INVITATION
State
of the Nation Dialogue : Whither India?
29
Feb-1 March 2020
Vidya
Ashram, Sarnath, Varanasi
Friends,
Vidya
Ashram proposes to organize a dialogue on The
Present State of the Nation and its Future on
29th Feb - 1st March 2020 at Varanasi. You are invited to this
dialogue. Please come and contribute with your ideas and experiences.
You may come with persons of your choice. Please find time and
resources to come. The Ashram will arrange for everybody's food and
stay. We shall sit at the Sarnath premises of Vidya Ashram in
Varanasi. The dialogue will start at 11 in the morning on 29th.
The
struggles against CAA, NRC and NPR have grown beyond all expectations
and nobody knows what is in store in the coming days. Much more
is bound to happen before we meet for this dialogue. The nation is at
cross-roads, projected as being caught in the struggle between the
forces of secularism and Hindutva, also being seen through the
binaries of left-right, liberal-fascist, democratic-autocratic etc.
This is a trap, since these two sides largely have similar views on
knowledge, development and economics, making it difficult to address
larger and deeper issues, which are at the base of present
struggles. The struggles on the university campuses and also in
the open spaces have brought fresh claims of ownership of the nation
to the fore. This ought to be expected to bring into the idea of
nation new thoughts and in building of the nation new strategies.
This is a radically new situation.
The
persistent, courageous and unprecedented Dharna’s in public places
by Muslim women and widespread opposition by students, artists and
social activists, seen in a single frame, appear to be writing a
preface to not just a new idea of the nation but demanding
civilizational take on a new politics of change.
The
proposed dialogue is expected to break free of existing binaries.
People - ordinary
people, with their knowledge and world -
need to occupy a place of importance in any debate that seeks to have
answers or at least lay bare the fundamental issues. Knowledge
Politics and Ontological Politics
are the names being given to such efforts.
Vidya
Ashram, Sarnath, Varanasi
Vidyaashram.org
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