Rise Of fake Nationalism

Judging the pulse from the News feeds on facebook, I can't miss the conspicuous rise of fake nationalism, divisiveness and intolerance. It wasn't so much during my growing up days. Due to the access to ever pervading Internet and Google, there is this rise of a huge, nascent society of "SUBZANTAWAALAHs" (Know Alls), leading to an overdose of pompousness. Any contradictory or balanced view is often frowned upon, ends up as the casualty of the day.

I am no BHAKT (devotee) of any human being. I religiously consider myself an Agnostic and a rare visitor of temples. But I do give credit where credit is due. If I praise Modi on his efforts of "Demonetization" (even some of his detractors grudgingly admit so) - it neither makes Modi a Mr. Lily White, nor makes me a trident holding supporter of communal riots.

At the same time, I believe the Kareena-Saif duo have every right to give any name of their choice to their child. One doesn't need to be critical of Saif - Karina duo to prove oneself as a Champion Hindu Nationalist and Patriot. Such a view shouldn't be construed as a spite against Hindus or Hindustan. Life ain't black and white - there is always 50 shades of Gray and always a middle path to chose.

So why this false vanity and fixation on (fake) fanaticism ? The reason can be attributed to our deep rooted inferiority complex after being ruled by foreigners for eternity. As many Odias whose prefer to speak in Hindi with another fellow Odia when the nearest non Odia could be miles away - we tend to imimate, rather than cultivate the positive traits of others. A la the famous NILA BARNA SHRUGALA (Blue coated Jackal), we end up as the imitator of the lion king, never ever close to being the King.

The root can be traced back to Before Christ (327 BC), when Alexander defeated King Puru was betrayed by Raja Ambi. After a good thousand years or so Muhammdad Bin Qasim in 712 AD created the stepping stone for Islamic invasion when he defeated the Hindu King Dahir, the later being betrayed by his minister.

Then came Mohd Ghori to replace Prithviraj Chauhan as the last Hindu king. Our history has been laced with tepid rulers and betrayals of corrupt insiders. We had our share of Jaichands, Shiladityas (who helped Allauddin Khilji who was after the legendary beauty Rani Padmini), Mir Jaffers and the backstabbers of Queen Chenamma. Thanks to the wall of the Himalayas, we survived the marauding Mongols - it could have been real worse, with Chinese claiming India as an extension of Tibet.

We never gained our independence on a battlefield, rather let the British bid their own time to leave. We got our freedom without much bloodshed - only blood we shed being lathicharged and from bullet wounds on our back while fleeing, not on our chest while fighting (the usual exceptions apply). A hard battle fought freedom would have acted as a morale booster, taking our nation in a different direction

Per Khushwant Singh in his book "India - An introduction", British ruled us with the support of the majority of Indians. The freedom movement was led by the richer and upper class, upper caste Hindus. The lower caste and the poor class (India was mired in extreme poverty days prior to Independence) was more bothered about the next meal - would care less if a Viceroy, Jawahar or Jinnah ruled them. The Sikhs and the Muslims had overwhelming support for the British, the later preferred to be ruled by them than a Hindu majority India. No sooner than the idea of Pakistan was floated, they jumped on to the new nation bandwagon led by Jinnah. The rest we know is history.

On the 70th year post independence, it's time for some introspection. All nations who earned their freedom and power in the real sense, have flexed their muscle sometime or other in history. Examples are British, Germans, Russian, Americans, Japanese and of late the Chinese, who feel their time to flex their 6 packs has arrived. We are still considered a weak nation by our recalcitrant neighbor, who instead of peeing at the sight of our might, frequently pee in our backyard and flees without the slightest fear or remorse.

We have been caught pants down by our western neighbor on regular basis for last quarter of century. All I can do as the home owner, is condemn him more and more severely, as he mocks at us while relieving and shaking off himself on our own turf. After tolerating his nuisance since time immemorial, once in the middle of the night I secretly go 5 feet inside his fence, pee and come back claiming a great victory, with many of my family members at home still skeptic about the veracity of my boasting.

After 25 years being royally screwed fair and square by Pakistan, with its ISI proving far efficient and effective than our Secret service RAW which was pretty much cooked - a late and disputed Surgical strike not withstanding which takes us to a celebratory mode. So much so that a goal scored by India against Pakistan is attributed as a "Surgical Strike". No question our National security establishment is getting up to speed, but we have some catch up to do.

I am now reminded of Aamir Khan in his iconic movie "3 IDIOTS - SUCCESS KE PICHHE MAT BHAGO. KAVIL BANO. EK DIN SUCCESS TUMHARE PICHHE BHAGEGA". It means, "Don't chase success. Be capable. One day Success will chase you". Its time for India to build its economic spine and the rest will follow its own course. We don't have to chase the world powers, the world powers will chase us. World respects those who command respect, not demand it. And I am positive we will command one day, but it ain't time to pop up Champagne with fake nationalism.