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Eminent journalist Kumar Ketkar: NaMo's projection as 'son of Gujarat' threatens India's unity

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Eminent journalist Kumar Ketkar: NaMo's projection as 'son of Gujarat' threatens India's unity Empty Eminent journalist Kumar Ketkar: NaMo's projection as 'son of Gujarat' threatens India's unity

Post by Guest Sun Dec 03, 2017 11:50 pm

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is fond of describing himself as the leader of 125 crore Indians, has suddenly started emphasising his Gujarati identity and urging the voters to respect ‘Gujarati Asmita’.

Is he conceding that the so-called development model was yet another ‘jumla’?

Indeed, it is distinctly possible that a large number of voters may choose identity over the frustrations and disillusionment of the last three years. But if the BJP wins its own majority (whatever be the margin), Modi will say it was a victory of the Gujarat Model.

Identity politics, at once, gives unity and strength to the community, caste, religion, or language group, but it also divides the society, sometimes leading to violence. National leaders generally do not (or at least should not) narrow their Indian identity. Jawaharlal Nehru did not present himself as a Kashmiri Pandit. Neither did Narasimha Rao flaunt his Telugu character. Nor did Manmohan Singh project his Sikh identity....

If the PM chooses to highlight being a Gujarati, then he cannot ask Yogi Adityanath to tone down his language of aggressive Hindutva, and will not be able to rein in Bengali nationalism....

Nationalism can unite people and the nation. Hyper-nationalism and aggressive identity politics can disintegrate the nation and the idea of India itself.


https://theprint.in/2017/12/04/modis-gujarat-identity-spell-doom-india-unity/

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