Perception of Secular/Inclusive Nationalism in the Context of 2019–20 Anti-CAA Protests in India (Based on the Literary Material)

Abstract

At the end of 2019 and in early 2020, there were large-scale protests in India against amendments to the Citizenship Act 1955. They touched upon an important issue for Indian society — the issue of religion. Many protest actions were characterized by appeals to various forms of art, including poetry. We analyze the perception of secular or inclusive nationalism in the context of the 2019–2020 protests through the prism of the most popular poetic works that were recited at various venues. We present an overview of the problem of secularism in modern India, which is necessary to understand the main motifs of the works. In addition, the political context of the anti-CAA protests, as well as some of its peculiarities that are directly related to the issues of the Indian nation and religion, are considered. We give a brief description of the works under consideration, among which are both classical examples of Urdu poetry and poems created directly in the context of events. We study the main motifs of the above-mentioned poetic works, among which special attention is paid to the motif of inclusiveness. It is noted that the structure of poetic works reflects the generalization of individual experience to the collective experience. We conclude that poetry in which the ideas of resistance are expressed remains a key element of political struggle in contemporary India.

Keywords:

India, secularism, nationalism, communalism, protests, secular nationalism, Constitution of India, political poetry