India's Republic Day: Open disagreements is democracy at its best

My dad's birthday is always celebrated with a holiday and parades throughout India. 

Ok, it is not his birthday they are celebrating but India's Republic Day--the day it shed its British connections slightly over two years post-Independence.  (BTW, dad turns 80!!!)

Anne Applebaum has a pretty neat column marking the occasion.  She asks:

All around the world, rising prosperity and rising patriotism go hand in hand, and India is no exception. But what sort of patriotism is India's going to be?

The answer I thought of as I read it was almost identical to what Applebaum later explains: it is not the Russian model of aggression nor is it the Chinese version.  She could have easily used Amartya Sen's phrase of the "argumentative Indian" as the bottom line for the Indian flavor of patriotism!  Applebaum writes:

It's not nationalistic, not imperialist, not aggressive, but rather self-critical

Indeed!  I really like the way she ends the piece:

It's that sort of patriotism that, if it can be encouraged and maintained, will keep Indian politics diverse and democratic over time—even if the economy stops growing.
It's also that kind of patriotism that makes tourists like me feel so energized by a brief visit. Like economic cycles, political trends come and go. At the moment, democracy is out, authoritarianism is in, and it is fashionable, in many parts of Asia, to claim that rapid economic growth requires censorship and central political control. India presents a real alternative to that model. I know that many Indians will violently disagree with that assessment, and that makes me more optimistic still.

I suppose India trained me well; I love discussions--including critical of the country where I live, the industry in which I work, .... But, to those not used to the idea of patriotism that is self-critical, I suppose I might come across as a traitor of sorts.  No wonder I am frequently excommunicated. Does not matter though; in their letter a couple of months back, dad and mom wrote that they are absolutely proud of me and my values, despite all my rebellious frameworks.  Thanks dad.  Happy birthday!