Real anti-nationalism is when you start blindly believing govt in the name of patriotism: Kanhaiya
He was addressing in Mangaluru at B.V Kakkilaya birth anniversary event
Mangaluru: JNU Scholar Dr. Kanhaiya Kumar on Saturday stressed on the need of youth reading and understanding the history and about freedom movement and fighters.
Speaking in Mangaluru at an event organised to mark centenary birth anniversary of veteran freedom fighter B.V Kakkilaya, Kanhaiya said "today's youth doesn't know much about freedom fighters and the history of their own respective villages, District or States. Whereas the need is to know, read and understand the history of not just our own District, village and state but also of others too".
Commenting on the development of the country in the last 70 years, since the independence, Kanhaiya blamed the parents for not letting their kids enter politics and added that it hindered the pace of the development of the country after independence.
"The biggest hindrance has been that the youth are not allowed to question things. Our system does not allow us to know what are our rights. The children in the country are not allowed to choose subjects of their interest but instead they are turned into machines by training them only to be able to survive future market. So, although the youth of the country go out to vote they don't realise the value of their votes and have not achieved political maturity" Kanhaiya added.
He further noted that one doesn't need to be pessimistic. "Although the youth today is experiencing lack of political knowledge and maturity this is largely due to the history of our nation," he added while urging the youth to work towards a better future of the country.
"BJP is the reason why we need to stand for secularism, BJP is the reason why the importance of democracy needs to be taught in the country. The BJP has caused several political questions that the youth needs to question them about," Kanhaiya said.
"B.V Kakkilaya was called anti-national by the British because he protested for the rights of people and for the freedom of this country. Even today, people fighting for the rights of people are arrested and labelled as anti-national, the only difference is that it is not the british who does it now but our own police and government. We need to stand united and start questioning everything that is wrong, we need to start people's movement in this country".
"Our Prime Minister uses religion as shield whenever he is questioned about the economic failure during his tenure. We don't need to worry about the current scenario of our country we just need to create awareness among the people about the history and facts" Kanhaiya added.
"The real anti-national are those who blindly believe and follow the government in the name of patriotism. The real patriotism is when you question the powerful people about the wrongs they are doing to the country. This should start at our homes, educational institutions should follow this, workplaces, public and platforms should follow this".
Talking about his decision to enter politics Kanhaiya said that joining JNU inspired him to join politics.
Answering a question by a student about why he doesn't say 'Jai Shri Ram' and his idea about a unified nation, Kanhaiya replied, "One can say anything, the constitution gives us the right, I will say 'Jai Samvidhan' (hail the constitution). I am proud of my country and I love my country. At the same time I am also proud of our beautiful and diverse culture where people of several beliefs and religion co-exist," Kanhaiya said while replying to the second question.
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India & Israel elevate ties to special strategic partnership, vow to soon conclude free trade deal
Jerusalem (PTI): India and Israel on Thursday elevated their "time-tested" relationship to a special strategic partnership and agreed to soon firm up a "mutually beneficial" free trade deal even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly backed the Gaza peace initiative, asserting that humanity must never become a victim of conflict.
Following talks between Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, the two sides inked a plethora of agreements to expand cooperation in areas of trade, agriculture, energy, cyberspace and digital payment.
India and Israel also vowed to expand their already close defence partnership by working towards joint development and joint production of military hardware under the framework of the transfer of technologies.
In his media statement, Modi said India's security interest is linked to peace and stability in the Middle East, adding that New Delhi fully supports the Gaza Peace Initiative.
"India's stance is clear: humanity must never become a victim of conflict. A path to peace has been created through the Gaza Peace Plan. India has fully supported these efforts," he said.
"In the future as well, we will continue dialogue and cooperation with all countries," he said.
PM Modi landed in Israel on Wednesday on a two-day visit. It is his second visit to Israel in nine years.
In his remarks, the prime minister said India and Israel have a united view that there is no place for terrorism in the world and both sides stand shoulder-to-shoulder in countering terrorism and its supporters.
"Our relationship is founded on the strong bedrock of deep trust, shared democratic values, and human sensitivities. Our bond has stood the test of every trial of time," he said.
"Today, we have taken the historic decision to elevate our time-tested partnership to the status of a 'Special Strategic Partnership'," he said.
The prime minister also announced the establishment of an India-Israel critical and emerging technologies partnership to impart a new momentum for cooperation in areas of artificial intelligence, quantum, and critical minerals. "I am pleased that an agreement has been reached for the use of UPI in Israel," he said.
The prime minister, referring to the threat of terrorism, said India and Israel will continue to confront the menace unitedly.
"India and Israel are completely clear that there is no place for terrorism in the world. In any form, in any expression, terrorism cannot be accepted," he said.
"We have stood shoulder-to-shoulder in opposing terrorism and its supporters, and we will continue to do so," he added.
India and Israel also discussed the implementation of the India-Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) and cooperation under the framework of I2U2 (India-Israel-UAE-USA).
