is a regional political party based out of Hyderabad that is seen as representing the cultural identity of the Muslim minority of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. It has also been positioning itself as a respected voice of the larger Muslim community in India. The president and face of MIM, Asaduddin Owaisi, is a fluent speaker of English. This is a key factor that contributes to the respect he enjoys among the Muslim community. It is considered prestigious for the community as a whole to be represented by an English-educated person; indeed, the ability to speak English fluently includes him in the category of the ‘intellectual elite’. This is indicative of a broader trend; it has been observed that in the choice of a political leader, the preference is for a Western educated speaker of English.
At the same time, the political party denies ‘Western’ culture. In fact, a combination of English language and traditional Islamic culture have been used by such parties to assert their identity.
The Muslim community in Hyderabad is an oppressed minority. Here, English, the language left behind by an oppressor, becomes an available tool for liberation from a new oppressor.
Intimate Histories: Conversion Beyond the Law by Shyamolie, Ph.D., Jawaharlal Nehru University
The talk looked at the narratives surrounding religious conversion in India, with a focus on conversion to Islam. Touching upon contemporary incidents, it laid out the Indian state’s framing of conversion and the anti-conversion laws that result due to this framing.
The state narrativises conversion, especially to Christianity and Islam, in terms such as “allurement” and “inducement”, thus implying that the convert has been coerced. Such narratives provide the basis for anti-conversion laws (termed Freedom of Religion Acts) that are in place in eight Indian states. Broadly, these laws seek to prevent any person from converting another person through forcible or fraudulent means, or by “allurement” or “inducement.”
Now, the Indian constitution guarantees, as a Fundamental Right, the right to freedom of religion. This includes a right to free profession of religion. While this is so, how does the state justify “allurement” and “inducement” as conditions sufficient to prohibit conversion? It does so by saying that the right to choose one’s religion is a “favour” granted; in exercising this “favour”, one must choose the “right” religion. “Right” religion excludes Christianity and Islam, which are categorised as “non-Indian religions”. This explains anti-conversion laws in certain states excluding reconversions to “native” or “original” faiths from their prohibitions.
Anti-conversion laws are only part of a sociopolitical landscape that discourages religious conversion. In many cases, the benefits of affirmative action would be lost to a member of the oppressed class on conversion. Then there are the love jihad helplines and the moral policing.
The Indian state frames conversion as a “colonization of consciousness”. In contrast, an alternative frame can be put forth through which conversion can be viewed as a process where a desire for a different identity renders a person’s citizenship itself fragile.
Both the papers invited engaging questions from the moderator and the audience. It set the tone for the rest of the conference by being both theoretically rigorous and relevant in contemporary times.
Report by Swathi CS
Photographs by Aditya Parameswaran
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