Globalization Vs Nationalism

Globalization in indian context is not a new phenomenon. India had, for millennia, been engaged with the rest of the world. It has enjoyed a series of visitation and fierce invasions, that’s why even in old inscriptions we find the sanskrit dictum “Vasudhaiva kutumbakam’’*the world is a family+,what we call today is a ‘global village’ but after advent of British [east india company] in india ,for nearly 200 years we became isolated with rest of world. Britishers made trade policy of india for their own benefits .But later half of British rule is more crucial because it was the time when a sense of nationalism began to generate among the indian masses and it was the counter product of hostile British rule in india. Nationalism was at its peak during the second half of the 19th century[1857 revolt] and during first half of the 20th century,when we launched many successful moments agains British rule.
Neverthlesss, after independence, india emphasized to remain as self-reliant country almost for four decades it was because of political omnishamble, social and economic chaos at that time . until 1991, we relied on domestic production or we followed ‘Swadeshi’ but in 1991, when india opened it economy to the world and pronounced the principle of LPG (Liberalization , privatization and globalization ) , among which globalization has played a better role in making india realize its potential in the world stage . India took risk , eventually it proved miracle for indian economy and globalization become a successful model for india .
Today ,. India is fastest growing economy in the world and third largest country in world in terms of PPP (purchasing power parity),according to IMF (International Monetry Fund). The success story in Indian context which has made India a visual place in the world map is due to policy of globalization , besides this there were many factors which are responsible for making it successful , government’s liberal norms with trade , abolition of licence raj , role of corporate sector , and in recent times role of internet can’t be neglected . In this world of internet , country’s boundaries are virtual and fictitious , frontiers can’t stop the different country’s citizen to create a new global village of which, they can be better describe as “NETIZENS” (cyber citizens ) many social media is playing their splendid role in fusion of people’s though , culture and life style.
India has entered in that era where physical border lines in perspective of professionalism ( trade with another nation) has no meaning but in terms of nationalism we have strong and sensitive frontiers lines like LOC (line of control) with Pakistan and macmohan line with China. We have created these lines because we want growth but not at the cost of people’s life which are against the citizens’ interest.
Nationalism is something which bounds us from our motherland and especially with the people who are associated with the motherland. This sense of national integrity can’t be fade with the enhancement of globalized world. Even our leaders who represent India on the world stage take decision by keeping in mind the interest of 120 crores people of India. Globalization has augmented the tranquility and fraternity among the nations but in some points it has also created huge diplomatic complications ,recent ‘’Italian marines case’’ is a trivial example of diplomatic conflict.
There are some problems which are not related to any particular country, they are global problems like carbon emission, climate related complications, environmental degradation, proliferation, energy security etc.., we have to come together to tackle these problems. There are many forces which are making us close through globalization but International terrorism which is the negative facet of globalization is making people more concern of national security and enhance nationalism in them.
Nationalism and globalization are two different terms with contrasting sense. Globalization emphasize on enhancing the relationship with rest of the world, while nationalism emphasize on enhancing the relation the relationship within the country. Nationalism arises out of the sense of being a particular country’s citizen which confined us to the particular country only but in the era of globalization we must set aside ‘’chauvinism’’ or ultranationalism to make the globe as a better place for living. Chauvinism for a country in this globalized world could create war related problem. Nationalism in itself is good for country’s welfare and for the welfare of the nationals. Main challenges for us are to maintain our nationalism along with globalization with motive to increase fraternity with rest of the world, so that we can combat our problems of global order.
There are also some critics of globalization in Indian context that after 1991, ‘’poors are becoming more poorer’’ and affulents are getting staggeringly rich. Globalization is only for Affluents and they are only getting its benefits. Destitutes have suffered from the process of globalization. Somewhat it is true but the main cause of destitution and sufferings of poors in India is not only globalization. The ‘’Vicious Cycle’’ in which they had been caught years ago is still prevail in the lower strata of Indian society, and these are due to the failure of policy implementation and people’s own lack of will to revive themselves.
When we talk about globalization we connect it to the economic terms and trade with other countries. Is it not a narrow definition of Globalization??. Jawahar Lal Nehru had said on the eve of indedencdent india on 15th august 1947 in the historic speech of ‘’tryst with detiny’’ that ‘’ Those dreams are for India, but they are also for the world’’ . This sentence alone utters a beautiful combination of both ‘globalization with aspiration of national interest’, but , Whether status quo globalization policy favours all dreams which once Jawahar Lal Nehru talked about??. Along with economic globalization we need to globalize our education system with the contemporary world, we still have old outdated police system, so we need to globalize the internal security system as well. Then we realize the real taste of globalization.
We can connect our nationalism ( Pro-National Interest) to globalized world in numerous forms and in myriad ways to create peace in the world. We should take Jawahar Lal Nehru’s sentence ‘’ Those dreams are for Indian, but they are also for the world’’ in revamped form as ‘’ Those dreams are for world, but they should be also for India’’. Then at that juncture we can eradicate destitution and can make Indian society as world level society and India can emerge as a new global power.

By:- Tanveer Ashraf