Jaipur: A Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak, a career diplomat-turned-politician and a Sahitya Akademi award winner walk onto a stage. Identity defines geography, insists the pracharak. Geography identifies a civilisation, asserts the politician. The voice heard next is that of the poet declaring that within geography is a space made entirely of “memory and narratives”.
What follows is a rather fluid, but mostly amicable, discussion on geographical identity, nation-state, decolonisation, equality and caste that concludes with the RSS pracharak making a rather bold claim: “Had Jesus (Christ) been in India, he would’ve never been crucified.”
The stage in question was the Front Lawn at the 17th edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival and the participants in this discussion held Friday were RSS joint general secretary Manmohan Vaidya, former foreign secretary Pavan Varma and Sahitya Akademi award-winning poet Badri Narayan.
Moderator Mandira Nayar kicked off the panel discussion by pulling the pin out of the ‘India-Bharat’ grenade and hurling it towards the three participants.
This story was originally published in theprint.in. Read the full story here .