Binary Bites

BJP's ultranationalism is a strategy to make up for its absence during the freedom struggle, but the binary discourse on nationalism is being weaponised to make detractors fall in line

- Shweta Desai

ON January 12, 2015, civil rights activist Priya Pillai was about to board a flight to London when immigration officers at Delhi airport stopped her. Blacklisted, barred and branded 'anti-national,' she was denied overseas travel without charges or explanation. A Greenpeace India campaigner, she was set to brief a British parliamentary panel on a UK firm's involvement in a coal mine project ravaging central India.

She never made it.

The heavy-handed travel ban, typically reserved for terrorists or fugitives, against an activist had signalled a troubling new approach to silencing government critics.

Pillai was the first of many to be labelled 'anti-national' during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government's first term in power.

Six months after Modi's government took office, the term 'anti-national' emerged as a popular slur. Often used by BJP leaders and supporters, the phrase wields a strong rhetorical power in shaping the 'nationalist' public discourse. The binary label has since served as a weapon to silence critics, discredit dissent and marginalise opposition, reinforcing a divisive political narrative.

In January, Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawale, arrested in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case, walked free after six years in prison without trial or charges, paying the price for their civil rights activism. Branded 'anti-nationals under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), they were among 16 public intellectuals accused of plotting to assassinate PM Modi.

Like "anti-national," the term "urban Naxal" too is wielded against dissenters, targeting those with left-wing ideologies. Over Modi's decade-long rule, this branding has extended to Bollywood stars, JNU students, RTI activists, minorities, comedians, journalists and opposition leaders who have questioned the government.