Nationalism and the Present Intellectual Crisis

In a previous chapter, I looked back at the ninety years before Independence to map the trajectory of protonationalism as it manifested in the Great Revolt of 1857. I then examined some examples of national(ist) thought in the twentieth century. In this chapter, I wish to look sixty years after Independence to trace the progress of post-nationalism during a period that I see India passing through an intellectual crisis. One of the components of this crisis is the confusion over Indian nationalism. Very simply, the question before thinking Indians is whether to forget the history and traditions of our national struggle, to deny the sacrifices and efforts of all those who strove that we might be free and self-reliant today, nay, to denounce nationalism itself as a false ideology—and to look for some other way, some other principle of organizing our civic life? Or, whether to go back to these very traditions, to rejuvenate them to deal with some of our present problems?

Some might consider this is an exaggeration, if not caricature of the issue, yet it is not very far from the truth. The success of the Bollywood movie Rang De Basanti (RDB) is a vocal testimony to the crisis in Indian nationalism. The film touched a sensitive chord in the millions who saw it, especially the youth, who were also the protagonists of the story.