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A disturbing development

Slogan-shouting cannot be a basis for citizenship

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Business Standard Editorial Comment New Delhi
Last Updated : Apr 04 2016 | 9:42 PM IST
The controversy over expressions of "nationalism" simply refuses to go away. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) can no longer pretend that it is simply reacting to issues such as slogan-shouting at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. It increasingly appears that the BJP and its various ideological fellow-travellers are seeking to keep the issue alive. In one disturbing development, on Saturday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, at a rally in Nashik, said that those who could not chant "Bharat Mata ki Jai" ("victory to Mother India") should leave the country. This followed action being taken against a legislator of the Maharashtra Assembly who had refused to chant the slogan. Mr Fadnavis later "clarified" his comments - by, in fact, reiterating them, saying there was "a limit to appeasement".

Mr Fadnavis is a holder of high constitutional office. It is extremely disturbing when such an office-holder basically says that citizenship of India is contingent on the chanting of slogans, whatever those slogans may be. Mr Fadnavis later said his government is "guided by the Indian Constitution", but it is impossible to square that assertion with his refusal to withdraw his earlier statement. It can no longer be claimed that this is a matter of local politics being played by marginal players in the BJP. Maharashtra is one of the largest and most outward-looking states in India, and for its chief minister - sworn to uphold the Constitution - to openly renounce the basis of Indian citizenship requires a strong political reaction, including from those within the ruling dispensation, such as the prime minister, who have claimed they wish the focus to be on development.

Other individuals and organisations sympathetic to the BJP have also taken the "nationalism" issue to another level. The yoga teacher and entrepreneur "Baba" Ramdev, for example, said - in the presence of a state governor - at a rally in Haryana organised by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh that had there not been laws, "we would have cut off hundreds of thousands of heads" of people who refused to shout the Bharat Mata ki Jai slogan. Mr Ramdev is not a constitutional functionary and so is entitled to say whatever he wants, as long as it is not a direct and immediate incitement to violence, which this arguably was not. However, observers are also free to draw the inference that the BJP, the RSS and its sympathisers appear to be injecting the threat of violence into the nationalism debate. Mr Ramdev, in particular, claims to be a yogi. Surely he would agree that yoga is supposed to teach self-discipline and personal moderation - since he would certainly claim the overall yogic attitude is more than just a set of physical exercises. A veiled threat of this nature is hardly in keeping with a yogic attitude to life. Nor, it appears, does Mr Ramdev understand patriotism, which must come from within. Getting someone to shout a slogan under threat of decapitation has little value - it is like extracting a confession through torture. For the BJP, the political gains of the "nationalism" debate must be weighed against the damage it causes to its constitutional and other beliefs.

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First Published: Apr 04 2016 | 9:42 PM IST

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