’Hyper-nationalism’ eroding India’s core values — former vice president

In this photo, Indian Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari gestures at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 30, 2014. (File/ AFP)

• Ansari is an Indian politician and retired diplomat who served as the 12th vice president on India from 2007 to 2017
• Says hyper-nationalism making citizens intolerant, triggering sharp divides among communities

NEW DELHI: Former Indian vice president Mohammad Hamid Ansari said this week India’s pivot toward “hyper-nationalism” was creating major socio-political problems for the country and eroding its core values.
Ansari is an Indian politician and retired diplomat who served as the 12th vice president of India from 2007 to 2017.
India’s passing of a contentious citizenship law that favors every other South Asian faith over Islam, and its clampdown in the disputed Muslim-majority Kashmir region, have led to protests against what demonstrators and activists say is an increasingly authoritarian government bent on dismantling India’s secular foundations.
“It is a fact that the neutrality of the state has been diminishing,” Ansari told Arab News in an exclusive interview. “The state has to function under the ambit of the Constitution. We have all the advantages of a diverse society and as long as we remember our diversity. But that is not happening.”
“What we are witnessing is that hyper-nationalism has created a lot of socio-political problems, making citizens intolerant and triggering sharp divides among communities. It has subverted our core civilizational values,” he added.
Before he became vice president, Ansari, 84, served as Indian ambassador to Australia, Afghanistan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, and was also the Permanent Representative of India in the UN between 1993 and 1995. He was also Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University from 2000 to 2002 and Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities from 2006 to 2007.
On Arab countries recognizing Israel, Ansari said: “Arab countries have taken a certain position and it was their political perception. You see, Israel as a country exists irrespective of how it came about. If it exists, then taking note of its existence is not a great favor.”
The White House brokered rapprochements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco last year.
Pakistan currently does not recognize the state of Israel over its thwarting of Palestinians’ aspirations for a state of their own. Pakistan says it will not recognize Israel until the Palestinian conflict is resolved to the satisfaction of Palestinians.
Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the Sinai peninsula and the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East war. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future free state, a demand Pakistan has supported for decades.