The Indian Right Wingers (BJP-RSS and their bhakts and supporters) who claim they are ‘Proud Nationalists’ hate:
- The current geographical borders of India (Akhand Bharat, need I say more?).
- The national anthem (they want Vande Mataram to be the anthem and wrongly believe that the venerable Thakurda wrote Jana Gana Mana for George V).
- The Preamble and the Constitution of India (which they have gone on record to claim needs rewriting).
- The national flag (the RSS refused to accept the tricolour till 2002, when they raised it on their headquarters).
- The national animal (they want the cow to replace the tiger).
- Kashmiris (they want Kashmir, but aren’t very happy that it comes with Kashmiris, who they want the Army to keep under control).
- Manipuris and Nagas (well, read the news).
- Punjabis & Sikhs (because they are all Khalistanis, according to them).
- Dravidians (anything south of the Vindhyas).
- Malayalees (too educated?)
- Bengalis (too smart?).
- Farmers (who don’t know what’s good for them).
- Christians and Muslims (do I need to explain this?)
- Dalits (like, duh?).
- Communists (because if you have a copy of ‘War & Peace’ or ‘Das Kapital’, you are obviously a terrorist and Naxalite).
- Tribals (what do they need all that land and jungles for?).
- Women (even those that are on their side).
- The Supreme Court.
- Parliamentary democracy (they want to turn it into a Presidential system).
- People who were formerly Indian (Pakistanis and Bangladeshis).
- Migrants from the South to the North.
- Migrants from the East anywhere.
- Students (especially those in universities, except the IITs and IIMs, of course).
- Teachers (except for some notable exceptions, as we all know).
- Sportspersons (except administrators).
- Writers, poets, and filmmakers (except for a few that they award and fete).
- Historians (don’t bring Sai Deepak in here; I meant real historians).
- Army (surprised? Don’t be. Because they have done away with permanent recruitment for ORs and called it ‘Agnipath‘, they are changing traditions, reducing pensions, cutting canteen facilities, and other such issues which negate the very things the army purportedly fights for, viz., Naam, Namak, and Nishaan).
- Young couples in love.
- NGOs working for the poor.
- Anyone who voted for the Indian National Congress.
- Anyone who took part in the freedom struggle (except, of course, Subhash Chandra Bose, an anti-Hindutva Congressi, and Bhagat Singh, an atheist communist; go, figure).
- Our founding heroes.
- Anyone who isn’t them.
Oh, and by the way, they also hate that India is a Union of States (the very first sentence in the Constitution), they hate that India is a socialist, secular, and democratic republic, four of the five things that are descriptive of the Indian state and appear in the very first sentence of the Preamble to the Constitution. And within that Preamble, they think JUSTICE (social, economic, and political) is not for the minorities or the majority (Dalits) but for those that are in power, they most certainly do not believe in LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith, and worship, or indeed EQUALITY of status and of opportunity, and do not think FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation is worth promoting, thereby nullifying the very document which summarises the aspirational goals of our Constitution.
And now, they hate the name, ‘India’.
I wish to ask a simple question: What exactly makes them ‘Proud Nationalists’ while the people in that list above are branded ‘Anti-Nationals’? What really are they ‘Nationalist’ about? Which nation? Certainly not India.
In fact, Vimoh asks the same question on Instagram.
