Mera Bharat Mahaan

The recent social media bashing of Prime Minister Modi for his comment in Shanghai stating that “Earlier, you felt ashamed of being born Indian. Now you feel proud to represent the country. Indians abroad had all hoped for a change in government last year.”- leading to the trending of #ModiInsultsIndia has once again highlighted the sheer hypocrisy prevalent amongst our Facebook and Twitterista.

I bet every guy or girl of our generation has at least once in their life cursed the country or it’s countrymen be it because of it’s dirty roads or unsafe metros or corrupt politicians. The number of visa applications filed every year by Indians stands proof of their ‘unconditional love’ for their motherland. But when a PM in a candid chat with the Indian community in Shanghai shares his personal opinion it is equated to an act of insulting the country. I can understand that political opportunism dictated the now battered Congress party and it’s allies’ reactions to the comment but the reaction of the ‘new digital’ India was shocking.

More hypocrisy flooded in from our ever worshiped ‘NRI’ community on how proud they are of their Indian passports though their sweet tax money goes into developing already developed nations. I am sure they felt very proud of their country when a certain Bollywood star in his ‘Dabbang’ style got super fast bail in record time in a hit and run case this month.

Some Modi critics took the discussion to an altogether different level saying how can one even think of feeling ashamed in the birth land of Ram and Krishna , of brave Maharana Pratap and epitome of peace Mahatma Gandhi . Perhaps it is some hidden legacy of these greats which inspired the world’s largest scams ever (Telecomm and coal-gate if somebody needs reminding) and maintains the constant tradition of mistreating foreigners/tourists in the country.

Perhaps this hypocrisy was best summed up in a dialogue from a Bolly flick “Mera Bharat mahaan, 100 mein se 99 beimaan”. Many might opine that I am a cynic but to the contrary I do share the optimism of Mr Modi around a changing image of India and Indians but till that time I have no qualms in saying that on several occasions I do feel ‘ashamed as an Indian’.