From last couple of months India is facing the digs of nationalism or anti-nationalism and lot of leaders took their stand and now Indian dilplomet and congress leader Shashi Tharoor add thier name on the list. Shashi Tharror said nationalism is now decided by whether one can say 'Bharat Mata Ji Jai' In an apparent dig at the ruling BJP over its stand on the JNU row, Tharoor said people should have the right to choose what they believe is correct and still be tolerant of others’ ideas in a democracy.

“Today nationalism is decided by whether or not one can say ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. I am happy to say it, but should I also oblige everyone to say it? “Our Constitution gives people the right not to say it just as it gives people the right to say it as well.

I will choose when to say it and that’s democracy,” Tharoor said addressing students at JNU on Sunday night. “India is not just Hindi, Hindu and Hindustan. We want an India with both Krishna and Kanhaiya Kumar. We want in India people from every corner of this vast land an equal stake in our future.

“If we understand that the Indian civilisation allows many religions, celebrates range of opinions and is today sustained by constitutional democracy which stands for certain values that all of us claim as our own, if this is the Indian legacy we can live, then we can all stand under that flag and celebrate,” he said. Tharoor was speaking on ‘JNU and Nationalism’ outside the administrative hall of the varsity In Tharoor's 40 minute speech he took a strong stand and conveyed his points on the mattar of declining nationalism.

The former Union minister appreciated the students for stirring a debate on vital issues in India, saying student days are the days “to expand one’s consciousness”. “You may have come here for education but you are also educating the nation. What is happening here has given the whole nation an education in the vital issues of dissent and democracy, sedition and of course of ‘azaadi’ (freedom),” he said.