Notes on nationalism

Our leaders, whether those in this government or the ones before, have failed to explain to the nation what our strategic constraints are

The attack against India by the Jaish-e-Mohammed has unleashed a wave of strong feeling among us. We should examine its various facets. The way it has manifested itself is first through anger against Kashmiris. Here, our violence and potential violence identifies them as the enemy based on their identity and their background. Being Kashmiri is a sufficient condition for someone to be attacked, because some other Kashmiri did something abhorrent. Of course, this is of a piece with the historical nature of communitarian violence in India. It runs against the grain of our claim that we are one nation and,