Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
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Hafta alumni Mehraj Lone’s ‘unpopular opinion’ begins with a critique aimed squarely at the idea of nationalism. “One of the root causes of the problems India faces now – social, economic, and increasingly administrative – is the idea of nationalism.”
His argument traced how nationalism strips people of their immediate local identities to coalesce them around a broader construct such as religion, language, or geography, before turning to India’s specific trajectory. “When you implement it (the Nehruvian ideal or Hindu nationalism) in a country as big and as diverse as India, it entails a few things. One is necessarily centralisation.”
Anand Vardhan pushed back on the framing while conceding the quasi-federal structure was a done deal (“that ship has sailed”) and invoked Benedict Anderson’s “imagined communities” alongside counter-arguments about nationalism answering a genuine human urge to belong. Jayashree Arunachalam largely agreed with Mehraj, but her sharpest line reframed nationalism as adolescent tribalism. “It’s like a very childish urge. It’s like saying my football team is better than your football team.” Abhinandan Sekhri pushed back, calling it a strawman, before Jayashree doubled down on the football analogy to argue nationalism operates on the same reflexive logic, just with far higher stakes.
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Tune in to NL Hafta: newslaundry.com/2026/08/01/hafta-600-nationalism-travel-and-bureaucracy-our-most-unpopular-opinions
Subscribe to Newslaundry: pages.razorpay.com/nlsm
Hafta alumni Mehraj Lone’s ‘unpopular opinion’ begins with a critique aimed squarely at the idea of nationalism. “One of the root causes of the problems India faces now – social, economic, and increasingly administrative – is the idea of nationalism.”
His argument traced how nationalism strips people of their immediate local identities to coalesce them around a broader construct such as religion, language, or geography, before turning to India’s specific trajectory. “When you implement it (the Nehruvian ideal or Hindu nationalism) in a country as big and as diverse as India, it entails a few things. One is necessarily centralisation.”
Anand Vardhan pushed back on the framing while conceding the quasi-federal structure was a done deal (“that ship has sailed”) and invoked Benedict Anderson’s “imagined communities” alongside counter-arguments about nationalism answering a genuine human urge to belong. Jayashree Arunachalam largely agreed with Mehraj, but her sharpest line reframed nationalism as adolescent tribalism. “It’s like a very childish urge. It’s like saying my football team is better than your football team.” Abhinandan Sekhri pushed back, calling it a strawman, before Jayashree doubled down on the football analogy to argue nationalism operates on the same reflexive logic, just with far higher stakes.
Subscribe to watch the full conversation: pages.razorpay.com/nlsm
Join the NL-TNM Book Club: newslaundry.com/book-club
Join us on WhatsApp: whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va61PEo0QeacOqU9vr2k
Download the accessible Newslaundry app: newslaundry.com/download-app
Follow and engage with us on social media:
Facebook: facebook.com/newslaundry
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