When the nation is calm and cool why are the BJP and right-wing brigades beating the bugle of nationalism? Why manufacture threats to India out of thin air and create an atmosphere that clouds of anti-nationalism have gripped the nation? What calamity has hit the nation that the people have to be reminded about blind subservience to ‘Bharat mata’ and force them to reaffirm their nationalism holding the scalpel of anti-nationalism down their throats? Is there even a perceived threat to India’s sovereignty that the Indian youth needs to be slapped with charges of sedition and the people conduct flag marches on the streets chanting Vande Mataram?
I am reminded of the Aesop short story where a shepherd-boy, who watched a flock of sheep near a village, brought out the villagers three or four times by crying out, "Wolf! Wolf!" and when his neighbors came to help him, laughed at them for their pains. The only concern is that We, the people of India should be on the guard that this crying wolf of nationalism does not destroy India’s democracy, inclusive development, diversity and social harmony.
Narendra Modi and the BJP stormed the national capital with a bang, raising hopes and aspirations of people. However, it is losing its grip on the economy and the promised national development. There is nothing on the development front to lay claims upon after the honeymoon months of show-casing growth of Gujarat and the model which has been dubbed as crony capitalism. BJP is also cutting a poor figure in terms of foreign affairs policy despite the Prime Minister spending maximum nights on foreign soil. People perceive that the BJP in its short tenure has overtaken the Congress led UPA government with higher levels of corruption. The big talk of getting the wealth and black money stacked in foreign banks has dampened the BJP. Bringing in nationalism as a commodity to trade and insulate the BJP from its failures is probably perceived as a good political proposition unmindful of the threats to India as a whole and the people.
Though the BJP nationalism voyage is overall Hindu friendly, a free thinking Hindu is listed as enemy on their radar. Minorities are also losing the opportunity to embrace the liberal way of life as the fundamentalists in their communities find justification for their aggression and assertiveness as an answer to majority fundamentalism in the guise of nationalism.
However, the RSS and frontal organizations are making gains in taking their agenda of cultural nationalism forward. The more the youth is kept glued to symbols such as the national flag and emotive jargon of ‘Bharat mata ki jai’, it promotes fanatic and fascist thinking. So, Afzal Guru stays in history as villain, whose story should not be told or heard. Nathuram Godse gets reinvented and renovated as a national hero whose story becomes a tale of patriotism. Every issue, whether it is what we eat, the language we speak, the way we dress, what education we receive, the festivals we celebrate, the way we express, the strokes we paint, the way we exhibit our bodily intelligence through theatre and dance, the companionship we treasure, each and every issue is evaluated against the yardstick of nationalism. None else, other than the BJP, RSS and the Hindu Sanathan become self-assumed courts of nationalism.
The loss is to the cause of secularism. The constitutional expression of the Indian republic as secular gets obliterated providing space and visibility to nationalism. Anyone questioning the rise of such narrow and fascist symbols is vulnerable to be attacked as anti-national. So, the modern and progressive secularist thought is put on the defensive and forced to soft pedal as nationalism like religion is a kind of opium.
It is Sri Ram and the Ayodhya movement which brought the BJP close to power through community polarisation, but could not put them in the driver’s seat. What resulted in the sweep is when BJP succeeded in selling corruption-free governance and ‘saab ka vikas’ to the people. Now, the hidden agenda is being brought to the front office.
Nationalism is the new buzz word which accommodates the ‘Hindutva’ ideology. It is the new weapon to attack dissent. This weapon can destroy autonomy and independence of universities. This instrument can sell the lie that leftists are separatists. This pump can spread the virus that Muslim population will overtake the Hindu demographic numbers. The big lies can be told with straight face and confidence.
Nationalism is the new found idol of the BJP to replace Sri Ram. BJP is nursing nationalism to equate it as the synonym for secularism and develop it as ‘secular’ word to facilitate the ‘Hindutva’ agenda, providing the glorified nomenclature for the otherwise Hindu Rashtra that they espouse.
As the pendulum swings from national development to development of nationalism, the threat is to the idea of India and inclusive development of people. The key agenda of the BJP today is to propagate that the spirit of nationalism will lead to national development and it is the dearth of nationalism which explains the economic state of the nation. Narendra Modi being the icon of nationalism as they claim, anti-Modi and anti-BJP automatically fall in the net of anti-nationals. This is the truth of JNU, Rohith Vemula, Kanhaiya Kumar and others to follow.
Prabhakar Timble is an educationist and a political commentator
