Why the JNU controversy affects someone like me

As someone who is not overly interested in politics, this is a strange sort of article to write. But although I do not ardently follow the political happenings going on around the world, I am still well aware of how directly they affect my own way of life.

                                        

The issue of intolerance/sedition that has been at the centre of debate and discussion for a while now with regards to the JNU controversy is at its core a simple one. My own political views are a bit unorthodox for a student, seeing that I see fascism as functional in some ways, and I’m also in agreement with Machiavelli’s views of politics. I do not think the state owes anything in particular to its people’s sentiments. The state has its ideology and it then strives to propagate this ideology in the most efficient manner, even if it means hurting a few for the good of many. But, this is only alright in a fascist society.

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he problem we’re faced with is one of self- identification. As long as our nation identifies itself as being democratic, it is this ideology that it is sworn to protect. Regardless of all my qualms with democracy, it is easy to see the problem with the kind of nationalism going about in the country at the moment. Nationalism in a democracy must have no other meaning or connotation than to look out to serve the interests of its people. The moment nationalism starts to denote other ideas such as integrity, then we must as the question “Integrity according to whom?” In other words, what ideology provides these meanings, and in that case, why does the nation support one ideology over another?

I would hazard a guess and say that the notion of nationalism that has been going about is perhaps according to a majority community’s definition. The moment a democracy becomes about simply following the ideology of the majority, it becomes fascism of the majority. True, a democracy does function according to the wishes of the majority, but not at the expense of minority communities.

This brings me to why this issue affects me personally. Well, it’s because most of the time, I have the freedom to not care about these things under the assumption that just saying things couldn’t really get me into trouble. I mean, at the end of the day, most of us “educated” folks don’t really resort to violence because of how firmly we’ve been indoctrinated to uphold the values of peace. But this issue makes me doubt whether I really have a stake even to display my neo-fascist, Machiavellian views safely from the comfort of my bed.