ArpitGarg's Weblog

I think most of us are getting the issue wrong. People who are saying Govt. action is wrong and students at JNU and people in general have all the right to shout anti-national slogans, are missing the point here. There is a difference between being wrong and being anti-national. There is a difference between moral and legal right.

I agree God had given us every right to agree/disagree with whatever we want. No one can take that away from us. No one is saying people who shouted anti-national slogans are wrong or bad. They are people just like everyone else.

They are just being called anti-national. And people are confusing it as if they are being inhumans or bad people. No. To understand this, we have to understand the term anti-national. It means people who are against the nation. Now nation here is India. If you feel and act against India, you are anti-national. This does not means for everyone around the globe. An American or a Chinese will not be called anti-national if he/she shouts anti-India slogans. Only citizens of a nation.

India as a nation is itself quite new. It all began with princely states coming together under a single flag post 1947. In 1950 we as a nation agreed to be bound by a set of rules, we called Constitution. So if anyone goes against the nation, it is anti-national. They may be perfect human beings who don’t like the nation as it is. They might not agree with the Constitution as it is. Which is not morally wrong. But under the ambit of nation, it is anti-national.

Let’s dispel this confusion once and for all. Perfectly good human beings can be anti-national. We as a society have decided to put them behind bars. As they have the potential to destroy the nation as it is.

Maybe you agree with this. Maybe you don’t. If you disagree, you will have to wait till another revolution when you change the Constitution and burn down the nation. Within the ambit of the Constitution that we have, if you raise such anti-India rhetoric, you will be labeled anti-national. Better get in line and work for the betterment of the nation.

Supreme Court while granting bail to JNU student leader has made similar scathing remarks. When on one hand people die at border defending the nation, some people sitting in coziness are trying to destroy the nation. This cannot be justified.