Pics: Spoorthi Ullal /Abhijith N Kolpe
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (ANK)
Mangaluru, Oct 2: “These are testing times. Many of us are often asked to prove our nationalism. Sometimes we are explicitly asked to say slogan in the praise of Bharath Matha or in some other ways. I ponder how they keep inventing these things. Recently I was called an anti-national after 10 years of service. Within a day of resigning I became an anti-national in the country,” said former deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district Sasikanth Senthil.
Senthil was speaking on the topic 'Baapu and Nationalism' at Gandhi 150 Chintana Yathre at Garodi on Wednesday, October 2.
Senthil further said, “The idea of nationalism to Gandhi did not come in one single night, as he did lot of experiments in his life, especially his days in South Africa and later on. We should understand what nationalism was for Mahatma Gandhi. He is an authentic global leader who single handedly changed the face of the country,”
"There are two entities of nation and state. State is a political concept while nation is cultural and psychological concept. State has four elements, namely population, territory, government and sovereignty. Nation is a group of people with strong sense of unity and consciousness. State is formed with agreement, wars, rules and regulations. Nation is a feeling where all stand united to fight to get freedom,” Senthil added.
“We should understand Baapu's growth in concept of nation. Gandhi was Harishchandra as he was the torch bearer of truth. Gandhi himself symbolizes a lot for us. His days in South Africa brought the idea of nationalism and later we all know what happened as a movement which all the whole world experienced,” Senthil continued.
“Gandhi had two aspects of nationalism that is assimilation and was against western society as he had own vision for India. The non-cooperation movement was withdrawn because of Chauri Chaura incident, where everyone was surprised by this decision. Gandhi did not endorse this brand of nationalism which would propagate violence that would never make India free,” he said.
“His idea of nationalism was never Chauri Chaura, never violence, never differentiating between people. His nationalism was what he showed in the year 1930 at the site of the Dharasana Satyagraha, an immediate follow up to the Dandi salt march. Nationalism is nurtured through love and empathy survives on diversity. If there is no love, empathy, bonding and good feeling, then there is no nationalism. Nationalism is a bonding force. Humanism is nationalism.” Senthil concluded.