MUMBAI: The past few weeks have been a jarring reminder of the irony that is the great country of India. As JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar, following his release from Tihar jail, addressed the nation -- I thought, “that ought to silence the ‘anti-national’ tirade.” Kumar spoke of Azadi (freedom) from a range of oppressive realities: casteism, corruption, brahmanism, poverty, and yes, even the RSS. His speech came as the Delhi police’s case against him on the charges of sedition came crumbling down, with video footage that the police had relied on confirmed as edited and doctored.

All this while the students and Indians-at-large (not to mention the world) campaigned day and night for the release of Kumar and two other students - Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya. They did so by taking out peaceful marches and protests, armed with roses and placards; by composing and singing songs of resistance; by holding lectures and “teach-ins” where some of India’s most well renowned thinkers spoke on themes relating to nationalism… they did so entirely peacefully, and within the rule of the law.

For the first time in my life, I was proud, really proud, to be a young Indian… to be part of *this* generation, in *this* country. A generation that spoke out for those who cannot speak for themselves. A generation that valued freedom, liberty, peace, and communal harmony. A generation that loved India.

This is India at her best, I thought. An India where the freedom to debate, to discuss, to dissent is valued and protected. An India where the freedom to be and think differently is respected. An India where the freedom to critique underpins the functioning of a dialogue-based democracy.

For the first time, hitherto apolitical Yash Sharma, gave a damn. I wanted to buy a tricolour and wave it proudly.

My enthusiasm, however, was short-lived. Soon, through, primetime TV, BJP party members told me that what I was feeling wasn’t nationalism, but anti-nationalism. Our soldiers are dying at the borders, they said. “What does that have to do with anything?” I wondered. Why do I have to choose between supporting the Indian army (whom I support unequivocally) and the students at JNU? Because a few unidentified students were shouting slogans against India? Because a small number (at best a handful) number of students had organised an event to protest the killing of Afzal Guru? Rationally, this argument makes no sense. The BJP government has been an ally of the PDP in Jammu and Kashmir, and the PDP supports Afzal Guru. Does that mean that the BJP doesn’t respect our soldiers? The argument is too ridiculous to even merit a response.

But, it worked. The government and its supporters maintained that Kumar is “anti-national.” And all those people who were supporting his release -- based on the fact that charges of sedition cannot and should not hold without evidence, with even the police admitting that there was NO video evidence of Kumar shouting “anti-national” slogans -- were all labeled traitors. A Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) leader even announced prize money of Rs 5 lakh for cutting off the tongue of Kumar!

So while the “anti-national” students and protesters relied on the law (referring to previous Supreme Court judgments that outline what ‘sedition’ is); on evidence; on peace (the rallies and marches did not turn violent even once), the “nationalist” lobby beat up Kumar in court, and thrashed journalists, students and professors; shot at a JNU professor in Gwalior; harassed a Lucknow professor for sharing an article on Umar Khalid; and issued a reward to cut off Kumar’s tongue.

Welcome to India, I thought. The land of ironies; where ‘nationalism’ speaks a language of hate, and ‘anti-national’ is centred on peace, rights, and justice.

But should this be surprising given the number of ironies that characterise this country? Here’s a brief look at India, the land of epic ironies:

1. We use terms such as “Digital India” and “Shining India” -- while on the other hand people are killed over eating a type of meat, offered as ritual sacrifice, killed in the name of dowry, killed in the name of wanting a boy child, killed in the name of ‘honour’... I could go on. On the one hand, the huge consumer base makes India attractive to the outside world (cue PM Modi). On the other hand, a majority of that consumer base is still steeped in thought processes that make human sacrifice, cultural perversion and mob violence an everyday reality.

3. We think Pakistan is a mess, but is killing a man over a cow any different from killing a man over the Quran? #IndiaIsPakistan.

3. We’re a country that still spends more our daughters’ weddings than on their education.

4. We are a country where it is okay to piss (and the other thing) in public, but kissing in public will get you lynched.

5. We have more cellphones than toilets (which is why pissing in public is not just socially acceptable, it is the only viable option).

6. We are a country where we will kill our own unborn girl child, but still repeat cliches such as “ladki ghar ki laxmi hai” (the girl is the goddess of the house).

7. We are a country where obesity is on the rise, and so is income inequality with a majority of the country still starving, underweight and malnourished.

8. We frown on talking to strangers, but encourage marrying them.

9. We are a country where, just a few weeks ago, hundreds of PhD and Masters degree holders applied for the position of a peon at the UP assembly, but many of our politicians have not even passed high school.

10. We are a country where cows (reference beef ban) are safer than humans (reference any of the social evils that are an everyday reality).

11. We are a country that will kill a man over eating cow meat because it hurts our religious sentiment, but have no problem when that same cow is let loose on the streets to lead the most miserable life ever.

12. We are a country that posts #SelfiesWithDaughter but will thrash a woman for visiting a bar, looking at a man she’s not related to, or will even kill her before she’s born.

13. We are a country where a Mercedes Benz surrounded by beggars is a common sight. So common that we don’t even notice it anymore.

14. We are a country where shopping malls lie next to slums.

15. We are a country that is celebrating the move to a Digital India, when at the same time Kashmir was denied internet for three days because of Eid celebrations.

16. We are a country where homes are built mostly by the homeless.

17. We are a country with a food surplus where 1/6th of our population is undernourished and 190 million people go hungry every day.

18. We have some of the world’s top billionaires and yet 1/3rd of our country lives on less than Rs. 35 a day.

19. Another way to put the above: We rank 6th in terms of number of billionaires per country, but are home to 1/3rd of the world’s poor.

20. We are emerging as a destination for medical tourism, but couldn’t provide medical assistance to a five year old boy and a nine year old girl, both of whom died of dengue fever a couple of weeks ago.

21. We are obsessed with installing screen guards on our cellphones but will not wear a helmet when riding a bike.

22. We have elevated a porn star to the status of a celebrity but a rape victim is shunned by society.

23. We are moving toward banning the consumption of beef within our country, but are rising up on the ranks of beef exporters (we are the second largest exporter of beef in the world).

24. We think homosexuality is the result of western cultural pollution, when it was victorian ideas of morality that made us think it to be cultural pollution in the first place.

25. We think sex is a taboo even though we are the land of the Kamasutra.

26. We worship the Ganga which is perhaps the dirtiest river on earth, as a result of that worship.

27. When we cast our vote we vote for our caste.

28. We pray to a goddess for a son.

29. We lead strikes and protests to be declared officially “backward.”

30. I guess the biggest irony is that we are well versed with all the above (and this could go on and on) but when it comes to doing anything about it, we are collectively silent and even culpable.

Latest News

YASH SHARMA