Being a nationalist is not a bad thing, is it?

Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej died couple of days back at the age of 88 years. He became king in strange circumstances in 1946, after his elder brother Ananda Mahidol was found shot to death in his own bed, which was officially pronounced as suicide. However, many believed that Ananda had been murdered with a shot between his eyes. Till today no one knows who shot him. If Bhumibol knew he has taken his knowledge with him. Bhumibol was king for 70 years although he permanently returned to Thailand from Switzerland, where he studied, in 1950. His reign was a tumultuous period of military coups punctuated by periods of elected governments. There is some criticism that he encouraged extreme sycophancy by accepting the divine status of the royal family and not abolishing the severe lese majeste laws of Thailand, where anything deemed as insult or criticism invites a long prison term. Perhaps this was necessary to keep the generals at arms length, for the safety of the royal family, as well as exercise some control over them for the good of the people. What is not in doubt is the love people had for King Bhumibol as shown by the spontaneous outpouring of grief by thousands of people. Thailand has a military government since a coup in 2014 ousted the elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra, sister of Thaksin Shinawatra who has been in exile since 2006 when he was ousted in another coup. The army sides with the Bangkok elite who know that they will always lose elections to any party representing the poorer rural population so the divine status of the king is perhaps necessary to prevent a permanent dictator in Thailand. When Kim Jong Il of North Korea died in 2011 there were scenes of grown men crying hysterically in trains, on streets and in offices. Those who did not show enough grief, did not attend official mourning ceremonies, tried to leave the country or even made phone calls abroad were sentenced to labor camps. Maybe, some of the grief was genuine as people do not know anything different, a kind of mass Stockholm syndrome perhaps. This invited ridicule abroad, as one magazine wrote," At first he was Kim Jong Il, then he became Kim Jong very ill and now he is Kim Jong dead." Indian politicians do not inspire any love or respect, except in the south where Ms Jayalalithaa is sick in hospital. When Jawaharlal Nehru died in 1964 all buses, trams and taxis stopped plying in Calcutta. Schools immediately shut down and we had to walk home, around 5 kms, carrying our heavy bags. Not much scope for mourning. Love comes from respect. King Bhumibol was respected because he loved his nation. He was a nationalist.