Shehla Rashid, vice-president of the JNU Students’ Union, is the fire breather in the movement for the release of the Union president, Kanniah Kumar. Rashid, a 27-year-old MPhil student at JNU, has been at the forefront of the organization and direction of the movement. Excerpts from an interview with Anoo Bhuyan:
In this current scenario, who defines who is a patriot and who isn’t? Should anyone be allowed to?
There’s a very majoritarian kind of sentiment in place today which is being allowed to define and dominate the discourse on nationalism. Much of this is structured in a very mob-like way. This goes back to 2012 when Narendra Modi was being projected as the prime ministerial candidate At that time Narendra Modi put his massive PR machinery to work and anyone who said anything about him, people would call them anti nationals. Today this is the reality. This sort of mob which was at the fringe a while ago has acquired the mainstream character. There are 2 things here -- communalism and development. If you question...
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