Nationalism has nothing to do with a person or party: Pallavi Joshi

By Arundhuti Banerjee

Mumbai, Feb 21 (IANS) National Award-winning actress Pallavi Joshi, who hosts television show "Bharat Ki Baat", which showcases a positive narrative of Indians, says people tend to associate nationalism with one individual or a political party, and that is a wrong interpretation of the ideology.

Asked if addressing the subject of national interest made her face any problem while working on the show, Pallavi told IANS: "Look, I do not understand why, but whenever we talk about nationalism, it gets attached to Modiji.

"But nationalism has nothing to do with an individual or political party. In that sense, nationalism should be attached with Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, N. Chandrababu Naidu, because they all should speak on national interest.

"Now that in the last five years young voters are (more) politically aware, it is important to know both sides of the story before forming an opinion."

The show "Bharat Ki Baat", which airs on News18 India, features 26 episodes in which Pallavi and her team are seen travelling to various parts of the country. "We have started talking on the democracy of our nation. While people
tend to associate democracy with politics, we are talking about how we as a nation are practising it.

The show's makers went through extensive research work before starting it. The idea was to bring alive the relevance of history in the present time.

"We forget that in our country Susruta was the first ever plastic surgeon. We forget a series of things that have already happened in our country before the western culture came to our nation," Pallavi Joshi said.

"Bharat Ki Baat" discusses topics like health, education and environment, apart from social justice and women empowerment.

Have laws on child marriage, gender equality, homosexuality brought any changes in the society?

She said: "Well, now that we have laws in our side on all the issues that you have mentioned, there is a certain confidence people have gained on that matter.

"Currently, gender equality and women's empowerment have been widely accepted and because of the law, child marriage has stopped to a large extent. People can take legal action against it, which is a positive change.

"Unless we are not talking about the majority of women who set themselves free with education and with financial independence, as a society we would not be able to inspire the future generation."

(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)