Are we turning over- patriotic? When actor turned former Congress MP Ramya, who was part of young leaders SAARC team which visited Pakistan, said that there is no hell and life is as normal as in India, attracted sedition charges in a complaint filed by BJP activists. And she has been made target by the over patriotic BJP and other outfits on the streets. But when it comes to Kashmir utterance of separatists calling for ‘Azadi’, display of Pakistani flag, disrespect to National Flag during the 52 days of unrest there is no PIL or private sedition charges. And the protests and violence is attributed to the forces beyond ones control and the stone throwing youth termed as innocent and misguided ones. Today India is witnessing its own form of ultra patriotism derived largely from its own definition whether it is going to bring the desired results or not but one thing is sure it has led to the social chaos and political divide which is visible when it comes to dealing with a situation like in Kashmir. All spirit and hype of nationalism vanishes from the scene and political leaders are left in the midway looking for some space so that their existence and survival is not diluted. What Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has referred about ‘going to Pakistan is hell’ only after the sore episode of Union Minister Rajnath Singh’s visit to that country. This also does not mean each and every zealot has to react to each and every mention of issue relating to the country. How much time has been wasted on these unproductive actions. The reaction of Kannada actress too should be taken in that direction. As member of the SAARC young leaders’ team what she has seen there she narrated it beyond that one should not see things which creates uneasiness for everyone. Patriotism does not need sedition charges to prove and every Indian is a patriot that could be one reason nation rises to any emergency as one. Thus the unity in diversity, the finesse point of our democracy, makes it go further.
