Contemporary India

19

Contemporary Debates on Nationalism

Mohinder Singh

Rabindranath Tagore, who inspired many leaders of the Indian nationalist movement and who himself actively participated in it, wrote three essays intensely criticizing nationalism during the First World War. In one of these essays titled ‘Nationalism in India’, Tagore called nationalism a ‘menace’.¹ This will appear very surprising to many, particularly to those who consider nation and nationalism to be given and natural condition of human political community. For instance, when this fact is told to students in an undergraduate classroom, they usually react with utter disbelief. How can Tagore criticize nationalism? This is perhaps because the most prevalent view in the popular perception ...