Forget Kanhaiya, Modi sarkar must brand these Indians as 'anti-national'

Over the past ten days, “nationalist” testosterone has been flowing freely in the streets of the national capital. And like everybody else, I have been following the numerous news updates and prime time debates on TV, where everyone is trying to prove how full of nationalist sentiment they are. I am sure they pat themselves on the back and say, “There, I am a nationalist!”

Is a student who may or may not have raised slogans such as “Bharat teri barbaadi hogi” actually an anti-national? Has it actually led to the country's ruin? Not really. The way Indians are going about raising a hue and cry and resorting to violence may just lead to worse consequences.

Let’s say JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar did actually say the words he is being prosecuted for. But there are far graver crimes in this country that should ideally be classified as being anti-Indian:

1. Rapists: One rapist is enough to ruin not just one woman and her future, but also her family. Think of the social stigma that she and her family must live with. They can’t lead a happy life, find it difficult to earn a living and end up leading a life of ignominy. The rapist, meanwhile, spends some time in jail before release. Some justice.

2. Drug peddlers: They too ruin lives of addicts and entire families. Children and entire villages have been lost to drugs. Look at Punjab, once known as the “Granary of India” and even “India’s Bread-basket”, the state is close to becoming the “Begging Bowl of India”. Its people have been left to fend for themselves as drug peddlers systematically go about ruining village after village. Doesn’t that harm the nation and bring down productivity?

3. Paedophiles: This lot is perhaps the worst. Such people force themselves on little children and usually destroy the little ones and their bright futures - also the future of the country. One can imagine what India will look like when children who survive the assault grow up. They will be full of hatred and malice.

4. Corrupt babus, politicians and cops: If there’s money to be made, they are there. If there’s a scheme which will siphon off money into their accounts from some government source, they are already plotting it. If there’s work to be done that involves the exchange of money for services, they are there to take their cut, but not to get the work done. What about the nation?

What about the foreign companies coming to India to set up factories and provide employment? Oooh, they come with dollars and can pay more. Regular charges (read bribes) to get the same work done are 10 times as much for Indians. Oh wait, we give only one clearance, there are other windows that you have to go through before you can set up your tent and begin planning for future. What about the common man? What about the nation’s development? First us, then the family, then the extended family and much, much later, if there’s money left, comes the nation. And what does it get? “Peanuts” would be too rich. May be the dust off peanuts. It’s such people who we must brand as anti-national.

5. Loose-lipped leaders: There are politicians who manage to make India a laughing stock with their statements. Sample this: “Chowmein leads to rape.” Here’s another string of words put masterfully together by another leader: “90 per cent of rapes are consensual.” Frankly speaking, this isn’t the reputation we want.

6. Rioters: There is nothing more damaging than rioters who block roads, burn establishments and wreak havoc in the common man's life. Why can’t the rioters be named anti-nationals? They disrupt, cause delays in production and damage property for which resources must be spent.

7. Hate mongers: Worse than the anti-nationals listed above are the religious leaders who incite people by misleading them. The crowd, by definition, is gullible and provoked by speeches that raise tempers - it becomes a mob and then come the communal riots. The crowd is a docile cow. The religious leader is the cruel master who thrashes it and turns it into a vicious beast that bays for blood. Such leaders, who, instead of telling people about the ways to attain peace, incite violence and anger, should be declared anti-national.

Before we go about trying people for uttering words which offend our sensibilities, or in some way offend the law, we might want to introspect and look at what or who exactly is anti-national: a student who, in the heat of the moment, may or may not have shouted anti-India slogans or Indians who go about systematically ruining everything that defines our nation for us. If writing this makes me anti-national, so be it.