¹Research Scholar, Centre for Adivasi Studies & Museum, Vidyasagar University, India. Email ID: devjana8@gmail.com

DOI Link (Crossref) Prefix: https://doi.org/10.63431/AIJITR/3.II.2026.49-54

AIJITR, Volume 3, Issue –II, March - April, 2026, PP.49-54

Received on 1st March, 2026 & Accepted on 10th March, 2026, Published: 31st March, 2026

In present-day India, patriotism and nationalism are not always clearly distinguishable, and their evolving relationship has intensified debates around identity, dissent, and belonging. Patriotism is supposed to signify a deep, importantly inclusive love for the country - it exists within a democratic notion of the 'people' while valuing plurality - and nationalism as a social movement seems like majoritarian ideology, wherein loyalty to the nation becomes a function of a coherent culture or political loyalty originally. The study in this paper focuses on the evolving relations between nationalism and patriotism and their meanings today, rather than being simply synonymous with one another, the authors argue that they exist within issues of borders, boundaries and redefining of the public. Historically, that which has constituted patriotic human beings as having a commitment to civic bodies, constitutional values and an ability to exercise dissent; however, a range of Nationalism has emerged based on a number of historical, ideological and political definitions with time — being anti-imperialist, revolutionary, colonizer and so forth, to majoritarian forms of expression today. Examples are drawn upon to help illustrate how national loyalty is being redefined by political actors, media and state apparatuses, in order to equate dissent with dis-affection for country. Furthermore, alternative to what is presented in these examples are those citizens who may choose to conflate these categories for self-serving goals, and or other forms of nationalistic political expression are often indistinguishable, as well as that the distinction will be determined by context.