Literature on Coloniality motivated me to examine the journey of contemporary Constitutionalism: J Sai Deepak, author

J Sai Deepak’s book titled, ‘India, That is Bharat: Coloniality, Civilisation, Constitution’, is the first part of a comprehensive trilogy, which examines the far reaching impact of European ‘colonial consciousness’ on Bharat. Upon a thorough reading of the book, what really lingers is the well-researched arguments put forth. These well-chiseled arguments probe the reshaping of Bharat in a way that has not been undertaken earlier; more notably, with razor sharp precision.

Speaking to FinancialExpress.com about the book’s title and its key message for readers, J Sai Deepak says, “My intention was to force readers to ask the question as to why does this country subscribe to dual identities, namely India and Bharat, and why is it that educated ‘Indians’ do not wish to call themselves ‘Bharatiyas’. More than dual identities, I wanted them to ask a few questions about the source and nature of our consciousness which is much more fundamental than mere identity. After all, consciousness is inward looking and identity is the outward projection. Unless the software is examined, the analysis of the hardware alone would be an exercise in superficiality and futility.”

Notably, ‘India, That is Bharat’ is already undergoing a fifth print run of 10,000 copies and ranks consistently in the top 50 Nielsen titles, top 100 books on Amazon  and No 1 in the political categories,, the Hindi and Telugu translations are also being rolled out.

When asked about the success of his book , J Sai Deepak tells FinancialExpress.com, “To me, the success of the book points to the existence of an eager audience which is keen on consuming Bharat-centric scholarship, which means our society is ready for decoloniality and decolonization. As for the best feedback, every day I get messages and mails from Bharatiya students across the world telling me how much they have been able to relate to the book and how they are keen to contribute to Bharat’s civilizational reawakening through production of evidence-based scholarship. This was the precise objective of the book- to equip Bharatiyas with a framework, with a lens, with a way of seeing and understanding.” 

“The underlying themes of Book 2 and 3 of the Bharat Trilogy will be the same. Book 2 should be out in June-July of this year and Book 3 should be out around the same period next year,” he adds.

India That Is Bharat – What made you decide to write the book?

The events of the last few years have brought to the fore the raging debate on the so-called “idea of India” so much so that the use of Bharat to refer to India has become politically incorrect, although Article 1 of the Constitution starts with the words “India, that is, Bharat...”. This points to a fundamental problem in the way we see ourselves as a country and a culture. I wanted to understand this problem better as an untrained student of history and psychology, and as a trained practitioner of law, which took me to the literature on coloniality/colonial consciousness. The literature on coloniality motivated me to examine the journey of contemporary constitutionalism for the influence of colonial consciousness, and hence the book. 

The analysis of coloniality and its impact worldwide with emphasis on India, and particularly in the light of Quijano’s observations and contribution to it, is thought provoking. What made you decide to cover this aspect with such in-depth analysis? 

The interesting thing is that there exists scholarship in Bharatiya languages on the impact of colonization on our modes of sensing and patterns of thinking. We also have scholarship in English on the subject by Bharatiyas. However, that scholarship has never been mainstreamed owing to our academia being treated as the exclusive preserve of a particular ideology, namely the Nehruvian Marxist school. In stark contrast, in the West, Latin American decolonial scholarship has received significant attention which has opened the West’s eyes to its own shortcomings and its treatment of non-Christian non-European societies. To expose this marked difference in the treatment of decoloniality between the West and Bharat, I decided to juxtapose the Latin American scholarship with its Bharatiya counterpart to draw attention to prevalent double standards wherein the former is feted while the latter is denied access to the minds of students. I was clear that the book would not be a light read which could come in the way of its reach and commercial success. 

Were you ever worried that your arguments on coloniality would be rejected by readers and historians? 

Fortunately, I was proven wrong by readers who embraced the book and have made it their own.  As for historians, well, history is where our ideological battles are being fought. Naturally, reactions to the book vary, which I can live with. After all, why should we expect everyone to agree with us?  

In your view, how has the impact of coloniality played out in India and in which spheres do you find it most apparent today? 

In the book, I have compared coloniality with the Matrix from pop culture to underscore its all-pervasiveness. It is everywhere starting from the language we speak, to the clothes we wear to the food we eat to our education system, the way we see our native faith systems and culture, our approach to law, nature and development. In short, nothing has escaped the influence of coloniality, perhaps only the degree varies. As a lawyer, naturally I tend to see coloniality play itself out in the justice dispensation system given the stark colonial nature of this system and its institutions. 

The origin and the subsequent misuse of the word ‘modern’, as you pointed out in the book, has been impossible to ignore. 

Two related questions on this – 

A) Given the in-depth analysis on the topic covered in your book, where do you believe the Constitution of India stands – as modern- or not, or as a framework that has been broadly based on coloniality rather than indigenous consciousness?

To be honest, I will not be in a position to answer this question until my Bharat Trilogy is complete. However, I am certainly in a position to say that the beginnings of our contemporary constitutionalism certainly have a greater proportion of colonial consciousness as opposed to Indic consciousness since the first British-made Constitution for India, namely the Government of India Act of 1919, was designed to achieve the colonizer’s vision, and not the indigenous vision. 

B) Given how varied religious practices are continuously coming under the scrutiny of activists who want “modern” practices to be incorporated, what is your view on the way this is shaping up and deepening social fault lines?

A. I do not have a problem with activism. I only object to that brand of activism which proudly wears its coloniality as a badge of honour and pushes it under optically correct and self-congratulatory labels such as ‘modern’, ‘progressive’, ‘liberal’ and ‘rational’, while summarily rejecting the Indic position as ‘conservative’, ‘traditional’ and outmoded. No wonder that only Indic institutions, faith systems and practices are constantly at the receiving end of such ‘enlightened’ activism. It is my opinion that the end goal of such activism is to recast the Indic society entirely in the mould of the West, which makes decoloniality an existential civilizational imperative and not a mere academic exercise.

Adding to this question, if the decolonial consciousness were to be used to replace colonialist thinking and application on key issues such as the prevalence of the caste system, to what extent would they be differently perceived and resolved?

The first consequence would be that we would drop the term ‘caste’ and understand the distinctions between varna, jati and kula. We would also reject casteism without destroying social structures which no so-called ‘reformer’ has been able to do away with. Instead, we would find ways of promoting equitable and just treatment of all groups through dialogue and discussion instead of driving a wedge among them.

A similar outcome may be expected in other spheres.

Your book probes the nuances of the Peace of Westphalia and the Protestant Reformation and how it paved the way for the Statute of the International Court of Justice, which was established almost three centuries after the Peace of Westphalia. In your view, why are these aspects of history not fully incorporated into the sphere of mainstream publishing in India? Or are authors and historians reluctant to take this forward due to hurdles that are either imagined or true?  

The hurdles are real and the barriers are formidable. As I said, over the last seven decades, Bharat’s academia and centers of production and dissemination of knowledge have been firmly in the hands of the Nehruvian Marxist school which subscribes to postcolonial thought. The Decolonial school exposes the inherent coloniality of postcolonialism as well as its limitations. Naturally, Indian academia, being the stronghold of postcolonialism, has not allowed decolonial thought to enter its portals. This is why decolonial thought in Bharat has been produced outside the confines of conventional academia in pockets of resistance. However, the time has come for Bharatiyas to ask whether postcolonialism has entrenched colonial tropes about Bharat or has it empowered indigeneity. If the answer is the former, why should postcolonialism find breathing space in Bharat? 

Why should everything be scanned through the decoloniality filter and in your view, what is its practical relevance in today’s India?

Because every sphere was infected by coloniality by design, and any society or culture which aspires for the status of Vishwaguru cannot possibly hope to achieve that status by riding on the coattails of borrowed ideas, especially the coloniser’s ideas. Critically, the world needs diversity in ideation and production of knowledge given that the Western model of ceaseless growth and endless consumption is unsustainable and comes at the expense of Nature. The only breakout strategy at this point is to question the very premise of existing structures which are the legacy of colonialism. Decoloniality does exactly that. 

What is your advice to first time authors?

Be honest about what you know and what you don’t, and let that honesty reflect in the manner in which you present both facts and opinions in your book. Respect the readers’ intelligence. If you put in the effort and produce a work of quality, readers will upset the so-called established rules of the publishing industry.