The debate on intolerance has put the focus on the ills of the ideology of Hindutva. One of ways to discern its poison is to view it as a regime that produces divisive cartographies in our society. These divisive cartographies are schizophrenic and are breaking our country from within. The schizoid geographies that Hindutva politics produces threatens to crack our country and our people and yet it is paradoxically passed off as nationalist in its intent and force. The cartographies flowing out of Hindutva are plural in as much as they draws a direct split between the insiders and the outsiders. The cartographies resulting from Hindutva are based on the production of signs and symbols that are deemed to be exclusively Indian and aimed at constructing a schizoid Indian subjects ranging from those who are deemed as authentically national to others who are viewed as depraved, lost and anti-national. This means the Hindutva cartographies territorialize some and de-territorialize others at the same time. Its politics continuously forces our people to become schizophrenic, leading us to live in split world.
The symbolic order that the right wing politics embodies in the ideology of Hindutva produces a schizo Indian. The Indian subject has to constantly mark his or her boundary based on the ideals presented by map of Hindutva. This means most Indians are expected to obey the law of the farther and succumb to the Oedipus complex. Hence, most of our people oedipalize and feel they have become more nationalist while those who stand against the law of the father and become Anti-oedipus are regarded as anti-national. May be we need to reflect deeply on Freudian Oedipus complex to understand how a majority of our people are psychically numbed by a strong patriarchal, intense hate and mindless violence ridden politics that draws them into what may be termed as Hintudva-mania. This mania leads several among us on the path of elimination of everyone who is viewed as an other/ traitor. These others are to be sacrificed on the altar of protection of interest of our nation. Thus, Hindutva politics is effectively laden with a virus of eugenics that selects worthy Indian nationals from those that are deemed not Indian enough. Therefore, we may have to accept that Hindutva politics embeds bleeding cartographies within it. If that is so, we cannot allow these cartographies to remain (un)thought in our society.
Since Goa remained cut off from the land mass that we indentify as India today, Goan cartography is certainly a schizoid one. Moreover, Goa is discursively produced as a land of difference in the imagination of other Indians and milked by the tourism industry to fill its coffers. This means Goa, has always remained a schizoid territory for the rest of Indians. The Schizo Goa is further split by the rightwing politics. Hence, it is time that we Goans stand up against this politics of schizophrenia. Once again we Goans are pushed in to the Oedipal triangle. All of us Goan love Goa but we have a rival, the law of the father who claim to represent our interest. For the Hindu Goans it is rightwing politics of both BJP and MGP while for the Goan Catholics and Muslims it is the Congress, Independents, UGDP etc. It is time to rise above the schizo politics of reining political parties. The Schizoid Goans have the challenge to rise above the oedipalizing forces that provide the fake security of the father figures meshed in the national political parties and shun away the schizoid cartographies and stand for a united Goa and India.
Interrogation of the Schizo (dividing) practices of the politics of the day might make us look eccentric. But resistance to the schizo practices of main national parties is the need of the hour so as to save the integral and plural demography of Goa as well as our country. Any resistance to the schizo practices of Hindutva politics and its several mirrors have the sacred duty to unmask the inadequacy of the nationalism championed by them. Their nationalism is a schizo nationalism. It is not national enough. It schizolizes / separates several legitimate sons and daughters of mother India. We in Goa are in the best position to embrace and integral nationalism that remains truly Goan. To bring about such integration, we need to decode, deconstruct and dismantle the Schizo practices of the politics of Schizophrenia and become Anti-oedipus who refuses to schizolize, break, split and wound Goans, Goanness and even our Indian-ness for a petty vested interest. It is only in coming together as Goans along with other Indians beyond all schizo divisions of religions, caste and ideology that we can bring a new political practice that heal both Schizo Goa and India.
(The author is the Dean of Philosophy, Rachol Seminary)
