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Gandhiji, Netaji, Babasaheb and I: Swearing in the name of Left liberals

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THE CYNIC
THE CYNICOct 15, 2015 | 19:32

Gandhiji, Netaji, Babasaheb and I: Swearing in the name of Left liberals

Why has Left liberal suddenly become such a cuss word? Everybody it seems is out to blame the alleged leftist liberals for creating all the mischief in the country today.

Someone who says eating beef is a matter of personal choice becomes a leftist liberal, someone who protests the lynching of Akhlaq becomes a left lib, someone says bring the killers of Kalburgi to justice becomes another left liberalist. Someone who says PM Modi should speak is asked to shut up because he is a leftist liberal.

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But then what or who is a leftist liberal? One should not blindly re-tweet or share before knowing who the term actually refers to.

A "leftist" would be someone who the Oxford English Dictionary defines as believing in left-wing politics. The dictionary further goes on to define left wing as the radical, reforming or socialist section of a political party or system. The term left wing was born in reference to the National Assembly in France (1789-91), where the nobles sat to the President’s right and the commons to the left.

So then my understanding would be that a leftist is someone who is a commoner who also believes in the equality of all citizens.

Let’s now look up "liberal" in the dictionary and here is what it says: A liberal is someone willing to understand and respect other people’s behaviour, opinions, etc, especially when they are different from your own; believing people should be able to choose how they behave.

So a "leftist liberal" would be a common person who believes all men are equal and is willing to understand and respect someone else’s opinion even if it does not match his own. Now can someone explain why this is being used as a bad word? What is so bad about being leftist liberal? Isn’t this something that everyone should aspire to be? Isn’t this what the Constitution of India wants us to be?

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And can someone tell me does religion then come in conflict with this basic definition of a leftist liberal? How about the ardent champions of Hindutva who are at the forefront of keeping up this tirade against the leftist liberal? Does the Hindu religion teach that there should be difference between man and man? Does the religion not preach acceptance of all differing views? Across the four corners of the country does a Hindu think, eat, believe and emote in exactly the same way? Then why do you go against the tenets of your own belief system by demolishing the very fabric of your faith. Why do you demonise that which is the ideal state of being a Hindu?

There is nothing bad about being a leftist liberal – a true leftist liberal displays patience and humility. S/he speaks of compromise and understanding and promotes peace. Are these qualities then not desirable in an Indian in this new India Narendra Modi is building? If that be so, then I have a confession to make. I am a really bad person... I too am a leftist liberal.

By the way did you know that I share the august company of such stalwarts as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose and Bhimrao Ambedkar... who fit the definition of leftist liberal many times over.

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The difference is that sadly the stalwarts are long dead and I continue to exist as a wart in Modi’s India.

Last updated: October 15, 2015 | 19:32
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