In Making of Nation: Exposing Exclusions

The recent debates and discourses about nationalism in India apparently point out the stark retardation of our country. India is not at all a new nation state, but one that got freedom from the shackles of its colonizers long ago. Indians have been celebrating their Independence for the past 69 years and proclaiming themselves a Republican system for the past 67 years. Then why has these issues of defining nation, nationalism and anti-nationalism been suddenly resurrected? When we analyze these dramatic events, it is not as simple as it seems. The whole discourse on nation and nationalism is extremely complex even without a single definition. To find out the facts, we need to go back to history and trace nationalism. When India took birth on 15^th Aug 1947, was it the same nation state we are talking about now? Absolutely not. It took birth with partition, and a new nation state i.e Pakistan was carved out from this subcontinent. Various princely states were taken into the broad ambit of India. But the process of nation building was all inclusive in nature and Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, gave the option of plebiscite to the people of different princely states. The Indian nation as a unified nation state from Kashmir to Kanyakumari has been promoted since then.

With each passing day, the whole issue of building India into a so-called nation state has been inculcated in the minds of every Indian. The promises and proclamations of the erstwhile prime minister have been forgotten by many. They bought European conception of nation state, which can’t be implemented successfully in India. The Euro-centric nation state system promotes homogeneity and notions of monolithic culture, language, history, ethnicity and so on. But in the context of India, the idea is impractical. The diversity of this land wants inclusion of different norms of nationalism into its national realms. The nation should be a mirror image of this land and represent the true spirit of its diversity. But unfortunately the true spirit of nation has been hijacked by the saffron forces who are quite good in creating propaganda and communalism, creating hatred by their hate speeches, shunning free speech, branding those who question and resist them as traitors and anti-nationals so on and so forth. The ongoing propaganda of this current government machineries leads to the creation of an exclusivist nation without any consideration of aspirations of will of people who inhabit this state.

One of the most important and vicious trends started by this so-called nationalist government is creating a binary between people to divide them and rule. This tendency is a clear signal of their enough affection towards fascism. The personification of India as “Bharat Mata” is also a ploy in the hands of the saffron hegemons in the country. Merely chanting glorious slogans in praise of the nation serves their own vested interests. It is becoming quite easy for these power usurpers to create a binary in the nation to divide people and enjoy their aspiration of acquiring power. It is the same dominant and fascist mind-set which is unfolding itself in the current political landscape. The whole country has now jumped into terming, defining and redefining one as national and the other as anti-national. They have started spewing venom against whoever tries to counter their view. At the same time, common people of this country who are unaware of this dangerous agenda are easy prey for them. Most of them are unaware of the hidden agenda behind  these sophistic jingoist nationalist debates, which is exaggerated by the government and their compliance. They have been helped in their dirty politics by media and some yellow journalists. The vital motive behind all this hue and cry of nationalism is to hide the failure of the current government in fulfilling their hollow promises.  To take refuge from the responsibility of the horrific incidences we have been witnessing since this current regime came to power, which include a long series of discrimination, subjugation, atrocities, state-created fear and the failure of Achche Din, the powers that have encouraged this ‘national’ and ‘anti- national’ episode.

When a certain faction of people enforces their fascist ideology on the entire masses over what to eat, what to speak, whom to love and how to define yourself as real national, one can say that emergency has been resurrected and disguised itself in the form of  a functioning democracy.

A look at the various recent issues in our country is enough to make one understand the dangerous moves taken by the people in power.  The experience of a young dalit boy in Khamariakala village of Madhya Pradesh, who drowned in a well after being denied drinking water from a public water pump, shocked many of us. Despite the abolition of untouchability in article 14 of Indian constitution, it is still prevalent in the form of vicious discrimination against a large chunk of people in our society. There have been horrific and shameful incidents of rape and atrocities by the guardians of this glorious nation in Kashmir, Manipur and Chhattisgarh. The acid attack on tribal activist Soni Sori of Bastar and the kidnapping of her sister have put a big question mark on the entire idea of these security forces. The discriminatory policy of government against Muslims in recruitment as Yoga instructors to AYUSH ministry has been exposed recently. All these incidents are aa part and parcel of the exclusivist mention methods of the current regime, which is singling out individuals on the basis of their identity to break them into fragments and rule over them.

The promise of “Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas”  made by the current prime minister has  proved to be a total failure. When a certain faction of people enforces their fascist ideology on the entire masses over what to eat, what to speak, whom to love and how to define yourself as real national, one can say that emergency has been resurrected and disguised itself in the form of  a functioning democracy. Common people are still living on the margins of these glamorous development Mantras. Heinous evils like untouchability, communal hatred and rape, instead to fading, are on the rise. People take pride in vilifying others and the fabric of coexistence has been torn apart. In this grim situation, the whole issue of freedom of speech has been demonized as an act of anti-national activity.

It is high time we rethink the series of events in every nook and corner against the marginalized sections of this country. Does it not display the real threat from the powerful forces and their compliances, who want to turn the failure of their fake promises in to a different end altogether? If this force of fascism cannot be stopped, it will create again a catastrophe which would be very painful for each of us. The sudden increase in polarization and communal violence across the country is a stark signal of its reverse growth. If India is still stuck defining the nation , obviously we are not going forward but the country has been pushed back by 69 years, when it took birth and was trying to define itself as an independent nation state. Right now, we need the genuine efforts of every section of the country to build an all-inclusive and democratic society.