Skip to main content

Of men and beasts: Political masculinities

By Philip Vinod Peacock, Ashley Tellis* 

My newsfeed on Facebook and other forms of social media has been flooded with pictures and videos exhibiting Rahul Gandhi’s physical prowess. Swimming in the ocean, his chiselled abs are visible through a black shirt and videos of him doing push ups effortlessly are trending. These images are framed in the larger narrative context of the Congress trying every possible (pathetic) way to make him appear like a worthy rival of Modi. A ‘people’s person’, Gandhi is always photo-oped in the midst of common people, fisherfolk and college students in this present situation.
The intentionality behind constructing a narrative that is as good as if not better than Narendra Modi is more than amply evident. The six pack versus the fifty-six-inch chest, the push ups as opposed to yoga, the ‘people’s person’ as against the monk who reflects in solitude. Yet as both parties attempt to control the political space as well as the larger narrative, it is also clear that both ultimately draw from the same well of masculine tropes, a macho masculinity.
This leads us to consider the larger sphere of politics in India and perhaps even the South Asian subcontinent, encapsulating India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. While we are led to believe that there is an opposition, in the case of India framed as the binary between the BJP and the Congress, this is actually a false proposition. Frankly salvation, humanisation, or even a recognition of human dignity will not come from either.
The spectre that haunts India is an ancient, many-headed beast. Its heads are misogyny, patriarchy, caste, communalism and inequality. This is a beast that has been recently fed on the heady concoction of hypernationalism and crony capitalism and has been made to drink from pools of hatred. It is a fearsome beast made all the more frightening by the fact that the beast is us. There is no way we can separate ourselves from it. We are the beast, and it feeds on us. Even a casual audit of how we treat the poor and dispossessed in this country would reveal our ugly faces, a truly grotesque spectre.
Past regimes have made attempts to cage the beast by various means, yet they have also let loose the beast when it has served their own interests. The riots of 1984 are an example of this, Bhagalpur, Shah Bano, Ayodhya, Kandhamal – the list is endless. When the beast has satiated itself, it lopes back to its cage one more time.
The difference now is that the beast is let loose more often than it is in its cage. It is almost as though the cage has been forgotten, the zoo has turned into a safari and the poor, minorities, indigenous people, Dalits, women and sexual minorities are its prey.
The point is not to cage the beast once more but to forever kill it. But this cannot be done, not least because it means killing ourselves. What might be done, following Freud, is to keep it under control. Freud is often thought of as a writer only on sex but actually he wrote much more, and much more powerfully, on violence, from Mass Psychology (which warned against the impending doom of World War II by analysing the detritus of World War I) to the historical origins of violence in Totem and Taboo. But we have learnt nothing from Freud and stick to banal caricatures of him as a sex-obsessed guru.
Yet sex is at the heart of this kind of political masculinity that both Gandhi and Modi represent. Gandhi is the modern, gym-going, Speedo-wearing gay icon who tries swimming in the ocean to show he is as much a man of nature as Modi with his yoga, peacocks (no pun intended) and desi gay icon appeal.
Both are masculinities based on poisonous notions of the male self. Sexual abnegation (both men are not really married (one is a modern bachelor, the other a semen-retention akhara type); the misogynist abjuring of women (poor Mrs. Modi did not even exist for the longest time and Gandhi, cowed down by his mother and sister, shows no sign of any other woman in his life) and the clever sublimation of sexual energies into vicious forms of politics (Gandhi pretends to be the modern, secular Congress leader but we all know what violence against minorities the Congress is capable of; Modi pretends to be the contemplative guru who kills Muslims purely for fun and destroys any other minorities that come in the way of his ‘development’ plans).
But both these forms of masculinity are also in us, the middle classes of India, and also really in most Indians, across class and caste. They take on certain forms: the sexual governance of women (killing them if they dare marry outside caste or show any sexual expression at all); caste governance (killing Dalits for similar transgressions, mainly done by OBC castes); class rapaciousness (nothing, just nothing, can come in the way of our making money) are just three of these forms.
Till we realise that the beasts are in us, the beasts are us, nothing is going to change.
In the meantime, let’s admit that the radical feminists of the 60s were right: we are a homosexual society. Men only dig each other, they compete only with each other, they want only each other. Let’s remember that while we salivate over Rahul Gandhi’s abs.
---
Philip Vinod Peacock is Executive Secretary of Justice and Witness of the WCRC and is based in Hannover, Germany; Ashley Tellis is an LGBH activist based out of Hyderabad

Comments

TRENDING

Aurangzeb’s last will recorded by his Maulvi: Allah shouldn't make anyone emperor

By Mohan Guruswamy  Aurangzeb’s grave is a simple slab open to the sky lying along the roadside at Khuldabad near Aurangabad. I once stopped by to marvel at the tomb of an Emperor of India whose empire was as large as Ashoka the Great's. It was only post 1857 when Victoria's domain exceeded this. The epitaph reads: "Az tila o nuqreh gar saazand gumbad aghniyaa! Bar mazaar e ghareebaan gumbad e gardun bas ast." (The rich may well construct domes of gold and silver on their graves. For the poor folks like me, the sky is enough to shelter my grave) The modest tomb of Aurangzeb is perhaps the least recognised legacies of the Mughal Emperor who ruled the land for fifty eventful years. He was not a builder having expended his long tenure in war and conquest. Towards the end of his reign and life, he realised the futility of it all. He wrote: "Allah should not make anyone an emperor. The most unfortunate person is he who becomes one." Aurangzeb’s last will was re...

Beyond his riding skill, Karl Umrigar was admired for his radiance, sportsmanship, and affability

By Harsh Thakor*  Karl Umrigar's name remains etched in the annals of Indian horse racing, a testament to a talent tragically cut short. An accident on the racetrack at the tender age of nineteen robbed India of a rider on the cusp of greatness. Had he survived, there's little doubt he would have ascended to international stature, possibly becoming the greatest Indian jockey ever. Even 46 years after his death, his name shines brightly, reminiscent of an inextinguishable star. His cousin, Pesi Shroff, himself blossomed into one of the most celebrated jockeys in Indian horse racing.

PUCL files complaint with SC against Gujarat police, municipal authorities for 'unlawful' demolitions, custodial 'violence'

By A Representative   The People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has lodged a formal complaint with the Chief Justice of India, urging the Supreme Court to initiate suo-moto contempt proceedings against the police and municipal authorities in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The complaint alleges that these officials have engaged in unlawful demolitions and custodial violence, in direct violation of a Supreme Court order issued in November 2024.

How the slogan Jai Bhim gained momentum as movement of popularity and revolution

By Dr Kapilendra Das*  India is an incomprehensible plural country loaded with diversities of religions, castes, cultures, languages, dialects, tribes, societies, costumes, etc. The Indians have good manners/etiquette (decent social conduct, gesture, courtesy, politeness) that build healthy relationships and take them ahead to life. In many parts of India, in many situations, and on formal occasions, it is common for people of India to express and exchange respect, greetings, and salutation for which we people usually use words and phrases like- Namaskar, Namaste, Pranam, Ram Ram, Jai Ram ji, Jai Sriram, Good morning, shubha sakal, Radhe Radhe, Jai Bajarangabali, Jai Gopal, Jai Jai, Supravat, Good night, Shuvaratri, Jai Bhole, Salaam walekam, Walekam salaam, Radhaswami, Namo Buddhaya, Jai Bhim, Hello, and so on. A soft attitude always creates strong relationships. A relationship should not depend only on spoken words. They should rely on understanding the unspoken feeling too. So w...

Haven't done a good deed, inner soul is cursing me as sinner: Aurangzeb's last 'will'

Counterview Desk The Tomb of Aurangzeb, the last of the strong Mughal emperors, located in Khuldabad, Aurangabad district, Maharashtra, has this epitaph inscribed on it: "Az tila o nuqreh gar saazand gumbad aghniyaa! Bar mazaar e maa ghareebaan gumbad e gardun bas ast" (the rich may well construct domes of gold and silver on their graves. For the poor folks like me, the sky is enough to shelter my grave).

CPM’s evaluation of BJP reflects its political character and its reluctance to take on battle against neo-fascism

By Harsh Thakor*  A controversial debate has emerged in the revolutionary camp regarding the Communist Party of India (Marxist)'s categorization of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Many Communists criticize the CPM’s reluctance to label the BJP as a fascist party and India as a fascist state. Various factors must be considered to arrive at an accurate assessment. Understanding the original meaning and historical development of fascism is essential, as well as analyzing how it manifests in the present global and national context.

State Human Rights Commission directs authorities to uphold environmental rights in Vadodara's Vishwamitri River Project

By A Representative  The Gujarat State Human Rights Commission (GSHRC) has ordered state and Vadodara municipal authorities to strictly comply with environmental and human rights safeguards during the Vishwamitri River Rejuvenation Project, stressing that the river’s degradation disproportionately affects marginalized communities and violates citizens’ rights to a healthy environment.  The Commission mandated an immediate halt to ecologically destructive practices, rehabilitation of affected communities, transparent adherence to National Green Tribunal (NGT) orders, and public consultations with experts and residents.   The order follows the Concerned Citizens of Vadodara coalition—environmentalists, ecologists, and urban planners—submitting a detailed letter to authorities, amplifying calls for accountability. The group warned that current plans to “re-section” and “desilt” the river contradict the NGT’s 2021 Vishwamitri River Action Plan, which prioritizes floodpla...

How polarization between different ideological trends within the communist movement sharpened in India

By Harsh Thakor*  This article is a rejoinder to A Note on Slogans of “Left Unity,” “Unity of the Communist Revolutionaries” and “Mass Line” by Umair Ahmed, published on the Nazariya blog .

Vadodara citizens urge authorities to adhere to environmental mandates in Vishwamitri River Rejuvenation Project

By A Representative   A coalition of environmental activists, ecologists, and urban planners in Vadodara has issued an urgent appeal to state and municipal authorities, demanding strict compliance with court-mandated guidelines for the upcoming Vishwamitri River rejuvenation project. Scheduled to commence in March 2025, the initiative aims to mitigate flooding and restore the river, but citizens warn that current plans risk violating National Green Tribunal (NGT) orders and jeopardizing the river’s fragile ecosystem, home to endangered species like crocodiles and Indian Softshell Turtles.  

Lata Mangeshkar, a Dalit from Devdasi family, 'refused to sing a song' about Ambedkar

By Pramod Ranjan*  An artist is known and respected for her art. But she is equally, or even more so known and respected for her social concerns. An artist's social concerns or in other words, her worldview, give a direction and purpose to her art. History remembers only such artists whose social concerns are deep, reasoned and of durable importance. Lata Mangeshkar (28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was a celebrated playback singer of the Hindi film industry. She was the uncrowned queen of Indian music for over seven decades. Her popularity was unmatched. Her songs were heard and admired not only in India but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh and many other South Asian countries. In this article, we will focus on her social concerns. Lata lived for 92 long years. Music ran in her blood. Her father also belonged to the world of music. Her two sisters, Asha Bhonsle and Usha Mangeshkar, are well-known singers. Lata might have been born in Indore but the blood of a famous Devdasi family...