Why I 'hate' India

A long list of people will come up if I start thinking of people who are Anti-Indian. (And what may be anti-Indian to me may be a patriotic individual to you, but that’s a subjective matter.)

But maybe then that list will appear peanuts if I start thinking about those who glorify such people who like to dislike India.

I pose this question to myself and search for answers that why we glorify those who de-glorify India? And for the starters I will make a disclaimer that No I am not a saffronwadi nor a Swaymsevak nor a BJP supporter.

The moment someone starts talking about people who propagate anti India feelings they are attached to an invisible tag of a fundamentalist, a dogmatic and an unsecular intellectual.

You blurt words against the professional dissenters like Arundhati Roy and you are called someone who is in cahoots with the people who perpetrated the terrible riots in Gujarat. The moment you call Geelani , both the Kashmiri and the Professor , anti Indian, you find yourself being measured on the scale of a Saffron promoter.

If you talk about the issue of Kashmir and shout out loud that Azadi will never be an option for the valley, for obvious reasons, you are labelled a Fundamentalist. Which type of fundamentalist that you are never told but I take it in the right spirit and view it as a synonym of patriotic, which for me is always welcome.

Why has it lately become a vogue to follow what Roy says even if she calls India a naked poor country?

What’s so great in it? Agreed that she is exercising her freedom of speech but does that call for idolizing her? And what’s so nakedly poor about India?

We have failed in various fronts and still many of the less privileged one go to sleep without a morsel ,many of the innocents are still deprived of the basic rights and many of the Indians will die without witnessing how wonderful is to have a candle light dinner along a Goan beach because their economic condition doesn’t allow them to look beyond two bread , a slice of onion and some daal.

I agree that huge economic disparity still exists. We have the world’s largest slum and the highest number of malnourished children are in our country.

We have corruption that we smell, breath and eat everyday. And we have a creature called the politicians who we all believe are the root of all evil and then we have another class , the common man that refuses to believe that’s its them who choose this very creature.

But.... no a big “ But”.

When we look at the negatives do we ever consider the positives that this naked country has to offer and has offered? Have we ever though the enormity of the population this country has to cater to? Why do we forget the diversity that flowers in our country, diversity of all sorts. And a diversity that we all flaunt when it’s to our advantage but forget it when it turns into a problematic issue.

Do we remember that India has always treated Kashmir as a part of its body that has suffered injuries. Do we remember that you don’t amputate the arm just because someone else will be happy to see us ‘one armed’.

Do we remember that we don’t cut off the arms because it has been affected by virus, we treat it and the treatment is painful and takes time.

Do we remember that army is not present in Kashmir because it’s a hill station, it is present there because the separatist want the valley to be severed. And why do we forget that it’s the army that’s doing its bit to keep the valley safe.

For every two person going to sleep empty stomach ninety eight more are sleeping after having a meal that they did not had the previous night. For every corrupt policeman demanding hundred rupees there are eighteen more policeman who are making sure that we are safe.

Why do I forget that it was this country that provided me with the opportunity to pursue education and it was this country which gave me avenues to develop myself. And it was this very country which gave me the opportunity to fall in love without thinking about whom to fear, unlike in many neighbouring countries.

We all have our right to criticize anyone but that criticism if de-voided of a prudent comparison loses its authenticity. If you look at the bad you have to look at the goods too.

Syed Ali Shah Geelani is a classic example of the hypocrites that have been glorified by our people. He lives in India, gets his medical treatment done at the governments expense, receives gifts from Pakistan ,files for IT relief to the tune of crores because he is what he is and after all this he calls India , an oppressor.

And what we do? We strike back not at Geelani but at those who call Geelani a tyrant. So much for the sense of Indian’ess inside all of us. A sense that comes out when we have to ‘show it on our sleeves and on our cheeks”.

Don’t look at people who have cultivated this habit of being anti-establishment as a way to establish their identity and those who feel that the biggest crime that they committed was to take birth in India. Look at those subtle expression from the wonderful people who don’t explicitly shout out loud that they too are worried about India but feel that India has more goods and the bad will change, because there has never been a time when India has failed to rise. These people work at improving the ills developing India rather than crib about it. Look at Abdul Kalam and look at Amartya Sen and admire Anna Hazare.

And don’t fail to look at Ms.Roy for you will see what ails India but be sure to ignore the panacea prescribed by her.

I have always believed that the concept of India is a subject that cannot be ever described , expressed or suppressed. It’s something that we all have idea about but even at our bestest best we won’t be able to define what is India.

But glorifying the people who seek to enhance their stature through insulting India is something that I don't take pride to. And in this modern time where voices of ancient “intellectuals” held sway, the right of expressing opinion against an insult to ones country has been buried deep by the much more celebrated legal right of Freedom of speech.

But in the hindsight I feel thats its this very thing, this mutual coexistence of legal and moral right that makes me hate India and then love it again.