This Independence Day, don't forget to thank Modi

A nation state must be celebrated. Because our existence is so hung up on having an identity. And after some 10,000 years of civilisation (by Vedic accounts this could be longer) we human beings have finally cracked the code - the ultimate shrine to identity that incorporates the best of human ideals, values, and wisdom: the nation state.

It’s the next best thing worth dying for after God. Whereas God promises divinity and salvation, a nation state promises sovereignty and liberty. Put together, God and the nation state take care of both this life and the after. Like a road map to salvation. Therefore, a theocratic state makes perfect sense. The one that marries the motherland with the God. An ideal socio-political structure that we must aspire for.

The only ones who truly ever understood this were the RSS, and perhaps the Muslim Leaguers who proposed the idea of Pakistan. The Pakistanis almost pulled off a perfect theocratic state, but unfortunately they don’t have Mecca and Medina. However, they are compensating for it with marginalising any unislamic voice or evil deviants of Islam within their territory. They already have an Islamic bomb. They maintain a constant vigil on their kafir neighbour and don’t let the neighbour rest. And they even exported beef to Nepal during the earthquake. If they shake hands with ISIS, I bet even Mecca and Medina will be within their folds soon. I wish them good luck on their Independence Day.

However, we, in India, do not have any such problem. We have all the four dhaams within our territory. If we ever turn into a Hindu state, we won’t have Mecca-Medina issues like Pakistan.

Tagore, in his novel Ghare Baire, gave a glimpse of how the idea of Bharat Mata was mooted in popular conscience. The very idea to marry religion with the concept of nation state was revolutionary. It energised millions, and made the freedom struggle comprehensible, palatable, tangible for the devout illiterate masses.

There is great wisdom when RSS invokes Bharat Mata. It is unfair to say they are patriarchal and anti-women. In spite of their publicly acclaimed admiration for Hitler, they never even once, not even in private living room bonhomie suggested, India become a fatherland. They always spoke of India as motherland. This is their ultimate tribute to womanhood.

Ernest Renan in his seminal essay “What is a Nation?” lists out the organising principles of a nation state. And, after reading them I realised Nehru, much as his existence, was speaking with his head in the clouds when he foisted the abstract alien socialist construct on us. Renan says the first principle is “the spiritual principle”, the soul of the nation. And this soul consists of the nation’s past and its present. If Muhammad-bin-Qasim invaded Sind in 711AD then it took us 1303 years to finally have people on the top who understood the importance of correcting the historical past. We must have a uniform pool of memories to draw from. We can’t have subversive, fifth-columnist narratives. And thanks to the RSS’s guidance the government is going around doing this job admirably. From the HRD ministry to the ICHR, they have the best people in the positions of power. And wherever they could not find someone, for instance, at FTII, they got someone who played Dharmraj Yudishtir.

The second aspect of the spiritual principle is “the present”. Mr Modi understood it. That’s why he emphasised on development, our present, and urged the nation to move on. But anti-national forces keep reminding us of 1984 and 2002. Soon, their dissatisfaction with the Modi government may even spill out as opinion polls and surveys. Ignore them. Mr Shah has already assured us that it will take 25 years for acche din.

Renan’s second principle is “continued consent”. Once the majority consented and brought a narrative in power, we must respect it. When ABVP disrupts the screening of Muzzaffarnagar Baqi Hai documentary, or shames and protests outside some left-liberal intellectual’s house, or when the government sends notices to media houses on the Yakub Memon reportage, they are preserving this “continued consent”. They are flagging the anti-nationals among us. They are waving a number at us. And that number is 272. Confronted with that number, we must all fall silent.

A nation state promises sovereignty and liberty. Though, Professor Stephen D Krasner of Stanford University dubiously term sovereignty as “organised hypocrisy”. But it’s statecraft not hypocrisy when the government fixes legislations like the RTI, the Whistleblowers' bill, shows institutions like RBI their place and consolidates its power. It’s strengthening sovereignty. And, it’s wizardry when the government extends support to multi-nationals like Dow Chemicals and Unilever to continue and even expand their operations here and gives it the spin of “Make in India”. That’s asserting sovereignty internationally and making every Indian proud of it.

Let the weak and the discontented Indian not try to undo what the head of the nation is trying to. It has been a long wait for the majoritarians - for their tryst with Market, Manu and Modi. It is a heady cocktail. Let us all get drunk on it on an otherwise dry day.