On another list I'm on, we're discussing varying constructions on national identity and nationalism in Russia, with Russia attempting to create a transethnic sense of "Russianness" that goes beyond ethnic or religious affiliation. It strikes me that India is much like Russia in its amazing plurality of societies, languages and cultures, so I thought comparing the two cases would be interesting. However I know nothing about the subject in an Indian context. I would imagine that using Hinduism as the basis of "Indianness" would be an obvious tactic, but one would run into the same problem as using Russian Orthodox Christianity in Russia -- a very large Muslim and secular population. Does anybody have any thoughts on this, or, barring this, can anyone point me at any sources discussing it, debates on the topic in the Indian intelligentsia and so forth?
Thanks, and whatever "thank you!" is in Hindi as well! :)
Lyubo, bratsy, lyubo, lyubo, bratsy, zhit!
ËÞÁÎ, ÁÐÀÒÖÛ, ËÞÁÎ, ËÞÁÎ, ÁÐÀÒÖÛ, ÆÈÒÜ!
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