The country needs a deliberating democracy where there is scope for open communication among communities, said Valerian Rodrigues, former political science professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, recently.
He was speaking on ‘Nationalism with reference to JNU incident’ at Kalangan here. Mr. Rodrigues said nationalism was nothing but democracy as a way of life, not a political system.
“Here, you treat other people as equal. In the process of deliberations, we trust and keep ourselves open to suggestions. Such a deliberating democracy opens our lives to others and we begin communicating with others,” he said.
Terming his concept “a radical idea”, Mr. Rodrigues said it was difficult to drill this into the present society where the norms are largely undemocratic. But changes need to be brought to bring in social progress and social reconstruction. “There is a need to bring about changes in laws and values by sustained protests and creation of institutions that professes (this concept of democracy),” he said.
Mr. Rodrigues said it would be difficult for Kanhaiya Kumar and other students of Jawaharlal Nehru University to sustain their agitation demanding, among other things, an end to poverty and Brahmanyavad.
“Personally, I feel this romance will not last long,” he said.
