{"id":7559,"date":"2017-11-03T00:11:04","date_gmt":"2017-11-02T18:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/?p=7559"},"modified":"2017-11-03T00:11:04","modified_gmt":"2017-11-02T18:41:04","slug":"popcorn-patriotism-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/2017\/11\/03\/popcorn-patriotism-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Popcorn patriotism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Editor,<\/strong>
\nKudos to Poonam I Kaushish for the article titled “Popcorn patriotism”(October 31).
\nIndividuals who truly love India do respect each and every citizen of their country by rising above all narrow divisive credential of race, language, caste and religion; lead an honest life and carry on their respective jobs with utmost sincerity and dedication; work for the cause of the downtrodden and tortured lot by drawing inspiration from the greats like Kailash Satyarthi; care for the environment and protect nature and greenery. In the dictionary of true lovers of the nation; national flags or anthems are secondary items as they are nothing but mere symbols. The real nation lies in the hearts and human rights of common people. Instead of taking prompt \u201coffence\u201d whenever the flag or anthem gets \u201cdishonoured\u201d; they feel infinite times more pain when human rights of innumerable poor people, vulnerable children, women, minorities and refugees(displaced by riots or climate change) get mercilessly trampled under the marauding feet of vested interests. After all those unfortunate brothers and sisters of my land form the real India.
\nDo the zealous admirers of national flag and anthem cry when their fellow brothers like Mohammad Akhlaque or Junaid got killed by the brutes for his alleged \u201csin\u201d of consuming beef? Why do the self-declared devotes of \u201cBharat Mata\u201d remain mum when our Dalit cousins and those from the North-East get abused, assaulted or killed in the \u201cprogressive\u201d cities from Delhi to Bangalore? Are they not sons or daughters of \u201cBharat Mata\u201d? Who will enlighten the dark minds of these rabid zealots that switching off the lights and fans when not in use(be it in home or workplace) is a much greater patriotic task than playing to the gallery of chanting mere slogans in shrillest voice possible? Who will teach the \u201cnationalists\u201d about the basic fact that India gets truly assaulted when the Constitutional right of practicing any religion and the Constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression comes under the threat of extinction? Why don’t the “patriotism” of the slogan-shouters get assaulted when innumerable Rohith Vemulas of this land are forced to commit suicide following blatant casteism and numerous innocent couples get killed in the name of “honour” of the family? Why don\u2019t the \u201cnationalism\u201d of the \u201cpatriots\u201d get hurt when vitriolic attacks are launched against the Indians who dare to call a spade a spade and express their anguish over the deluge of intolerance being witnessed throughout the country. They are merely exercising their right of freedom of speech and expression as guaranteed by none other than the Constitution. By definition of which logic, can those \u201cpatriots\u201d afford to beat their own trumpet of \u201cnationalism\u201d despite cold-bloodedly assaulting the very basis of the country ie democracy, tolerance and free speech? Actually those “nationalists” who force all to chant rhetorical slogans hold no moral right to live in this democratic country.
\nIf killing of intellectuals and rationalists from M.M.Kalburgi to Gouri Lankesh for their “sin” of not succumbing to the diktats of the communal brigade do not amount to “anti-nationalism”; if infringing upon the dietary habits of certain communities and killing of innocents for their alleged “sin” of consuming beef do not get regarded as “anti-nationalism”; if cold-blooded attempt to murder the diversity of this heterogeneous democratic secular country by imposing a particular religion and language upon all get treated as matters of “nationalism” — then it is high time we revisit the dictionary and amend the definition of “nationalism” and “anti-nationalism”! If mere symbol of the nation like flag or anthem gets priority over the plight of millions of common Indians trampled under the marauding feet of demons like poverty, illiteracy, hunger, child as well as bonded labour and sex slavery in the name of \u201cpatriotism\u201d; if \u201cpatriotism\u201d means flaunting our “elitism” by attaining Mars orbit, never mind if millions of our very own are bereft of minimum basic right of potable water and toilets — then I refuse to call myself a \u201cpatriot! If \u201cpatriotism\u201d \u201cinspire\u201d us to launch vitriolic racial sexist assault on Maria Sharapova for her \u201csin\u201d of being ignorant about a certain \u201cGod\u201d named Sachin Tendulkar; if \u201cpatriotism\u201d \u201cinspire\u201d us to sweep all social ills of India under the \u201cnationalist\u201d carpet and malign that great humanitarian named Satyajit Ray for his \u201csin\u201d of \u201cselling poverty\u201d in international forum; if \u201cpatriotism\u201d \u201cinspire\u201d us to build world\u2019s highest statue at the State’s expense so as to “mesmerize” the world and to display supreme indifference to another noble human being named Kailash Satyarthi as his yeoman\u2019s service has exposed the bitter truth of existence of millions of vulnerable child labourers in this \u201celite\u201d country before the entire world — then we should hang our heads in shame for our skewed inhuman definition of \u201cpatriotism\u201d and \u201cnationalism\u201d.
\nNo true Indian will chant rhetorical slogans so as to pass the litmus test of \u201cpatriotism\u201d as defined by the communal \u201cnationalist\u201d brigade. Rather their all-embracing work, tolerant thoughts and democratic ideals will talk about their dedication towards India. And I desire to end with Rabindranath Tagore\u2019s assertion \u201cNever allow patriotism to triumph over humanity\u201d. Remember this very person came up with number of swadeshi songs, including \u2018Jana Gana Mana\u2026\u2019, reflecting his deep love for the country. But Tagore\u2019s love for the country was not limited to mere flags or zealous chant of \u2018Bharat Mata ki Jai\u2019; but got extended to respect for values, humanity and an earnest yearning for an environment where the mind is without fear and the head held high.
\nYours,<\/strong>
\nKajal Chatterjee, <\/strong>
\nKolkata<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Editor, Kudos to Poonam I Kaushish for the article titled “Popcorn patriotism”(October 31). Individuals who truly love India do respect each and every citizen of their country by rising above all narrow divisive credential of race, language, caste and religion; lead an honest life and carry on their respective jobs with utmost sincerity and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7559","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-readers-forum"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7559\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}