Imperialism down the ages has evolved and employed a number of languages. The verbiage has varied according to differences of time and clime. But all languages of imperialism have shared certain characteristics in common. The language of Leftism passes this test quite creditably.
To start with, every language of imperialism invokes an inscrutable entity as its source and sanction. This entity reveals its final and irreversible will to an incomparable person. All pronouncements of this person are placed beyond the reach of human reason or experience. They have to be accepted on faith. Compared to faith, reason and experience are found to be faulty faculties. These faculties can fulfil themselves only if they follow and fortify faith.
Second, every language of imperialism divides human history into two sharply separated periods - an age of darkness which prevailed before the birth of the incomparable person, and an age of light which followed thereafter. The entire past history of every nation preceding the age of light is painted black so that nothing in which a nation can take pride is left unscathed.
Third, every language of imperialism divides mankind into two mutually exclusive camps -- the believers who accept the dogmas propoundded by the incomparable person, and the unbelievers who doubt or reject those dogmas. The believers are placed under a categorical imperative to make war on the unbelievere till the latter are either converted or killed off. The believers do not have to be better human beings in terms of morality or character. It is sufficient if they have fervour and ferocity born of faith.
Fourth, every language of imperialism bands together all believers everywhere into a world brotherhood which cuts across all national bounds of geography, history and culture. As a corollary, every nuance of nationalism gets denounced as narrow and out of date. For all practical purposes, it is an invitation to every nation to renounce its independent identity and become a colony where the incomparable person was born or where his dogmas first acquired the backing of armed force. This dead uniformity into which nations are stream-rollered is hailed as universality.
Fifth, every language of imperialism propounds that the inscrutable entity has mandated the whole earth to the incomparable person who, in his turn, has bequeathed it to the brotherhood. So when the brotherhood or any section of it mounts an aggression, it automatically becomes a war of liberation. The brotherhood is only claiming what already belongs to it. Sixth, every language of imperialism lays down two inevitabilities -- an inevitable victory of the believers, and an inevitable defeat of the unbelievers. The believers are told that the inscrutable entity is on their side and no power on earth can stop their onward march. The intention is to enthuse the believers so that they spare no effort and demoralise the unbelievers so that they surrender or offer only half-hearted resistance.
Seventh, every language of imperialism equips the believers with an immeasurable degree of self-righteousness. They are told that the lives, liberties, properties and honour of the unbelievers have already been forefeited by the inscrutable entity. The believers, therefore, commit no crime when they kill, enslave, plunder and humiliate the unbelievers. This gives a good conscience to the believers while they indulge in an endless spree of bloodshed and vandalism. In fact, their crimes become meritorious deeds.
Lastly, the unbelievers are accused of all sorts of crimes committed by them by the very fact of being what they are. In fact, the whole life-history of every unbeliever becomes a catalogue of crimes. The intention is to debar the unbelievers from any sympathy from any quarters. At the sme time, the crimes committed against them are explained away in terms of their own crimes.
In the lines that follow, I will present a panoramic view of those languages of imperialism which have invaded India, at one time or the other. Incidentally, the list is almost exhaustive. India has been plagued by every principal language of imperialism invented by human ingenuity so far.
The language of Islamic imperialism was the first language of imperialism to invade India. Its standard-bearers were the Arab and the Turkish armies which came in successive waves from the middle of the 7th to the middle of the 18th century. It had proclaimed that
- Allah had revealed his final and irreversible will to prophet Muhammad
born in Mecca in 570 A.D. and buried in Medina in 632 A.D;
- Human history before the prophethood of Muhammad was jahiliya (era of
ignorance) and the light of truth dawned on earth only after that
date;
- That date divided mankind into momins (believers) and
kafirs (unbelievers) and the momins should become mujahids (holy
warriors) by making war on the kafirs;
- All momins everywhere were members of the millat (brotherhood)
which recognised no national frontiers or peculiarities of national
culture;
- Allah had mandated the entire earth, including Sind and Hind, to
prophet Muhammad who, in his turn, had bequeathed it to the millat
which had thus acquired an inalienable right to conquer Sind and Hind
and cleanse them of kafir (infidelism);
- The triumph of the millat was inevitable in Sind and Hind, as
elsewhere and the mujahids should make all efforts to expedite that
end;
- Allah al-Rahman, al-Rahim (the Compassionate, the Merciful) had
already forefeited the lives, liberties, properties and honour of
hindu kafirs and the mijahids should kill the Hindus, capture their
women and children, plunder their properties, demolish their temples
desecrate their idols, burn their scriptures, humiliate their holy
men and extirpate every vestige of their culture;
- Hindu were kafirs wallowing in the sin of shirk (idolatory) and
fully deserved the punishment meted out to them by the momins.
LANGUAGE OF CHRISTIAN IMPERIALISM The next language of imperialism to plague India was that of Christian imperialism. It first came to this country in the company of Portuguese pirates in the opening years of the 16th century. Some of these pirates were dressed as priests and friars and introduced themselves as missionaries of Jesus Christ. It was this latter tribe which trumpeted that
- The only True God had sent his Only Son, Jesus, to atone for the
sins of all mankind by dying on the Cross in Jerusalem in 33 A.D.;
- Human history before the Crucifixion of Jesus was an era of
darkness and the light of divinity descended on earth exactly on that
date;
- Mankind became divided into Christians and heathens after the death
of Jesus and the Christians were under a divine obligation to wage a
constant crusade against the Heathens;
- All Christians everywhere were united in the Catholic Church, the
holy Mother of Mankind, which recognised no national divisions or
distinctions;
- The Only True God had mandated the entire earth including India to
his Only Son who, in his turn had bequeathed it to the Catholic Church
which had thus inherited an inalienable right to liberate India, as
all other lands, from the horrors of Heathenism;
- The victory of the Catholic Church over India as elsewhere, was
inevitable and Christian soldiers and missionaries should endeavour to
expedite that end;
- The Only True God, in his infinite mercy, had forefeited the lives,
liberties, properties and honour of the Gentoo (Hindu) heathers and
the Catholic Church was authorised to demolish their temples, to smash
their idols, to burn their scriptures, to persecute their priests, to
close down their schools and seminaries, to prohibit their public
celebrations, to sequester their movable and immovable possessions, to
separate them from their children, to convert their women into
concubines for Christian soldiers and priests, to exile those sections
of their population which proved recalcitrant, and to massacre those
who offered armed resistance;
- The Gentoo heathens had lived for long in the sin and shame of
polytheism and pantheism and their crimes deserved drastic punishment.
The language of Western imperialism came to India as the language of British imperialism. But it was shared in common by the French, the Dutch, the Portuguese, the Belgians, the Italians the Germans and Russians who had enslaved many nations in Asia and Africa by force of superior arms. Essentially, it was the old language of Christian imperialism. But it was dressed up in a secular verbiage. Its tenets were as follows.
- March of human history had proved the cultural superiority of the
white man and placed him in the vanguard of human progress;
- Human history before the 16th and 17th centuries was an age of
barbarism, and an era of enlightenment had commenced since then;
- Mankind was divided into the civilised people of Europe on the one
hand, and the savage races of asia and Africa on the other.
- The white race was a disticnt fraternity designated by history to
dominate the whole world, including India;
- History had placed the people of India in charge of the white man
from Britain who should bear the burden of his civilising mission
without bothering about the negative attitudes of the natives.
- History was heading towards an inevitable triumph of the Western
civilisation and the British should work towards that fulfilment in
India;
- History had rendered out of date the political system, social
order, economic organisation and cultural traditions of India, and the
British should smash them be by force or reform them out of
recognition without any hesitation.
- Hindus had lived for long in a medley of primitive superstitions and
amply deserved whatever suffering the British civilising mission had
imposed upon them.
The language of Communist imperialism started trickling into India soon after the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia in November, 1917. Leading Western thinkers like Bertrand Russell have identified Communism as a Christian heresy. Small wonder that the language of Communist imperialism is the same as that of Christian imperialism, except for the Marxist trappings in which Lenin has disguised it. This becomes obvious when we contemplate its following features:
- Forces of Production, maturing in the womb of human history became
self-conscious in Lenin and enabled him to snap the chain of world
capitalism in Russia;
- Human history which had so far been a history of class oppression
and class struggle now took a decisive turn towards a classless
communist society;
- The whole world, including India, now became a battle ground
between forces of capitalist reaction on the one hand and forces of
proletarian revolution on the other;
- The proletariat in every country including India, became part of an
international comraderie which had no use for nationalism in any shape
or form;
- The Communist International, the vanguard of the world proletariat,
had inherited the entire earth, including India, from the Forces of
Production and it was its inalienable right to promote a proletarian
revolution in every country;
- The victory of the International was inevitable and its Sections in
different countries, including India, should endeavour to expedite
that end;
- The existing political, social, cultural and economic institutions
in India had been rendered outmoded by the Forces of Production and
the Communist Party of India, a Section of the Communist
International, should smash them so that the last vestiges of
feudalism capitalism and colonialism were wiped out;
- The fedual lords and capitalists in India had conspired with
British imperialism in order to keep the Indian people enslaved and
they deserved to be destroyed together with their political party, the
Indian National Congress.
What is still more significant, the language of Communist imperialism operates in close cooperation with the languages of Islamic, Christian and Western imperialism and has succeeded, for the time being, in driving away or putting on the defensive the language of Indian nationalism. This becomes crystal clear when we examine the history and role of the Leftist language ever since it invaded India in the early twenties of this century.
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