There are faces we know and others who are yet to come out of the background. Their only claim to fame is for openly espousing ideas that are antithesis to the concept of nationalism.

They carry themselves as the ones who are evolved and as persons of substance. It’s way beneath them to hold themselves to bigoted and narrow standard of nationalism.

To try to bring those to account for Bharat Tere Tukde Honge slogan raised in JNU, is not only an abominable act but stupid too for judging their actions by nationalism yardstick. They operate at a higher, rarefied level, much beyond the constraints of national boundaries, of us versus them and of natives vs foreigners.

Anything that are passed on to us as a wise counsel from foreign shores on matters concerning our country must be embraced wholeheartedly by us as something most sacrosanct. If at all opinions of natives have to be given some degree of seriousness, it’s that of the special breed of natives who have at one time or the other had the privilege of brushing shoulder with foreigners. If Barkha Dutt, Rana Ayub, Ram Guha, Pratap Bhanu Mehta and the like lack credibility here in the eyes of the public, they can very much tap their connection to write reams of sermons in foreign publications and get the stupid folks inundated with them. Now, the ignorant commoners can’t help being left bedazzled and awestruck by the pearls of wisdom that have winged its way to them from foreign shores.

If they say Pakistan is a victim of terrorism too and India must oblige it with uninterrupted and uninterruptible dialogue, you must be seriously a naive or a blind follower of jingoistic nationalism to differ with them. Pakistan is a fledgling democracy and so India has the obligation to help it grow strong democratic roots. A few cases of terrorism here and there, a few bomb explosions in this city or the other, are, you know, unfortunate consequences of extreme impoverishment in Pakistan and of a few misguided young men taking it out on Indians for years of injustices suffered by them. It’s no big deal if some 200 of our people were butchered in Mumbai 26×11 attack by Kalashnikov wielding terrorists. Don’t come to a conclusion as yet that the killers are Pakistanis. Look at the Bandna in their wrists and the sandlewood smeared, red-spotted necks. They could be our homegrown nationalists, the Hindus, you know?

They call it a strategic restraint and a visionary foreign policy of responding to extreme provocations by our neighbour with suggestions of more peace talks. The policy that has been set in motion now of punishing the enemy with surgical strikes across the boarder and air-strikes on terror launchpads, is warmongering by a Hindutwa government which despises an Islamic Pakistan.

Kashmir likewise is being punished for being a heaven of peace. The people there love their Pandit brothers so much that they are still grieving their departure from the valley three decades after the incident had happened. Kashmir Pandits went out on their own for greener pastures. It’s a sacrilege to blame it on Islamic hate project and paint the entire population and rulers of the valley as extremists. Hurriyat had no hand, nor had Abdullahs, nor had Muftis and Pakistanis neither in the mass migration of Pandits out of the valley.

To talk of all that today has become a fashion with so called nationalist bigots. Naxals are Gandhian with guns. Those who are accused of indulging in anti-national activities in universities are students with slogans. Proponents of Khalistan out in the public domain and more recently in farmer’s agitation, are but farmers who put on our plates food grains. Yogendra Yadav is but an activist who can seamlessly weave the cause of Saheenbagh anti-CAA protesters and that of farmers in the ongoing agitation in Delhi.

They mock and belittle nationalism to give respectability to all kinds of activities they are indulging in. But given the threat they pose to the integrity of our country, all should hold on to nationalism more strongly than before.

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