At some point this misuse of Tagore's essay needs to be called out. It was penned in 1917 against the backdrop of World War I (1914-18) when politically created Western 'nation states' were floating their concept of exclusivist nationalism. 1n https://twitter.com/tavleen_singh/status/1342356353281454080

The reference point was America. Tagore's comparison of India and US was problematic. The US is a politically forged nation state. India is a civilisational nation. India as it existed in 1917 did not quite reflect this fact. Tagore was also infuriated by Congress's waffling. 2n

Though Tagore was to repudiate his views, as reflected in this essay, in other writings (see next tweet) what @tavleen_singh and those who quote the same stray sentence, do not mention is his comment on Congress (see text in previous tweet) is as valid today as in 1917. 3n

Strangely, or perhaps not, @tavleen_singh and others who seize stray sentences from Tagore's essay do not mention how he repudiated his own belief against the 'idolatory of the nation' in his writings on 'Swadesh' (nation) with the purpose of arousing national sentiments. 4n

Lastly, @tavleen_singh and others so enamoured of two sentences in Tagore's long essay of 1917 should watch this video of a five-stanza song Tagore composed as a Brahmo Sangeet, sang at Congress session, and called 'The Morning Song of #India'. 5n

The fifth stanza of Gurudev's 'Morning Song of #India' effectively demolishes the selective quoting of Tagore's 1917 essay. But you will not find @tavleen_singh and other intellectuals ever quoting these lines. Because Tagore wrote
तव चरणे नत माथा which recalls वन्देमातरम? 6n

Leftists and liberals who denounced Gurudev as a 'classist' and prohibited his 'Sahaj Paath', the best-known beginner's book for learning Bangla which was used in schools across #WestBengal , are now lecturing on Tagore's philosophy and worldview. Swift revisionism? 7n