Nationalism must die
let me say.. it surprises me how fervently people love their countries.. give lives for their countries.. and others appreciate it like its the best thing in the world...
let us try to look it other way round...
lot of people feel surprised when karnataka and tamil nadu fight for river water... they say.. c'mon.. end of the day its for people on either side of the line only.. politicians- please stop using it for your vote bank..
the same people have entirely different views when it comes to river b/w India and bangladesh.. suddenly then its not about people anymore.. its about countries...
lets take another example... when a UPite or 'bhaiya' come to mumbai.. marathi's want to oppose.. similarly wid kolkata.. chennai.. banglore.. and the list goes on..
i have personally seen how marathi treats biharis and UPites or 'bhaiyas' in their language.. as second grade citizens... fortunately.. i was from the educated and executive lot.. to face personal criticism..
anyways.. the point is that there is regionalism.. and lot of us educated lot oppose it.. they say.. how can u differentiate among people.. they are all the same..
suddenly its a different thing, if we are talking about pakistanis or bangladeshis or nepalis.. so on and so forth..
my point is that nationalism is just an extension of regionalism... so the people who hate regionalism.. how come they support nationalism?? something i cud never understand..
the only sound logic i have come across is that when other countries are opposing us.. we have to protect ourselves... but then the same logic holds true for regionalism..
'if 'bhaiyas' increase and start dominating... marathis have to respond'
or even having religious bias - 'if muslims try to dominate.. hindus have to fight them'..
or casteism - 'if jats dominate-gujars have to respond', 'if brahmis set the rules, SCs have to fight them'..
every group has an ideology.. based on the fear that other should not become stronger..
and in the process.. rather than growing together.. we are trying to pull other guy down...
how about one world - 'vasudev kutumbakam' (RSS says but does not practice)..
if there are no visas.. no restrictions.. how will that be wrong??
the better off places will still be better off (even within countries.. there are rich and poor places).. i thnk most of guys say this is a good idea but not practical..
wat i want to say is that it will remain impractical.. till we keep loving our countries more than humanity in general.. till we keep discriminating b/w people based on country..
it will remain impractical.. till the idea of nationalism is there..
lets try and bury nationalism and think of humanity..
broaden the perspectives.. like we do against casteism, religionism. regionalism.. lets stop nationalism.. lets discourage nationalism..
let us try to look it other way round...
lot of people feel surprised when karnataka and tamil nadu fight for river water... they say.. c'mon.. end of the day its for people on either side of the line only.. politicians- please stop using it for your vote bank..
the same people have entirely different views when it comes to river b/w India and bangladesh.. suddenly then its not about people anymore.. its about countries...
lets take another example... when a UPite or 'bhaiya' come to mumbai.. marathi's want to oppose.. similarly wid kolkata.. chennai.. banglore.. and the list goes on..
i have personally seen how marathi treats biharis and UPites or 'bhaiyas' in their language.. as second grade citizens... fortunately.. i was from the educated and executive lot.. to face personal criticism..
anyways.. the point is that there is regionalism.. and lot of us educated lot oppose it.. they say.. how can u differentiate among people.. they are all the same..
suddenly its a different thing, if we are talking about pakistanis or bangladeshis or nepalis.. so on and so forth..
my point is that nationalism is just an extension of regionalism... so the people who hate regionalism.. how come they support nationalism?? something i cud never understand..
the only sound logic i have come across is that when other countries are opposing us.. we have to protect ourselves... but then the same logic holds true for regionalism..
'if 'bhaiyas' increase and start dominating... marathis have to respond'
or even having religious bias - 'if muslims try to dominate.. hindus have to fight them'..
or casteism - 'if jats dominate-gujars have to respond', 'if brahmis set the rules, SCs have to fight them'..
every group has an ideology.. based on the fear that other should not become stronger..
and in the process.. rather than growing together.. we are trying to pull other guy down...
how about one world - 'vasudev kutumbakam' (RSS says but does not practice)..
if there are no visas.. no restrictions.. how will that be wrong??
the better off places will still be better off (even within countries.. there are rich and poor places).. i thnk most of guys say this is a good idea but not practical..
wat i want to say is that it will remain impractical.. till we keep loving our countries more than humanity in general.. till we keep discriminating b/w people based on country..
it will remain impractical.. till the idea of nationalism is there..
lets try and bury nationalism and think of humanity..
broaden the perspectives.. like we do against casteism, religionism. regionalism.. lets stop nationalism.. lets discourage nationalism..
posted by Hemant Tirthani | 4:15 AM
4 Comments:
We discussed it sir, and u know i agree with u. But what kind of discrimination did u face in Kolkata?? I wonder. I think ur post needs an edit and u need to remove kolkata from ur list. think abt it and try to justify
Thanks for appreciating my work.But since i havent been blogging for a long time,i wonder how u reached my blog...
hey.... this was my concept of our university days... which i developed in the company of comrades ;)
Your comparisons between regionalism and nationalism are to an extent, apt. However, I cannot say that I agree with you that we should try to be less nationalistic.
'if 'bhaiyas' increase and start dominating... marathis have to respond' or even having religious bias
In the case of nationalism, opposition often becomes necessary. See, if the "bhaiyas" are dominating, they are doing it by contributing to a free economy and making money for themselves.
But say, when Pakistan blasts trains in 7/11, the situation is not the same. What then do you suggest? We obviously cannot sit quiet at that, can we?
how about one world - 'vasudev kutumbakam'
Theoretically possible but impractical. Who runs this one world? Presumably a govt, which will have to headquartered at a place "X" somewhere on earth? And it will be staffed by people from different parts?
What stops people from discriminating for the people of their area? Its known to happen. Look at the ICC, for example. Though Asia contributes most of the moolah, the organisation is dominated by Aussies and Englishmen. They're partial to the "white" countries.
Ditto the UN, which is supposed to be an organisation of all the countries of the world but it is the Americans who call the shots.
So the point is, "vasudhaiva kutumbakam" has a huge potential for not satisfying people's needs.
lets try and bury nationalism and think of humanity
Lastly, this is again a very utopian idea. Lets imagine what happens if we "bury" nationalism.
Just because we do it, does not mean Pakistan and China will do it too. When either of them attack us (which they surely will) overtly or covertly, using our principle of "no nationalism", we'll not retaliate.
The next thing you know, we're prisoners of war in some Pakistani/Chinese camp.
Thats hardly desirable.
Nationalism is the only practical solution that I see in today's world. No nationalism is something that can work only in a utopian world, in my opinion.
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