In conversation with Nayantara Sahgal and Fatima Bhutto

By Aditi Charanji
“When people fight for freedom, there is a very special atmosphere of hope, optimism, courage and adventure.”

This was the first thing novelist and journalist Nayantara Sahgal said during a talk with fellow writer Fatima Bhutto, who were both in London to take part in a discussion organised by the DSC South Asian Literature Festival.

Held at arts venue Kings Place, the event examined the similarities as well as the differences in their backgrounds and analysed how wider political developments in India and Pakistan have influenced their thinking and their writing.

Twin Dynasties
Although there is a 55-year age gap between them, it is astonishing how much Nayantara and Fatima have in common.

Both women were born into prominent South Asian political dynasties: Nayantara is the daughter of Indian diplomat and politician Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit and the niece of India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Fatima is the granddaughter of executed Pakistani prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the niece of Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007.

Consequently, both grew up in highly political and public environments. Both lost their fathers during political conflicts: Nayantara’s father died in jail where he was kept by the British during the freedom struggle in the 1940s, while Fatima’s was murdered by police in 1996.

Both have relatives they have distanced themselves from. Nayantara was openly critical of the authoritarian policies of her first cousin Indira Gandhi when the latter was prime minister of India and Fatima believes her aunt Benazir’s government covered up the circumstances of her father Murtaza Ali Bhutto’s death.

The Home and the world
As a result, much of the discussion last night focused on politics and how there was no separation between the public and the private during Nayantara’s and Fatima’s early years. With their families embroiled in freedom fights and frontline politics, it was inevitable that a “normal” upbringing in the traditional sense would not be a possibility.

Nayantara talked about how it felt completely natural to have her parents and her uncle – who she considered to be a third parent – in jail. Indeed, it was something to be proud about. “There was always a sense of being involved in great things,” she recalled. “I wanted to grow up fast so that I could go to jail too!”

She also touched on what it was like growing up in Anand Bhawan, the ancestral home of the Nehru family in Allahabad. It was “magical”, she said, to be a child in the midst of such high idealism. “It’s hard for me to be cynical now,” she added.

Fatima’s experience of her home is different. She explained that although 70 Clifton in Karachi was the centre of the Bhuttos’ political idealism and in that sense full of the hope and optimism described by Nayantara at the outset, it was also the residence of her executed grandfather Zulfikar, the place of Benazir’s house arrest and the home outside which her father Murtaza was killed. “So there is hope there but also pain,” she noted.

In Fatima’s case, as with Nayantara, there is a merging of the public with the private. She described how her father’s body was taken away after his murder: “People were hanging on to the helicopter … so it was not a murder that was ours.”

Dynasty vs. democracy
The discussion moved on to dynastic politics. Nayantara insisted this was not part of Nehru’s vision for India and that the rise of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty was a creation of Indira, who wanted her son to succeed her.

Although she said she is against dynastic politics in principle, she recognises the good that some of the current members of the family have done. Rahul Gandhi, Nayantara noted, is focusing on the Youth Congress and is attempting to build up a new generation who will be more actively engaged with the Indian people. He has not ridden the name of his family, has been democratically elected and has turned down a cabinet seat to concentrate on youth leaders.

Fatima, however, is completely opposed to dynastic politics in any and all circumstances. She said that the current situation in Pakistan can only be resolved if the people choose between dynasty and democracy, which – she insists – cannot co-exist.

The continuation of idealism
Both women ruled out participating in politics themselves. They agreed that the achievement of social and political change, so desperately required in both countries, does not only happen through direct involvement with government and that writing, telling stories and bringing important issues into the public space are equally effective.

The evening concluded with the hope and idealism that it began with, when Nayantara described her meeting with Fatima as an encounter that transcends the violent politics, the petty battles and the terrible poverty and deprivation in both of their countries.

She called on people in the sub-continent to remember the hope that inspired the freedom struggle, celebrate their incredibly diverse history, culture, language and traditions and work together towards a new peace that could transform the region and take it into the future.

Source:http://southasianlitfest.com/2010/10/in-conversation-with-nayantara-sahgal-and-fatima-bhutto/