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Infusing nationalism in politics is putting India at risk

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DailyBite
DailyBiteDec 20, 2016 | 12:56

Infusing nationalism in politics is putting India at risk

[Editor's note: The author wishes to withhold his name after writing the article.]

Nationalism and enthusiasm for the nation are no doubt great for the development of a country; it can be a huge factor in motivating people across the spectrum, from the marginalised to the rich, leading to a high dividend for the society at large.

But when an elected leader tries to convince the people about his policies in the name of nationalism, in the name of the sacrifice of soldiers, in the name of religious identity, it becomes very troublesome.

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Any government has 'n' number of strong vested powers. For example, a government can force a public company like ONGC (because the government has a major share in it) to acquire another debt-ridden public company, GSPC.

And the misdeeds of GSPC happened under the watch of a leader who is the Prime Minister of the world's largest democracy. Interestingly, to my and everybody's surprise, "nobody's questioning it."

Why? Primarily because of three reasons. Firstly, the government is within its right to act such, causing small trouble to poor shareholders of ONGC, but who thinks about them? Second, the leader in question has developed his image in the name of nationalism, in the name of pseudo-religious identity. And lastly, anybody questioning this leader is anti-national.

Similarly, the government can make a number of executive decisions to waive off corporate loans and environment fines, allow the use of government figures for private advertisement, sell government assets to private companies. All these may be executive decisions and are not a scam but have benefited some or the other private company.

But it's so silly, these nationalist leaders think people are naive and do not understand. It is very clear when one government fines a private company to the tune of scores of crores for violating environment guidelines, and some other government waives off the same fine. LAUGH! LAUGH! And sadly nobody questions!

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The same government can spend on self-advertisement, self-promotion, in celebration of a second anniversary and end up spending more than Rs 1,000 crore. That figure put in perspective is more than the campaign budget of any of the candidates of the US presidential race.

It will only be shock for people to find the sum of money spent once the general elections are announced. In legal terms, the government will again not be doing anything wrong in spending that much money irresponsibly. And again in legal terms, there is no scam involved in this. And sadly nobody can question; because he/she who questions it, is afraid of the "presstitute" tag.

Because here we have a leader who is a synonym for nationalism and anybody opposing him is anti-national. And if it means that 70 per cent of the people in this country who did not vote for him or his party during the last general elections are anti-national, then so be it.

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Anybody raising the issues of farmers hit by demonetisation, or questioning the effect of the drive on the unorganised informal sector or the loss incurred by the government due to the drive is anti-national.

A populous nationalist image is a curse for public discourse of policies. The major sale point of a scheme like demonetisation was based on nationalism. A scheme of flawed implementation, a scheme which has claimed a huge number of lives, a scheme whose implementation if opposed can give you an anti-national tag for life.

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A scheme which has wasted millions of man-hours, a scheme which might lead to negative GDP growth, a scheme which was expected to remove black money and a scheme which led to the issuance of nearly 100 notifications by the government ends up in finding that 90 per cent of the demonetised currency is back into the system with close to 10 days still left.

But hey, anybody questioning all that is anti-national or anybody raising the issues of farmers hit by demonetisation is also anti-national. Or anybody who questions the effect of it on the unorganised informal sector is anti-national. Or anybody who questions the loss incurred by the government due to the drive is anti-national.

A nationalism-based popular image can turn out to be very dangerous. Because it may propel followers to a level where the question of right and wrong is mostly forgotten and the only question that resonates is about nationalism.

Just a matter of thought: a peaceful and cordial resolution of say the Kashmir issue is only of interest to people of both countries but not the leaders with this farce nationalist image. Isn't it true? Because if there is no Kashmir tussle, there is no space to play with the sentiments of the people of this country, and more importantly, the defence minister cannot then project his boss and himself as some or other mythological figure which are very dear to people.

I hope we wake up and more importantly, these so-called nationalist leaders look into the mirror.

Last updated: March 29, 2017 | 10:14
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