Neither the "Dissenting" nor the "Nationalist"

This post is my response to all the crap happening in JNU. (Read this if you don't know what has happened) 

DO THESE PEOPLE KNOW WHAT INDIA IS?

India is far off from its goals. A lot more is desired, and a lot more is to be achieved. We are a conservative society which is Misogynistic, Homophobic, and Racist in many spheres.  We need to work together to stop all forms of discrimination and bigotry.

But does that mean we scream “Death to India”?

I think the college students in JNU don’t know what the HECK India stands for. A nation is an idea, it is a spirit that unifies the people of a land. Whether it be Tawang in Arunachal or Amritsar in Punjab, or Srinagar in J&K, or Kanyakumari in TN, India has the same heritage. 

“We will fight until India’s destruction.”

Replace India with bigotry or hatred, I would support it. But India? Seriously?

Fight all you want people. There are 1.2 billion individuals in this country.  Find out the traction you get and let me know, okay?

This is not a case of stifling dissent. This is a case where students in a public institution raised slogans against the same country who pays their way through college. This is a case where the faculty of the institute supported its students when they said BULL CRAP like this.

This is about action against sedition. Condemn them at the very least, please.

Meanwhile, The beating up of the journalists, by the so called "nationalists" in front of the Delhi High Court was wrong. They need to be condemned as well. 

Hooliganism is not NATIONALISM.

Now this:

I’ve heard about bad Economics, but what the heck is this?[1]

“Each time they something sensible or critical” As I said earlier, it is not “sensible or critical” to scream “death to India” or resort to violence. Peaceful protests and discussions are acceptable, anti-Indian and violence is not.

It’s not about the “paltry money” spent on them. It’s about what they’re doing and what they are supposed to be doing. I am not denying the right of students to protest, to have an opinion, but our Campuses have been overly politicized. Higher Educational Institutions are to improve academic standards of this country. I think it would sadden and angry any taxpayer in the country to see the JNU incident. . If you do not believe in the Republic of India and live out elsewhere. This nation and people do not require the commitment of people whom does not believe in its ideals.

The ABVP and all those who used violence as an instrument to “enforce” nationalism do not represent my beliefs either. Their actions, I hope will invite the action of law.

Saib Bilwal, a research scholar in Modern and Contemporary History at Centre For Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, wrote this article in Firstpost: “Bloodbath in the brook: JNU, the 'national project' and the anti-national debate”

MR. Bilwal says in his article: 

“Was it not everyone's right to question the US government's account of 9/11? Was that not democratic? Were all of them anti-nationals too?” 

I would like to remind everyone that 9/11 was an incident involving the death of thousands of peoples, and those who questioned the US government’s version was generally considered to be a “fringe minority”[2] at best, or a “lunatic fringe”[3]. They questioned the accuracy of the Government’s account, not scream “Death to America!”

Mr.Bilwal continues:

“That this is politics cannot be more obvious from the fact that JNU Students Union President Kanhaiya Kumar has been arrested. Eyewitnesses state that while he made speeches critical of the Modi government, it was not he who shouted the ‘anti-national’ slogans including those of ‘azaadi’ for Kashmir.”

While in an earlier paragraph, he says:

“There is something called a fair trial. Maybe one has to face trial once to be able to truly value that.” 

Why not wait for the trial to end before declaring Mr. Kanhaiya Kumar’s innocence.

It doesn’t end there: 

“The Indian state has killed more Indian citizens than foreign troops, since independence. The case was the same during British rule. So I guess "anti-nationals" must be "purged" every now and then, for the good of the nation? Only the masters have changed.”

According to Mr.Bilwal, The Indian Government has killed more than 20,000 of its own citizens[4],[5]. According to an NLU Delhi[6] study, 1,414 people have been executed (according to available records)[7].

I’m impressed by the dictatorial government’s power- Vanishing 20,000 people won’t be that hard now, would it be?

“What matters is whether the nation remains representative of its people or not. Our country at Independence inherited more territory than areas where the national movement was strong. On the other hand, we lost areas of strong nationalism in partition. It's a fact and must be faced. There is no nation without a national hegemonic project. The constituent assembly wasn’t elected on universal adult franchise. 66% of our Constitution is directly lifted from the Government of India Act 1935. We need to and HAVE to adapt. Let's face it.”

Forget the obvious ignorant statements made[8]. Pakistan apparently inherited most of our nationalistic forces, and the Constitution is crap because the members were elected not on the basis of universal adult franchise. The Debates in the constituent assembly, which have been published, is witness to that.[9]

He has a point though. Yes, we will face it with sense that we have fallen behind. Then, we will work hard, work tirelessly, and work together for a better India. 

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[1] This is cherry picking the Government’s investment to portray a bad picture, and the realty is different, check the Budget here : http://indiabudget.nic.in/budget.asp

[2] Star Tribune: Newspaper of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis, MN) - September 6, 2006 Author: Bob von Sternberg ; Staff Writer Edition: METRO Section: NEWS Page: 1A.

[3] ·  "A leading Japanese politician espouses a 9/11 fantasy". Washington Post. March 8, 2010.

[4] Calculation: All foreign troops killed in all Indo-Pakistani wars and the sole Sino-Indian War.

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1947, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1965, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1971, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Indian_War, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kargil_War.

[6] http://www.deathpenaltyindia.com

[7] http://www.newindianexpress.com/thesundaystandard/72-Muslims-Hanged-in-India-against-1342-Hindus-and-Others/2015/07/26/article2940289.ece

[8] I don’t have any sources- I don’t know how this statistic was made. Anyway, WOW.

[9] http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/debates/debates.htm

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First Posted Here.

(Special Thanks to Rose Joy for the Editing)

The Lost History

The scars that 200 years of Western colonization left behind in India are many. One of those many scars is the loss of our history. Our educational system teaches the students about the Greeks, Romans, Holy Roman Empire and the British Empire. We learn about heroes from Alexander to Napoleon. The History we learn, that we know, is Euro-Centric. There is no doubt that the “Great Empires” of India- the Mauryas, Guptas and Mughals- have been covered in our history lessons, but an average student is clueless about large swathes of Indian History. We neglect to protect our history, and as a result, our identity. History shapes our thoughts, our beliefs.  It is a sad reality, however, that we have lost our local history.

The colourful history that each place had, has been subsumed by the Euro-centric History we have been taught. Be it the names of places and the story of its origin or the bravery of our kings, all have been replaced with the knowledge of West European History. Do not mistake my argument- I am not arguing we should not know the history of Europe- but at the cost of not getting to know our own history?

“Oh we do!” you might argue, since we learnt about the “Doctrine of Lapse” and the “Ryotwari system” and all that. These were in the Early 19^th Century- just 200 years ago. Our History dates way back, to 1000s of years starting from the Indus Valley Civilization.

Forget Local Kings and Lords, we forget whole Empires: The Maratha Empire, for example, at its greatest extent controlled Peshawar in the West, Andaman and Bengal in the east, and Tamil Nadu in the south. We remain painfully ignorant of its size and contribution to History. The most we learn is Shivaji’s Bravery and efforts against Aurangzeb. That is a mere fragment of the whole picture- there were many Martha Leaders, Administrators and Generals that should be revered as Heroes of India. Films like “Bajirao Mastani” are drawing attention to some of these Heroes- but the film overdramatizes the contribution of Maratha Peshwa Bajirao I.

Coming to South India, we have ignored the immense contribution the Chola Kingdom, which was once the most dominant forces in South West Asia, controlling all places from the modern areas of Myanmar to the islands of Malaysia and Indonesia. The empire even sent diplomats to China to negotiate on their behalf. The influence of Indian Culture in our history is limited to the Angkor Wat- while the contributions remain much, much more than that. Take for example Bali- an Island in predominantly Muslim Indonesia- almost 90% of the island practices Hinduism, and even deities like Hanuman and Vishnu acquire Local characteristics. We remain unaware, ignorant even, of the full extent of our contributions. Mere knowledge is not enough- if we are to form our identity in 21^st Century, we are to know our History intimately.

Few know the Story of the Pandya Princes and Cheras who fought against the ‘Chola yoke’ as they would characterise it. The Story and heroism of Chera Kings like Ramavarma Kulasekharan- who ‘liberated’ Kerala from the Later Chola Kingdom and eventually leading to its decline- is ignored and forgotten by us.

But history is not only that of Kings and Empires, but also of our own Family History- Our family lineage is forgotten along with our wider History.

My argument is simple- if we are to preserve our History and our Identity, it is essential that we know our History.  If we are to tell our children the story of our motherland, to remind them of how great our contributions were, knowing just about the Mauryans, Guptas or the Mughals is certainly not enough. We must know exactly where we fell short, and were we stood tall.
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Edited by: Theyjusivini S.
First Posted at Snsbl Thghts