As the discussion on part-1 had spewed opinions and counter opinions and because I can't put my views briefly ;) I have decided to make part of the topic "patriot who?"
First off was the Mauryan empire imperialistic?! Imperialism is when people are oppressed by a foreign force both cultural and racial or any one.The Mauyras were genetically & culturally Indians unlike many other dynasties and powers that came to rule the sub-continent.All the people were happy & that was a bhuddist empire and they won over through soft power,especially in the later part.Maurya had 50 million people at the time and worlds' population was a mere 150 million back then!Why then did he stop with Afghanistan?He could have marched onwards and had the entire eurasian continent if he fancied it.Thats imperialism.Whats wrong if some good comes by force?But was that his aim? NO...he was a true unifier of the Indian people and the vision such great men have saw the benefits such a vast unified country would have,especially in such turbulent times as the Mauryas' ascend to power.Besides all the people in the lands he won over were Indians by culture,ethnicity and linguistics,hell even genetic markers.
Liechtenstein is absolute monarchy and so is Monaco.You mean to tell me those people are more oppressed than you or me? You know the answer to that one don't you ;)
Anyone with similar advantages the mauryas had like the Mongols,Chinese and later the europeans(Britain,Spain etc) and today the americans,all of them expanded and kept on going trying to take control of the world.The Mauryas are the only exception to the rule "power corrupts".The more powerfull Asoka got,the more he became empathetic with his people.That is something you can't really say in today's ""democratic India"" can you? Our politicians even in the lowest levels are unreachable.How many plebicites are held to take opinions? None.The only thing democracy has brought to today's India is pain,vote-banks,growing poverty and soon(I hope not) bankrupcy.Our enlightened monarchs did MUCH better.Japan had Toyotomi Hideyoshi to unify them during their warring states(sengoku) period.Every great country needs a unifier,ours were the Mauryas,Guptas,Marathas and other such luminaries.Diversity is good but compatibility is more important. Peoples' rule does'nt run in India,it is mob rule.Vote banks,people vote as a group.How is this democracy, without any value for individuality?We had Nehru as PM initially and he is the reason India is such a late bloomer.?Besides we speak so much of democracy as if democratic countries use no force,did you know how goa was unified with India only in the 60s(till then they were under portugese rule)?Not by a plebiscite but by air raids over goa.And nehru was a staunch communist(idealogy not party,we Indias mix it up)/socialist and that garbage does'nt work.Japan,S.Korea,taiwan,Singapore,Hong Kong and all our asian countries that can provide a good life to its own people took the path of capitalism and prosperity followed.India adopted this in the 90s as we were teethering close to bankrupcy.Had our great Nehru and the congkies made India a free market economy post independence,we would be living in a MUCH different(wealthy,maybe even developed)country today.Not one with an average per capita income of USD1300.You talk about BJP being religious,is the congress not? They turn a blind eye to forced conversions by christians and also go to any extent to appease muslims.But when it comes to Hindus they fabricate stories from thin air.They are EXTREMELY religious but it is not towards native religions so all the pseudo seculars in our country call them an irreligious party! LOL!
In reality almosty all the people who have done good for our country were non-congress men.Moranji Desai,N.Rao(one of my favourite pan-Indian leaders, although a congress nominee,because he went against the grains of the party's nehruvian socialist ideals Sonia ji did'nt even attend N.Rao's funeral!)
excerpts from wiki:-
""For one thing, the Gandhi dynasty’s penchant to bury non-dynasty leaders as immaterial has kept PVN in the forgotten category. His body was refused entry into the AICC headquarters, and they turned down the family’s request for a site to cremate him in the capital
It has been noted that the current leadership of the congress party attempts to undermine Rao's legacy by denying him the credit for fostering economic reforms in India. For instance, it is reported that in a speech to mark the 125th anniversary of the Congress, the party president Sonia Gandhi "made it a point to ignore P.V. Narasimha Rao".It is also reported that
"Sonia Gandhi praised contributions of all Congress prime ministers except P V Narasimha Rao in her speech......Making no mention of Rao in her 15-minute speech, she said Rajiv Gandhi scripted the course of economic policies that were followed by the government (headed by Rao) for the following five years."""
Some more true pan-Indian leaders-AB.Vajpayee all did well for our country without whom we would'nt be nuclear equipped.Why do you care about religion?The communists are atheists,will they bring any good to our country?NO! All the symbolism is nice but then,why not include the union jack in our flag to represent the anglo-Indians?There may be other groups but they should marry into culture rather than trying to force their culture onto us or forming their own clusters.Take the example of the parsis/iranis(not Iranians) who have given and given more to our country.They have become our people,have'nt they?They are true example for other communities in India to emulate.Anyway the point is our flag should celebrate OUR culture,not that of the congress party with a wheel to appease sentiments.
The al-saud dynasty named the country after them and have their coat of arms emblasoned in their KSA flag but when asked would say it represents the flag of zulfikar or something.The same is done by congress and its supporters.The congress has enslaved the country to one family with the regional parties following suit of their example.What stakes?Me or you do not have any say in the governance of this country.They(congress) were not only bad from the start but will continue to be bad.They have scant respect for non-Ghandhi family leaders the example being N.Rao as I quoted above.
The only representative of a true Indian flag is the Maratha/Princely-state background with the Mauryan coat of arms in the foreground.(all this coming from a guy who is a true Indian nationalist,Liberal and apolitical)
