The other day I made the mistake of saying I didn’t agree with a certain policy of the government.

I should’ve just confessed to treason and asked for a firing squad.

You see, in today’s patriotic India, there’s only one kind of citizen allowed—the clapping kind. The kind who applauds everything from potholes being renamed heritage craters, to petrol price hikes being rebranded as motivational tools to encourage walking.

Disagree? Ah, you must be from across the border… or worse, a thinking individual!

And that, dear reader, is the kind of intellectual pandemic sweeping across the country. If you’ve got a mind of your own and dare to use it—even politely—you’re immediately branded as anti-national.

And God forbid you belong to a minority religion; you’re immediately branded as an enemy!

We’ve become a nation where disagreement is hazardous. Hazardous not to democracy, but to the thin-skinned egos of those who believe patriotism is measured by how loudly you clap in agreement.

Let’s get something straight: disagreement is not disloyalty. In fact, it’s often the purest form of love for one’s country. The kind of love that says, “I want better for us, and here’s how I think we can do it.”

Just imagine, you walk into a clinic, wheezing, coughing, one breath away from the ventilator, and the doctor, with genuine concern, says, “I’m afraid there’s something serious. We need to run tests.” And you leap up, point a finger dramatically and shout, “How dare you! You’re clearly anti-me! Are you sponsored by some foreign pharma company? How can you call yourself a patriot if you question the health of my organs?”

That’s the level of logic we’ve now applied to governance.

Policies are gasping, the economy has a fever, democracy has a rash—but heaven forbid someone says, “We need a check-up.”

No, no, how dare they!

I remember reading about Benjamin Disraeli, once Prime Minister of England, who told an opposition leader, “I may not agree with your line of thinking, but I will support your right to express your opinion.” Now that’s class! That’s confidence. That’s democracy.

You think our people have the confidence to repeat this?

And here’s what will happen to all of you mouthing the word, ‘anti-national’: one day, on some issue or other, you yourself will find you are in the minority, and you’ll look around desperately for someone to defend your right to speak. Sadly, by then, your right to disagree might have been buried in a grave marked Here Lies Free Thought—Silenced by so called nationalists!

So, the next time someone disagrees with you, offer them a chair, not a label.

Listen, don’t lash.

They might be wrong. You might be. Or, miracle of miracles, you both might be a little right. That’s how collective thinking works.

After all, if we all start thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking…!

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