- June 21, 2025
- 8 mins
Nationalism vs Freedom of Expression
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Nationalism is inspired by the highest ideals of the human race — Satyam (truth), Shivam (the divine), Sundaram (beauty). Nationalism in India has revived the creative faculties which for centuries had been lying dormant in our people. Subhas Chandra Bose understood this when he declared that the spirit of nationalism, not imported ideologies, would awaken India’s destiny.
A year ago, on 9 February 2016, former DSU member Umar Khalid and others organised a protest rally inside JNU against the hanging of Parliament attack mastermind Afzal Guru and Kashmiri separatist Maqbool Bhat. The slogans raised were shocking: “Pakistan Zindabad,” “Go India, Go Back,” “Bharat tere tukde honge,” “Afzal hum sharminda hai, tere kaatil zinda hai.” These weren’t slogans of dissent. They were war cries against the Indian state.
Yet one year later, Delhi University’s Ramjas College invited the same Umar Khalid to speak at a seminar. When ABVP rightly protested, a well-coordinated media and liberal establishment jumped to Khalid’s defence. Enter Gurmehar Kaur — a year-old video suddenly resurfaced and was pushed by the media as gospel. In an instant, the issue was twisted. It was no longer about the legitimacy of inviting a man who supported Afzal Guru. It was about “Freedom of Expression.”
Conveniently ignoring the context, the Left-liberal cabal turned a national security concern into an ideological circus. They screamed intolerance. They cited the Constitution. They paraded victimhood. And once again, the real issue — anti-national activity under the guise of campus protests — was buried under noise and posturing.
Freedom of Expression is one of the most valuable gifts of our Constitution. But like all freedoms, it carries responsibility. There is no such thing as absolute freedom in a civilised society. One cannot advocate secession, violence, or terrorism and hide behind the Constitution while tearing its essence apart.
Barring the shameful era of Indira Gandhi’s Emergency, India has enjoyed a vibrant democratic culture. From protest marches to fiery editorials, India has never lacked voices of dissent. But what we are witnessing now is not dissent — it is a strategic, ideological offensive masked as activism. The true battle is not about free speech anymore. The real battle is between nationalism and an extremist version of Freedom of Expression — one that the Marxist-Left uses as a Trojan horse to promote separatism.
The Left has always had an intimate romance with anti-national elements. It romanticises Naxal violence. It rationalises Kashmiri militancy. And it defends slogans glorifying Afzal Guru as “student discourse.” Their ideological kin in media and academia amplify these voices, whitewash facts, and manufacture consent to keep their fading relevance intact.
Our media plays along — not out of ignorance, but out of vested interest. In the race for TRPs and digital engagement, they exaggerate protests and demonise nationalism. They host panels where the death of soldiers is secondary to the trauma of an “offended” activist. This is no longer journalism — it’s agenda-driven propaganda.
Meanwhile, the so-called liberal intellectuals cry foul when nationalists question their intentions. They don’t want scrutiny. They want monopoly over moral discourse. They mock traditions, ridicule the military, and infantilise violence as “student unrest.” And all this while claiming to protect democracy.
Let’s be clear: Freedom of Expression doesn’t include the right to shout “Bharat ki barbadi” in public. That’s not dissent — that’s psychological warfare against the Indian nation. And those who back such speech in the name of rights are accomplices in this treasonous narrative.
How can raising anti-national slogans under the veil of Freedom of Expression be considered a part of national discourse? There is a difference between opposing a policy and opposing the nation itself. When slogans like “Bharat ki barbadi tak jung rahegi” are chanted, they don’t represent dissent — they represent a declaration of ideological war.
There is a fine line between dissent and disintegration. And it’s time India defines it clearly. In any functioning democracy, there must be red lines. And advocating the balkanisation of the nation crosses every one of them.
When someone calls for “Kashmir ki azaadi,” they are not making a poetic point — they are echoing the same narrative used by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists. When someone says “Afzal hum sharminda hain,” they’re not expressing grief — they’re spitting on the graves of our martyrs.
And yet, the media grooms these individuals into campus icons. Opposition parties rush to defend them, not because they believe in their cause, but because they see political opportunity in chaos.
This is how the Left manufactures martyrs — out of mischief-makers. This is how the Congress ecosystem poisons young minds — by turning terrorism into resistance and nationalism into bigotry.
Let’s not be fooled. This isn’t a freedom movement. It’s a subversion project.
Let’s draw the line: criticism of government is a right. But attack on India is a crime.
This is where the Bharatiya Janata Party stands firm. BJP has always supported debate, dissent, and dynamic discourse. But it does not — and will not — tolerate forces that want to shatter the Indian republic from within. The difference between BJP and Congress is simple. BJP protects Bharat. Congress patronises its enemies.
It is no coincidence that these anti-national eruptions always surface on campuses heavily influenced by Congress-backed unions and Marxist front groups. From JNU to Hyderabad University, and now Ramjas College — the same playbook is repeated. Create provocation, claim victimhood, manipulate media, and milk electoral gains.
Congress and its allies have never respected nationalism. They confuse loyalty to party with loyalty to nation. For them, sedition is strategy. And this is why they find common ground with those shouting “Bharat tere tukde honge.”
The BJP believes in defining non-negotiables. Territorial integrity, respect for the armed forces, and unity in diversity are not up for debate. These are the pillars of Bharat. Break them, and you break the soul of the nation.
What we see in these so-called freedom protests is not liberty — it is lunacy. What the opposition nurtures is not dissent — it is disintegration.
The moral of the story is this: India’s tolerance must not become its weakness. Freedom of Expression is sacred — but not when it turns into Freedom to Destroy. And that is exactly what BJP fights against — for Bharat’s safety, sanity, and sovereignty.
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- TAGS: Anti-India, Congress, Lutyens, Nation, Urban Naxals
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