Patriotism:
Symbol or Substantive
Nearly four decades
back, I was a British Council scholar in a UK university. That was my first
visit to UK and I was overwhelmed by the care and support the British council
provided each one of us who had been selected to study in the British
universities. There was no trace of racism in those times-this was the 1970s and right from the time I alighted
at Heathrow till I got into my room in the University campus, I received a royal treatment that I had never got back
home- and I confess, I was no extraordinary person to be bestowed any special
attention. The University term in UK
starts in late September with the season changing from summer to autumn, which
is “the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” getting set “to fill all the
fruits with ripeness to the core.” I
felt fresh and young, rejuvenated by the bracing weather and experiencing the
newfound freedom to do as I wanted to do, I could hear Wordsworth’s lines “Bliss it was
that dawn to be alive/to be young so heavenly” reverberating in my mind.
The autumn term ended just
before Christmas and the weather had become cold and getting out was no longer
a pleasant and joyous experience. For many of us –especially those who had come
to England from warm climates,- grey winter was weary and depressing. By 2pm it
became dark and lights had to be switched on. What I was totally unprepared for
was the emptiness around me as all the British students, faculty and staff had
gone home for Christmas leaving just a few of us –the overseas students- to
stay in the dorms. Even among us, those who were affluent had gone to enjoy
Christmas shopping and festivities in London, others on a European tour. I was
one of the very few who stayed confined to my room because even the library,
the students’ common room which had a TV and all the campus shops were shut for
two weeks. It was unnerving to be alone in the room with lights on as the days
were dark and depressing.
It was a welcome call
in the afternoon before Christmas when a member from the City Rotary club asked
me if I would like to join her and her family for Christmas lunch and that she
would come and pick me up sharp at eight in the morning. It was a mighty relief from the loneliness
and boredom of being confined to my 10’x10’ room. I was ready by seven and
waited at the university gate for nearly an hour. Sharp at eight, a car turned
in and the person driving the vehicle cheerfully greeted me and signaled me to
get in. Ten minutes later we were home.
I was warmly welcomed by every member of the
family, including the cat that purred and lay at my feet and after coffee and breakfast( dull, weak and
insipid, typical of the British bland food and drinks)we sat down to play
scrabble. They were surprised by my extensive English vocabulary and that too,
when English was not my mother tongue. I
warmed up with their praise and felt taller at least by a quarter of a
centimeter that was added to my measly 145cms.
It was time for lunch
and the women laid the table with a variety of dishes specially made for me as
I was a vegetarian. Christmas pudding was the last and the one that was
prepared specially for me was eggless and looked rich and creamy. Before the
cake could be cut, the TV announced the Christmas address by the Queen. Everyone
got up from the table and stood up for the national anthem that preceded the
queen’s speech. They stood in silence for full twelve minutes till she finished
her address before returning to the table for the Christmas pudding.
I recall this incident today, forty-three years
later when we are debating about Patriotism following the RSS suggestion to ask
everyone to chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai as
a way of infusing patriotism among us. What I had seen in UK that had left an
indelible print in my mind was the spontaneous rising from the table at the
announcement of the Queens Christmas Day address and standing in silence till
the address was over and the national anthem was sung. There was no prying Tom
to see if they had got up and no patriotic policing to chastise them if they
had continued with eating. The gesture was spontaneous, instinctual and
uncompelled. I noticed that respect for the Queen and the National Anthem did
not require unilateral imposition of orders from above nor was it demanded of every
British citizen. I could even today visualize the pride in their faces as they
stood up for the National Anthem while they were at home. Many of us in India
also get up at home when we see the flag hoisted on our National days followed
by Jana Gana Mana.... We take great pride when our men and women in blue carry
the flag and march along the stadium during national and international games.
We rejoice when they stand up on the medal podium and kiss the medal they have
won for the country. When our cricketers raise the world cup, we stand up in
joy and pride. If we win the Davis cup tie even against a not too well known
team, we delight in the achievement of our tennis stars. The stadium
reverberates with the enthusiastic cry “India, India, India jeethagi, India
jeethagi”. All over India, people crowd round the TV sets to watch the matches
and the enthusiasm is mind blowing. So have we witnessed Indian forces’ victory
during the Kargil and the earlier Bangladesh liberation wars when the entire nation
came forward to salute the soldiers. Are
these artificially psyched up responses or are they spontaneous ones? During the recent Chennai floods, it was our
youth force that pitched in strongly to help the flood affected families with
food, water and shelter. Many families in high rise buildings opened their
doors to let in those who had to flee their homes. There has never been a need
for an injunction from the government or our leaders to behave patriotically.
India like Britain that
I saw in the 1970s is not lacking in patriotic or nationalistic fervor. For
that matter no one of any nationality barring the odd, abnormal,l perverse
individual is without the feeling for his motherland / Fatherland. Sir Walter
Scott in the 19th C wrote these lines that stand the test of time.
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Breathes
there the man with soul so dead,
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Who
never to himself hath said,
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'This
is my own, my native land
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Patriotism is not something that we have to demonstrate by symbolic
chanting and gestures. Either it is within us or it is not and for most of us,
it is ever present. Artificial
stimulation –and that too under duress or compulsion-will make an individual
lose that feeling of love and pride for the nation. The child is never tutored
to love its parents. Bonding is genetic; it is not based on duty or by
imposition in the name of duty. This love for the source of one’s birth and
existence is natural, instinctive and immanent in our blood. Similarly love for
the mother land is hard-wired in every individual-the exceptions are very few
and they do not subscribe to basic human instincts.
Patriotism is often misconstrued as nationalism. While both have the
same semantic affinity to love for the country, there is a subtle line of
difference between the two. The line of difference is certainly there, though
it is more of a nuanced kind that is incomprehensible to the vast majority of
unthinking minds. Hence this line lends itself easily for imposition as a government
fiat, making it obligatory for the citizen to display his/her patriotism.
Patriotism( now anchored to Bharat Mata
Ki Jai) assumes a paternalistic overtone and is often seen to be intrusive and presumes that the citizens lack
a sense of responsibility and a sense of belonging to the nation. It overrides
the citizen’s instinctive feeling for their nation. There is always the danger
of Nationalism degenerating into jingoism and mob hysteria because it is an
extreme form of patriotism implying a feeling of superiority over other
countries. History has illustrated the catastrophe of mob hysteria as seen in
Stalinism, Hitlerism and North Korean aggressive nationalism. Patriotism or
love for the country encourages the citizens to be self critical in order to
rectify and develop. Nationalism, on the other hand brooks no criticism or
dissent and insists upon self congratulation that breeds complacency, egoism
and falsity.
The argument by the MIM that there is nothing in the Constitution that
mandates citizens to chant Bharatmata Ki Jai is precisely because the
Constitution believes in the natural bonding between the citizen and the
country and therefore sees no need for enforcement . That is why our
Constitution is silent on allied issues such as standing up while the National
Anthem is sung or while the flag is hoisted. If I am at home and I don’t
observe this respect for the flag and the National Anthem, it is to my
discredit. There will be no law enforcer forcing his way into my home to see
whether I observe these unwritten codes of conduct. The nation is undergoing
needless controversies on one issue or the other that undercuts all citizens
immanent rights and duties. Why orders have to be issued that the flag has to
be daily hoisted in every educational institution, why chanting of Bharatmata
Ki Jai is to be made compulsory- for every such imposition betrays a lack of
trust between the citizen and the nation. Bharat Mata Ki Jai is certainly a laudable
form of expressing our love for our motherland, but if one chooses other forms
such as Jai Hind or Hindustan ZIndabad, they also carry the same degree of
patriotism.
In this discussion - to impose or not to impose any single form of worship
of our motherland,-we have forgotten to analyse
the genetic psychology of citizens who make a nation. We rejoice with pride
over our achievements such as sending Mangalyaan into space or winning a world
cup or an Indian honoured with a Nobel prize- just to cite a few examples. We
are downcast ad depressed if we fail in any of our attempts to win glory for
the country. We write paeans of praise about the winning achievement just as reams
of criticism for failing to reach a high and distinguishing watermark in what
we set out to achieve. Hence the effort
is not to lay down ‘patriotic display ‘codes, rather, we should strive for
excellence that would fill us with pride and joy. It is in our efforts, in our work, in our
values, in our achievements lie our love for our country. We owe an enormous
sense of gratitude and love to our motherland which has bestowed on us the
birthright and ownership to the space that we call our nation. This sense of
belonging is our exclusive privilege and it behoves us as citizens to prove worthy
of that exclusivity.
The editorial from the Times of India has pointed to the dangers of polarization
if one form of salutation is imposed and
how anyone who has a different form of expressing his love for his motherland
is castigated as being anti-national. Such nationalism is oppressive and
counter-productive. A dangerous attempt has
been made to equate proscription of beef with a Hindu majoritarian nationalist
identity. Such messaging from the top political leadership has encouraged mob
rule and imperiled law and order….By pushing a narrow definition of Nationalism
BJP law makers are not only playing with fire
and also doing a huge disservice to the idea of India. Ina vast country as diverse and vast as ours, a single slogan or dietary preference
can’t be the marker of one’s patriotism”.
Let us hope our political leadership- both the ruling and the opposition
allow the flow of diverse ideas of India
on which rests the Idea of India and
understand the dangers inherent in the idea of Nationalism that will prove disastrous
and destructive to the Idea of India.
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