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Notional nations, real and imagined
Notional nations, real and imagined

New Indian Express

time02-08-2025

  • Politics
  • New Indian Express

Notional nations, real and imagined

I remember my first overseas trip, which was to Belgium. On a weekend trip, a colleague and I took a train ride from Brussels to another nation, and were back by the same evening after three-hour rides that took us past lush meadows. At Luxembourg, we leaned across a parapet to watch chateaus washed in the bright orange of autumnal trees. It was a throwback in time, coupled with an amusing feeling there could be a country as small as this—albeit with sovereign status and special tax laws that enable weekend drivers from Brussels fill up their tanks with cheaper petrol. The memories of Luxembourg, an area of about 2,600 sq km and a population less than 700,000, came flooding last week as I heard of Westarctica, a 'micro nation' in the news after a dubiously enterprising resident of Delhi's satellite town Ghaziabad was arrested on charges of posing as the envoy of that 'country' as a cover for alleged money laundering. Luxembourg is smaller than India's National Capital Region but it is properly recognised as a 'micro state', unlike Westarctica—which does exist in some way, but as a micro nation. While micro states enjoy international recognition, micro nations are often self-proclaimed territories that few acknowledge. It takes special imagination to declare a micro nation carved out of Antarctica. But it takes chutzpah to run a fake embassy for one in India. Investigations suggest that Harsh Vardhan Jain, who fashioned himself 'Baron of Westarctica', has travelled to 30 countries. He had fake diplomatic passports, diplomatic number plates and seals purported to be from the foreign ministry. Westarctica is 'owned' by Travis McHenry and claims about 1.6 million sq km on the coldest continent—about half the size of India! Statehood is in the news for other reasons, too. France has announced it will recognise Palestine, which is already recognised by as many as 147 of the UN's 193 member states. Canada, Portugal and Spain have also announced their intent of doing so at September's UN General Assembly. The UK has said it will do so if Israel fails to improve the man-made famine in Gaza.

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