The Gadfly & The State

Kanhaiya Kumar has dominated so much media time over the past year, we’re convinced we know him and what he stands for.

He proved many – if not all – assumptions wrong, and demonstrated that unless we open our minds and engage with those who represent “the other”, we’re doomed to a future of mindless violence against our own.

“I try not to get sucked into the nationalism debate,” said Kanhaiya, “because it’s a trap. Nationalism is a feeling, an association. You don’t have a thermometer to check my nationalism.”

The hour-long conversation with him was stirring. He spoke of the importance of public-funded education, without which someone of his class and economic strata would have been a waiter or driver rather than an intellectual on stage; he spoke of politics and university and dreams. And what came through was a man who is neither rabble-rouser nor incendiary but instead, implacably committed to what he believes is the duty of every politically-engaged citizen: to hold a government, of whatever hue, to the ideals laid out in the Constitution.

And Kanhaiya did that with candour, incisive wit, political imagination and disarming enthusiasm. Among the sweep of subjects he covered, the insidiousness of state intervention in private choice was high on the list. “The state is now in our kitchens. They were already in our bedrooms. They tell us how many children to produce, what we should eat or not eat. I don’t get it. People voted so you would give food to those who have none. Let those who have food eat what they have.”

If you’re a Kanhaiya fan, you’ll find much to cheer in this conversation. But especially if you’re not, it’s worth a watch – to gain a clearer perspective on the beliefs of a young man who challenges our notions of nationalism, and forces us to reexamine the binaries in which our beliefs operate.

Watch the full session above.