When an IAS officer recently chose to resign from the civil service in protest against the clampdown in Kashmir, he was immediately branded a Pakistan sympathiser, adding to the long list of labels that already exist, from “anti-national” to “tukde tukde gang” to “award wapsi gang” to “Khan Market gang”. It is as if anyone expressing dissent on the nullification of Article 370 in J&K stands condemned as an enemy of the nation.
Widespread, bristling hyper-nationalism is labelling even constructive criticism as injurious to national sovereignty. The Indian Medical Association recently pronounced that a Lancet editorial on health concerns in Kashmir, was nothing but “an unsolicited intrusion in the Sovereign Republic of India”.
In another display of “muscular” nationalism, BJP MLA Vikram Read More
