Why Amit Shah's Versions of 'Patriotism' and 'Development' Are So Troubling https://thewire.in/politics/amit-shah-patriotism-country-development Badri Raina
Young Indians of today, should strive now to live for the “country.” And living for the “country” in his view means to contribute to “development”, particularly as envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Such a path alone, he has observed, constitutes “patriotism”.
In today’s context, I would ask: Can the current Indian model of “development” – which enables a Gautam Adani to garner Rs 1,000 crore a day while making it impossible for millions of Indians to find wherewithal to refill their Ujjwala Gas cylinders – be construed an ideal?
Furthermore, what does it mean to die for or live for one’s “country”? What is “country” – the territory or the people? If both, who are the “people”? The money-spinners, or the vast masses who live from hand to mouth, even as they make the most contribution to producing the nation’s wealth, and to dying for it at the borders?
We need an educated and sincere tolerance of debate, an ideational contest which only a genuine democracy may furnish, not ministerial diktats. It is only when we first achieve the goal of such a democracy that we can talk of allegiance to acceptable models of patriotism and humanism. Obviously, such democracy cannot be achieved only through electoral victories.