Singh 4

Shailendra Kumar SinghProfessor Prasanta ChakravartyM.A. (F) English6 March 2013Liberal Democracy Versus The Welfare State: Internal Dichotomies And The Auto-Deconstructive Logic In Bhattacharya Children Case Amidst the myriad issues that Talal Asad deals with, in his essay, Reflections on Blasphemy and Secular Criticism, the principle questions pertaining to blasphemy and free speech are construed primarily in terms of understanding the identification of blasphemy as not merely an indicator of class prejudices but also as a contributing factor in constituting those class differences. However, he also engages, albeit tangentially, with the paradox that explains for the intrusion of legislature in the private domain. Viewed from this perspective, the Bhattacharya Children Case offers a relevant reading, for like Asads essay, it also tells us about the liberal ideas of the free human when juxtaposed with the particular patterns of restriction (587). In the aforementioned essay, Asad delineates how the legislation has given judges and welfare administrators greater discretion in matters relating to the family (custody, childcare, divorce, maintenance, matrimonial property and inheritance) (589). An analogous modus operandi can be unequivocally seen, to be at work in the Bhattacharya Children Case as well, in which an Indian couple namely Anurup and Sagarika, residing in Stavenger, Norway were estranged from their own children by the organisation, Child Welfare Services on the pretext of inadequate parental care being rendered to them. This is so, because even here the subjects right to relate to her own children is circumscribed by the welfare agencys right to inspect and intervene in that relationship (590). Such an encroachment on the private sphere illustrates what I would call the internal dichotomy or the auto-deconstructive logic, for while the concept of a liberal democracy ensures independence, autonomy and latitude within the private sphere, the fact that the liberal democracy is also a welfare state itself becomes the raison dtre for regulating, controlling and supervising individual affairs, whenever it is felt necessary or desirable. This breaching of private realms also underscores the relative and culture-specific value systems that two different cultures may have, and which may be antagonistic and antithetical to each other; something that even Asad outlines at length in his essay, even though he does so vis--vis the European world and that of the Muslims. This is so, because after the intervention of Child Welfare Services, the Indian Government also took cognisance of the situation, by the virtue of which, through diplomatic discussions with his Norwegian counterpart Jeus Stoltenberg, Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh pointed out how India places strong emphasis on family ties. However, the most significant element of relativity without being partisan, can be discerned in the fact that while the Child Welfare Services deemed Sagarika as someone ineligible for care-giving, the Child Welfare Committee of Burdwan found her capable of bringing up her offspring. Succinctly then, we can infer how the assumptions regarding welfare (in the Bhattacharya Children Case) or regarding free speech (in the case of Danish Cartoons) are understood as transcultural phenomena, while it is at best relative, context-based and culture-specific. But above all, it opens up the tentative, provisional and relative ground that clearly recognises how not only the fact that who is comprehending the external reality and under what circumstances, become pivotal determinants but also how it is often the linguistic choice (because so much of what we observe is the direct consequence of how we construe it) that configures the world around us. Eventually, this not only impugns constructs like welfare and free speech but also radically destabilizes formulations such as The Dark Ages, The White Mans Burden and more importantly the recent efforts directed towards assigning self-appointed roles on the flimsy pretext of War on Terror on countries having abundant oil resources, behind the thinly veiled veneer of which, lies a dexterously strategic subterfuge orchestrated for sheer capitalistic self-aggrandisement.

Works CitedAsad, Talal. Reflections on Blasphemy and Secular Criticism. Religion: Beyond a Concept. Ed. Hent de Vries. New York: Fordham University Press, 2008.