The latest big incident-the terror attack on Indian soldiers in Kashmir has continued to guide the sentimental expressions and actions of many across the nation. It is only natural for the people to feel angry and even frustrated after such an attack which one veteran general debating on a prominent news channel opined was akin to a slap on our face by the enemy. The martyrdom of soldiers in the terror attack elicited nationalist fervour and anti-Pakistan sentiments among the general public.
Some of the reactions are natural and also good in a way while some reactions could be termed illogical and not practically patriotic at all. However, this made one muse on the concept and sentiment of patriotism.
A few days after the terror attack, one was at a place in Dehradun where citizens approach one of the four pillars of democracy. While at the parking near where a destitute man lives in an abandoned and dilapidated official quarter I was appreciating the scene of him deferring his lunch to give milk to a lactating bitch when a group of professionals involved with one of the pillars of democracy took out a ‘protest march’. They were raising slogans against Pakistan and shouting ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, ‘Vande Mataram’ and so on. Conversing with the gent fallen on hard times, one asked him why he was not marching along with those raising nationalistic slogans like others who were carried in the wave of emotions. His reply was, “After this march, these fellows raising patriotic slogans are going to continue taking bribes and even subvert the laws. What’s the point of them raising patriotic slogans if their actions continue to actually damage the nation and its people?”
The dictionary defines patriotism as the quality of being patriotic: devotion to and vigorous support to one’s country. However, with emotions being inflamed by situations and politics the general public ends up doing deeds they think are righteous but which in reality contribute little to the intended aim of national welfare. Mind you, it is very good and also required that citizens feel for the nation and its interests. But, the view should not be narrow if one is actually serious about attaining the stated objective.
To understand this, one must comprehend some facts and rise above fallacies. One of the often quoted sentences is that soldiers risk their lives on the borders away from their families so that the rest of the Indians may sleep peacefully at night. I beg to differ, because I believe that the braves do not do their bit only to ensure that we sleep well at night.
Their risk taking and sacrifices are also to ensure that we as citizens do our bit, work hard and honestly in the interest of the nation.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the first vice president and second president of India had observed, “Nationalism is a political religion which stirs the hearts and wills of men and rouses them to service and self sacrifice in a way that no purely religious movements have done in recent times.” Vivekananda had said, “The soil of India is my highest heaven; the good of India is my good.” However, such sentiments appear to be missing in action when one views a lot of what the general public is doing in response to the terror attack.
Simply taking out marches, lighting candles, raising slogans praising the nation and deriding the enemy are little more than lip service if actions don’t match the sentiments expressed.
The inflammatory messages on social media, armchair activism probably to compensate for utter hypocrisy and other such modes of expression have evidently done little good for society and nation. We as citizens need to understand that it is not the army alone which is responsible for protecting the nation and that enemies of the nation are not always foreigners and stereotypical.
Our actions that are detrimental to the nation, its environment and society are no less damaging than the actions of an enemy nation though the degree of damage may vary. The more dangerous enemies are the ones eating us from inside, while pretending to be doing the opposite.
And this does not mean the usual shifting of blame on the system and politicians because nobody has stopped the citizens from using their minds and discharging their responsibilities. It is true that Pakistan has been acting like an enemy but it is also true that we need to know and act against the other real enemies too.
The enemies of the nation aren’t always persons-they also include the corruption, the hypocrisy, disdain for the law and many such practices that continue to hold us back from achieving our actual potential as a nation and society.