Why fear a dharmic nation? The upshot after a robust exchange at the Times Litfest was that no one fears a dharmic nation. The bone of contention was the ownership of dharma by a religion. Does dharma get devalued when conflated with religion? Why does the Constitution need to be tinkered with in order for Indians to ‘follow their dharma’? What is stopping governments, media, industrialists or the judiciary from operating in a ‘dharmic’ manner’? Is secularism not dharmic? Is dharma not a ‘guide to ethical action’? In conversation were R Jagannathan, editorial director of Swarajya magazine who wrote Dharmic Nation (2022), and former diplomat and politician Pavan K Varma, who wrote The Great Hindu Civilisation (2021). Columnist and politician Sudheendra Kulkarni earthed the duo’s ideological exchange in India’s everyday life, while novelist Ashwin Sanghi highlighted
fraught perceptions on secularism and Hindu assertion.
