Tavleen Singh: Real patriotism versus false nationalism

In caller years, it has not conscionable been weaponised but go enmeshed with Hindutva and been utilized to people Muslims to the constituent that their patriotism has been questioned successful a noxious, disfigured way. No existent patriot would question the patriotism of different simply due to the fact that his religion is antithetic to his own, but today’s neo-nationalists bash not hesitate to bash this. Nor bash they hesitate to state openly that successful their presumption Muslims cannot beryllium existent patriots due to the fact that their religion comes from elsewhere and their ineffable places are successful different country.

As idiosyncratic who is aged capable to retrieve an older, gentler India and those older Republic Day parades successful that archetypal decennary aft Independence, I would similar to accidental that thing captious and fantastic has been destroyed by weaponised nationalism. That archetypal decennary was a clip erstwhile everyone who lived successful Delhi could travel and ticker the parade. I retrieve that successful my puerility we utilized to locomotion to it, equipped with picnic baskets filled with blistery drinks and blistery parathas, and, due to the fact that it was astir ever rainy and cold, we would beryllium clad successful our warmest clothes. I bash not retrieve if determination were VIP enclosures then, but I bash retrieve that if we arrived aboriginal enough, we would get seats not acold from the Prime Minister.

What is much important is that it was a clip erstwhile everyone was a patriot and existent nationalism (not the pseudo kind) was seen arsenic thing that had helped India triumph state from our assemblage masters. Nobody made immoderate favoritism betwixt who was a patriot and who was not due to the fact that it would person been considered highly rude. Since then, overmuch has changed, and it has changed for the worse. India has successful acold excessively galore ways go a harder state than it utilized to beryllium due to the fact that of the emergence of neo-nationalism. When did this commencement to happen?

There are governmental pundits of my acquaintance who judge that this happened aft Narendra Modi became Prime Minister. I retrieve that it was a spot earlier and it had everything to bash with religion. It is hard to accidental whether it was governmental Islam oregon reckless politicians that encouraged spiritual Hindus to commencement mounting disconnected connected ‘yatras’ for 1 crushed oregon another. Nearly always, these spiritual excursions near Hindu-Muslim riots successful their wake. And it was not conscionable Hindu politicians who were liable but Muslim politicians arsenic well.

Today, our occupation is neo-nationalists who premix assertive Hindutva with assertive nationalism causing a sickness that has seeped similar poison into the veins of India. These neo-nationalists are radical who deliberation thing of sidesplitting men they fishy of sidesplitting cows. And they deliberation thing of openly denigrating everything that they subordinate with Islam. It is not conscionable semi-literate thugs who person go victims of neo-nationalism. There are elder ministers successful the Modi authorities who are rabid neo-nationalists and who bash not hesitate to marque wide that they deliberation each Muslims are atrocious people.

What I personally find profoundly repugnant is that educated, supposedly civilized, Indians person besides go victims of neo-nationalism. In good hotels and elegant drafting rooms successful Delhi and Mumbai, I look perpetually to tally into radical who bash not hesitate to admit that they judge Muslims and Islam are the basal origin of each the problems successful the world. In Delhi, the aforesaid radical who successful an older clip took pleasance successful listening to Urdu poetry, present talk of however it is important to escaped Hindi of each words that came to america from Arabic oregon Persian. The much idiotic among these judge that Urdu is simply a overseas connection that came to america with Islamic invaders.

All of this has rather simply gone excessively far. It is clip for our governmental leaders to beryllium held to relationship for the harm they person done and to punctual them that spreading poison whitethorn triumph a fewer elections, but it is destroying India.