‘Chanakya warned that internal enemies, conspirators, and anti-nationals operating within the kingdom, or the state, are far more dangerous than open, external enemies because they strike from a place of trust’

A nation State

Before one examines the idea of an anti-national person, his traits, his activities and thought process, it is important to understand what is he going against; which is a nation or in the geopolitical terms of the modern era ‘a nation state’.

Long time ago, there were tribes then kingdoms and then a sovereign state with different governing models like monarchy, quasi monarchy, dictators and democracies.

One can define a nation-state as a specific type of political entity where two distinct concepts overlap and interplay. The nation (which is a cultural group) and the state -a political territory.

The cultural aspect stems from the idea where a large group of people who share a common identity, culture, history, or ethnicity. They feel a sense of belonging to one another. Today because of inter national migrations, this is a mixed lot and not strictly followed. People of different ethnicity live on the same piece of land.

Where as the state is the political unit, (governance) within a defined geographic territory with a sovereign government, permanent population, and the power to make and enforce laws.

A nation state must have sovereignty which means recognition by all other nations and power to control its internal affairs. Second, it must have well defined internationally recognised borders. Third, a unified system like a single legal code which applies to all, a national military, and centralized education to reinforce that shared identity. Fourthly it must have a national identity where in vast majority of the population shares a common heritage, language, or values, which forms the bedrock of their citizenship.

“National security is not just the job of the army, police, or intelligence agencies—it is the responsibility of every citizen in the country.”

— Ajit Doval NSA

‘A stable nation state’ and national interest

In interconnected and interdependent global system, a stable nation-state serves as the primary refuge for both daily life of citizens and global order. A stable nation-state implies that its political institutions are secure, its borders are respected, and its people feel shared sense of civic belonging—it creates a predictable environment that allows society to thrive and progress economically and materialistically.

“A nation is a soul, a spiritual principle… a great solidarity constituted by the feeling of sacrifices made and those that one is still disposed to make.”

— Ernest Renan

A good and stable nation state must have these prerequisites.

Economic Prosperity and Investments

Economic growth requires predictability – policy and stance. It must provide confidence in terms of policy, law and physical infrastructure for people local and foreign to invest.

Security and the Rule of Law

At its most fundamental level, a stable state fulfils the “social contract”—the idea that citizens grant the government a monopoly on the legitimate use of force in exchange for their safety. This is both for internal peace and border security.

Crisis Management and Global Cooperation

The modern world faces massive, border-spanning challenges like pandemics, climate change, and supply chain disruptions. Dealing with these requires strong, organized domestic governance. When a crisis hits, a stable nation-state has the capacity to deploy resources quickly—whether that means implementing public health measures, distributing disaster relief, or managing scarce resources like water and energy. Reliable Partnership and International agreements are only as good as the countries signing them. Stable nation-states act as reliable partners that can actually enforce international commitments within their own borders.

Social Cohesion and Civic Well-Being

It fosters a psychological sense of safety and mutual trust among citizens. In a stable nation-state, citizens generally trust that the system is fair, which minimizes toxic polarization and encourages people to contribute to the common good. It must have stable institutional frameworks that are essential for safeguarding human rights, a predictable judicial system.

An anti-national activity is designed/intended to ‘hit’ at any of the above four essentials of a nation to thrive.

Anti national as a construct

In simple terms, an anti-national activity is any action that genuinely hurts a country, weakens its security, or tries to tear it apart.

An anti-national is generally defined as a person who opposes, works against, or betrays the security, unity, interests, or sovereignty of their own country.

The term “anti-national” in broader terms, describes any individual, group, sentiment, or action that works against the core interests of a nation-state.

Specifically, it could mean the following

It is an act that threatens the foundational elements of a country. Classic examples include:

Espionage and Treason- Passing sensitive military or state secrets to a hostile foreign power.

Terrorism and Sabotage- Engaging in violent acts intended to destabilize the government or harm citizens.

Separatism- Actively working to violently break away a portion of the country to form an independent state.

In todays shifting sands of Geopolitics which often impacts national interest and internal affairs or matters of a nation state, one has to examine anti national activity in the broader context. There are powers within and outside the borders of a nation state which can connive with anti-nationals who are either within the population or a part of the diaspora, sitting thousands of miles away in different lands. Many times, in fact most of the times these are ‘paid’ for ideologies or politically motivated to topple or tarnish governments.

The bigger danger today is that many big powers/nations have expansionist ideas to either physically conquer land or at least instal a puppet government which can be totally controlled by them to their advantage. They can use fair, unfair or even dark methods to get what they want. For these activities they identify and groom anti national elements of a country. They can be politicians, spy agents, bureaucrats, army generals, journalists, students or simply a man on the street to unleash a mob. These are ‘paid puppets’ and sometimes they prop those whose goals align with their own.

Ultimately one has to examine the ‘intention’ behind the act, in Hindi it means ‘Niyat’.

Let this be clear, disagreeing with a government on policy/ decisions is perfectly fine but a rhetoric, hitting out at individual or tarnishing a nation or its culture/people is unacceptable. There is a thin dividing line which anti national’s exploit. Their punch is sugar coated and shrouded in mystery and that is the fine art of ‘diplomatic deceit”. Today an anti-national no more is the one who will blow up a bridge or a bank but he is more sinister as he destabilises a nation through a narrative built with a well-engineered weaponised tool kit to put a movement of a generation or a set of disgruntled or ‘brainwashed into thinking they are disgruntled’ large group to set fire to their own nation- bite a hand that feeds them- it can only be a rabid dog.

Today, politicians and their paid puppies sitting abroad can create a false narrative against their own nation. For instance, if a youtuber sitting in South Africa keeps pushing venomous content against the government, people may start believing him. It can also be done by leaders of opposition to criticise their nation in foreign lands, in universities and parliament. keep saying ‘my country is not safe, our constitution is being tampered with, there is no freedom of press, prices have hit the ceiling and so on.’ A time will come when people start believing him.

They have no integrity, no patriotism- they want to topple the government to take power in their own hands.

“He who does not care for his nation and lets it be tarnished by tyrants and destructive forces is the greatest sinner. A country prospers only when its people place the nation’s welfare above their own.” (Chanakya Neeti)

Bharat a peculiar Nation state

We became a nation state after our independence in 1947. We had more than 550 small states/ kingdoms which, were taken in the Union of India subsequently with the nation partitioned as India and Pakistan. Before that we were ruled for 200 years by the British and almost 800 years by Moghuls.

We started as a fragile democracy, limping to normalcy but we found our feet within the first few decades.

How to identify an anti-national?

The Simplest Way to Tell the Difference:

Anti-Government: “I think the current leaders are doing a terrible job and their laws are wrong.” (This is political dissent).

Anti-National: “I want this country to fail, lose its wars, and break apart.” (This is anti-nation and such rogues are in every profession, – Judiciary, military or bureaucrats).

‘I have learned to hate all traitors, and there is no disease that I spit on more than treachery’

— Aeschylus