The 66th Republic Day
celebrations this year were special indeed with the world’s most influential
person, Mr. Obama, sharing the stage with Mr. Modi, touted to greatly influence
India’s destiny as a ‘superpower’. While the visit quite predictably got
embroiled in political polemics, it can’t be denied that there seems to be a
more cohesive effort in establishing a stronger identity for India and Indians
on the world map. We are in midst of a sort of a conscious community awakening
working toward this goal which now seems attainable. So yes, we have reasons to
be proud. To be an Indian.
On the other hand we also have
various fundamentalists and hardliners, found across the world, who believe that
being a patriot is a special prerogative of those who belong to a particular
religion or follow certain set values and customs or belong to a particular
race/ethnicity. So much so that any divergence from a criteria usually results
in misplaced acts of intolerance such as war and terror attacks at an extreme
level and crimes based on differences in race, ethnicity and even religion. Perhaps
it has to do much with the interconnectedness of patriotism with not just
sharing a common culture, history or geographical boundary but also belief
systems like religion, customs and ideologies shaped over time by its influential
societies and communities.
Therein lays the conundrum. The
word ‘patriotism’ in itself has so many hues that it might heed well to think
of what patriotism means to us. It’s since the time of Greeks that such a sense
of attachment and purpose could be sewn in within the context of a citizen’s
role in a society and nation at large. However, it can also be a tool to
propagate exclusivity and preferential treatment. Haven’t many a war been fought
under the pretext of love of nation?
While America justified its ‘War
on Terror’ as a necessity to protect the rights and liberties of Americans, rights
activists and intelligentsia have criticised the massive destruction in terms
of lives and resources it has caused innocent civilians in Iraq while
questioning the motive. It isn’t to say of course that patriotism is bad, many
wars have been won for just causes due to it but in an increasingly borderless
world is patriotism helping bridge the divide or creating a deeper wedge?
The answer of course is
subjective and really depends on what we derive from the term. Our association with
the emotion. Patriotism grows slowly and is ingrained within us. As an
educator, I would like to believe that the foundation is laid in schools. We
might not teach patriotism implicitly but when we teach history or when we form
early morning assemblies and recite the pledge, celebrate national festivals
and independence, represent the country at any sports or other event or do
social work or clean our streets we are sowing the seeds of this emotion. It is
undoubtedly a powerful, flexible and a great moral sentiment.
The trick is
to propagate its most sincere form. One which doesn’t tear apart rights of one
community while seemingly building the ramparts around another community. It is
as much in showing respect for a national flag but also respecting another’s
just the same; it is not just in shouting slogans and being willing to give
life for your country while taking an enemy’s but also to preserve life in all
its form and to promote growth; It is as much in cleaning one’s mind of biases
as much as it is cleaning our streets. It is about being conscientious, dedicated
and giving our 100% to our job. But most importantly, it must also mean we need
to respect another being's right to just BE.
