.........to hell with nationalism

“To hell with nationalism…..” I said in reaction to a friend’s overt criticism of attack on the Indian students in Australia. My agitation has less to do with his nostalgic patriotism and more against the moral high ground in a society that is widely responsible of reverse racism on more than one account. Of course, it hurts to me also when I find an innocent Indian being under the racial attack for no fault. However, the question remains as to whether we Indians as a collective society are left with any moral right to condemn the kind of xenophobia that we too have subconsciously inculcated in us.

What kind of nationalism do we talk about in a country which is largely xenophobic within itself? People from Delhi and western UP think Bihar is all about labour class, Maharashtra gives a clarion call to ban the entry and work of people of UP and Bihar, a singer & a politician is asked to apologise for speaking as an Indian and not Marathi, a film star is victimized in his own Karmabhoomi for speaking the language of peace and harmony with a neighboring country, there is widening north-south divide, people from North East are victimized in north India, and a minister in Andhra Pradesh asks cricket team to boycott tournament since Hyderabad is not selected as venue for game….the list is endless suggesting aloud that we are all racists.

India as a society has the legend of championing the notion of nationalism much before the world knew the concept of nationalism as a fall out of French Revolution and Nation State. The claim may be challenged by the western historians but the fact remains that the legendary Chanakya of country’s first and mighty Magadha Empire had espoused the cause of nationalism much before the French Nationalism came into existence. The war rhetoric of “Kashmir se Kanyakumari tak sarvatra bhoomi hamari hai” is something that goes into the folk lore for its overt nationalist pride.

However, the friend of mine who has all the soft corner for the fellow country men being thrashed in Australia has no knowledge of the historical fact that the state of Bihar in its primitive stage of Magadha Empire has the credit to teach the nation what nationalism is all about. Being born in Muzaffarnagar in western Uttar Pradesh and brought up in Delhi, he has no idea as to what nationalism is and what it should be in a modern progressive society and economy.

The migration of labour class from the vary same state of Bihar which taught the world what nationalism is all about, makes him think that Bihar is all about labour supply chain, with no academic excellence. This inherent superiority complex makes him overlook the fact that Bihar has been centre of academic excellence since ages and Nalanda along with Taxila had been the only universities to begin with and torch bearers of academic excellence since ages. Even today sixty percent of the country’s premium service, including the IAS, comes from the very same state of Bihar.

The places like Banaras and Allahabad might have produced some of the best talents in the country, but for a section of Maharashtra the state of UP is all about Bhaiyyas and milkmen. This regional profiling is an inherent reality in today’s India suggesting that perception is larger than reality. As per the records of the National Crime Records Bureau, Muzaffarnagar may be the crime capital of India, but perception backed by myopic and xenophobic mindset would love to believe that it is Bihar that is producing all criminals. When I find people in Delhi and some other parts of the country taking a moral high ground on the issue of Marathi versus the rest, I feel as if we are not just racists but shameless too. Our sense of self-righteousness awakens only when we are confronted with someone who is more racist, more xenophobic and more unethical than us.

The fact of the matter is that racism is, more often than not borne out of our own incompetence and hence helplessness. Had it been the case of Maharashtrians excelling in the competition with incumbents from other states, the issue of Maratha pride would never have snowballed into political spectrum. The same goes true for Delhi as well. If the second-generation Delhi residents would have competed ahead of first generation migrants there would have been no sense of hatred. But high academic institutions like the JNU and Delhi University are being filled by the students of Bihar, UP and now South and North East. Not coping with this meritocracy, racism is the only undemocratic low that people often stoop to.

Let us face the facts. We as the collective consciousness of the society are all bloody racists. And till the time we live in the glass houses, we should refrain from throwing stones. To champion the cause of nationalism we must first get rid of bigotry, persecution complex, jingoism and conspiracy theory.