Bonds that tie 1000 members of the Kosambi squad – Hindustan Times

Mumbai: In the face of the tectonic shifts in the narrative of our socio-political lives, on a January 2020 morning, Anupam Guha, professor of artificial intelligence (AI) policy research at the IIT-Bombay, tweeted if anyone wanted to join him to revisit some fundamental political theoretical texts. He expected no more than “five or six people to turn up, read a few books, have some conversations”. To his surprise, on January 28 of the same year, around 40 people joined in, of which 20 logged in virtually.

By March 2021 the members anointed the group, ‘The Kosambi Reading and Analysis Circle’, named after physicist and mathematician Dr DD Kosambi, also known as one of the first Marxist theoreticians in the India who systematically analysed historiography (writing of history) and played a big part in building both the social sciences and statistical mathematical hard sciences in India. He eventually became the chair for mathematics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR).

On January 28, 2023, the 1,000-odd member Circle celebrated its third anniversary and held the second Circle Congress to refine their vision.

Here is the backstory that birthed an idea.

For a decade between 2009 and 2019, Guha was in and out of India, first pursuing higher studies and later on work. He however wasn’t oblivious to what was going on in the country especially from 2016, predominantly, Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula’s death that year and the demonstrations that followed, murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh, student protests over fee hikes, cutting down funds for research fellowships and stipends, communal violence in Delhi and the nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), which took off in December 2019.

With no let-up in the anti-CAA/NRC protests, Guha through his interactions with the movements on the ground and in academia realised that many progressive forces, both liberal and socialists, in India were lacking theoretical clarity of what they were struggling for which often led to harmful strategic choices.

“For example, a lot of civil society leaders, and by that, I mean all kinds of progressives, be they liberals, Ambedkarites, communists, socialists and even feminist groups, were comfortable in opposing the NRC, though not the existing one in Assam, because of genuine ignorance about the state’s history. This was harmful because the material impact of NRC in the rest of the country was hypothetical which might never happen, but it was impacting Assam where it was happening then,” says Guha. “This kind of opportunism was intolerable.”

Not giving up on the cause of progress, but at the same time staying clear of electoral politics and activism, Guha decided to create an organisation to focus on theoretical sharpening through reading texts by thinkers ranging from Karl Marx, Freidrich Engels and Rosa Luxemburg to Emma Goldman, VI Lenin, Antonio Gramsci, BR Ambedkar and DD Kosambi, and challenging the existing lines of ideological thought through discussions and debates.

THE KOSAMBI CREW

For two hours on two Sunday evenings every month, a motley crew from various Indian cities, towns, and overseas get together via a Zoom link to sharpen political theory by reading writers from across the political spectrum, understanding the historical contexts and placing them in the current scenario.

Namgyal, 50, joined the Circle to frame his work in the broader societal context and stay informed about the underlying theory and political philosophy.

Having worked in the AI domain, the Bengaluru resident says it’s difficult to work in this area without thinking about the ethical problems (as they are emerging with ChatGPT) or its broader implications on unemployment.

“The discourse on AI and ethics is very shallow, usually driven by a company’s needs,” says Namgyal. “I also had the opportunity to think of the alienation experienced by gig workers (employed with cab aggregators or app-based food delivery system) as their only colleagues or mode of interaction are maps, and of the mental health implications on crores of Indians given the gig economy will significantly contribute to growth in jobs.”

A large majority of Circle members comprise students, white collar urban professionals, gig workers, freelancers, blue collar workers, academicians, entrepreneurs and senior citizens.

Shreya, who is pursuing a master’s in public policy in the US, recalls the feeling of hopelessness during the anti-CAA/NRC protests and whether understanding theory could help make sense of the political reality.

“Like how does right wing nationalism work in India and elsewhere? What lessons do we draw from other contexts to understand what’s happened? What does history tell us about our present moment? I felt political theory could sharpen our understanding of the present and may be point a way forward as well,” said Shreya, who had marked her solidarity at Azad Maidan during anti-CAA/NRC demonstrations.

After three years with the Circle, the 25-year-old says she has a better grasp on how a state functions under capitalism, and as a public policy student understands the motivations of state actors to defund various schemes.

For Shachi, who works in civic technology and public policy and whose work involves normalising public consultation and democratising law-making, the Circle helps her engage better with the government and the events around her. “All draft amendments, laws or circulars have a massive impact on everyday lives. When the Telecom Bill came up for public consultation, we discussed it in our Circle,” says the 28-year-old. “We received hundreds of well-thought, well-informed responses, many from the Circle. This is what Kosambi is doing — creating informed citizens especially youth and professionals.”

THE JOURNEY AND WAY FORWARD

Soon after their first three physical meetings before the pandemic, the Circle started brainstorming on their identity, defining the go and no-go areas.

“Even before our constitution was written, we were clear that the Kosambi reading circle is neither a political party, not indirectly affiliated to one nor an activist group. Kosambi is a pedagogical organisation that is focused on reading political theory through time, looking at what is happening around and then analysing it,” says Guha.

By January 2021, 900 to 1000 members started attending bi-monthly meetings and the Circle organised its first Congress. “Our circle is welcoming if you are a person invested in human equity and progress. You could be a liberal, communist, anarchist, Ambedkarite or a feminist, but your ideas are not correct just because they exist. In the Circle, every idea can be questioned and debated on. But we have some lines that will not be crossed,” points out Guha. One red line is not tolerating essentialism, especially bioessentialism (including strands of feminism which excludes trans people) and ethnic essentialism (ideas that certain people are authentically tied to certain pieces of land), which the circle considers inimical to human dignity.

Currently the Circle — with hundreds of members in large cities such as Bengaluru and Delhi, smaller Indian cities and outside India — is working to establish physical chapters. Last year, it released its magazine titled, ‘The Rosa’ – after socialist revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg. “We found most magazines from progressive or left leaning organisations in India inform readers of their accomplishments or are journalistic magazines,” says Guha. “‘The Rosa’ caters to theory, analyses, or theoretical engagements with concepts aside from general pieces, including fiction and poetry.”

Within the Circle, there exists internal focus groups called Caucuses. “One of the largest focus groups is the history group because we believe that political history, be it of socialism, communism, feminism or anti-caste movement, is being forgotten,” says Guha. “We have been methodically finding sources of political movements and making bibliographies of certain political histories that we use as material to read, spread and analyse.”

Other focus groups include science and technology, caste, art, gender, law, food, political economy, writing and sports among others.

THE CIRCLE’S SIGNIFICANCE

The group seeks to beat the notion that the working class can’t engage in high ideas. As Guha says, there is a general anti-intellectual culture within progressive spaces, an ivory towerism, which the circle sharply disagrees with.

“In the last couple of months, so many Bills have passed that will have a high impact on the common citizenry of this country. Attempts to redefine telecommunication, what should be licensed and not licensed, attempt to police speech, dissent etc. are important topics for the masses,” says Guha. “Unless debates in air-conditioned rooms move and get talked about within the masses, nothing will get politicised from a practical point of view.”

Three years has entailed much learning, say circle members. “There may not be an immediate use or value of all the readings. But it’s like fiction books. If you read them, you sort of better understand yourself and things around in unexpected ways,” Shreya concludes.