I was born in London, but until the age of 13 I grew up mostly in India.

Going to school in India teaches you a lot about patriotism. Most elder British Asians, who lived in South Asia for longer than me, would know it too.

And I think it's relevant to this moment... [thread]

If you understand patriotism you know a few things:

1) If your nation is attacked or undermined you'll rally to it ('identity backlash')

2) You accept your nation and its symbols aren't perfect. You'll rally anyway.

3) You know patriotism isn't a rational idea. It's emotional.

I don't think most of my travellers on the modern Left understand or even care for patriotism. Not much I can do about that.

But they shouldn't assume that British Asians don't. I'd say we understand it better than many on the Left do. We still wave flags at cricket matches.

Which brings me to Churchill.

I'm not a fan, personally. But I recognise the presence and power he has in modern British history.

It's also important he's appreciated because he rallied the country to defeat the Nazis, not for his racism. I can live with that patriotic story.

As a child of Punjabi (worst affected by Partition) immigrants, I understand the complicated history that brought me here. But this is my country now too.

We can't progress by endlessly arguing about history. What we can do is focus on positive stories more than the negatives.

Sure but every country (or person) glosses over their bad memories and prefers to celebrate the good ones.

We *should* teach Partition and Empire at school. I'm all for that. But let's not pretend this is a uniquely British (or western trait) https://twitter.com/ArjAhloo/status/1275811490776391680?s=20