Patriotism

Patriotism

Sohan Hatangadi

Times of India 14 August 2016

Tomorrow is Independence Day. It is time for some reflection. There are instances when we complain about the conditions in our nation. Those who travel to the better countries of the world marvel at their public services, the cleanliness, the parks, play areas, efficient transportation system and the superior quality of their citizen’s lives. While we could compare ourselves with countries worse off than us it is natural to compare against the better ones. Sadly the number of countries worse off than us is far less than those better than us. The Human Development Index report published by the United Nations Development Programme, reporting based on the figures of 2014, ranks us at 130 out of 180 countries. This indicates that we are better off than 50 countries but worse off than 129 countries; certainly not a happy position to be in.

Reason to be patriotic?

We are now 9 days into the 2016 Olympics and a glance at the medal tally indicates where we stand among the countries of the world. From our huge population of 1.2 billion people scarcely any champions emerge. Our sporting facilities are meager and poorly maintained. Many cities and towns scarcely have any stadiums, swimming pools, gyms, tracks or velodromes and we lack proper training programmes to produce international quality sports persons. Those who rise from this environment do so despite our government and not because of it. Our legal system is working at a glacial pace with 200 lakh cases pending in the district courts and more than 39 lakh cases pending in the high courts. Our government schools are in the doldrums and despite paying generous salaries to the teachers, we are processing lakhs and lakhs of students who can barely read or write even after they have gone through school. Our health care system is unable to keep pace with the requirement of our growing population. Our cities are bursting at the seams, our forests are vanishing and our lakes, rivers and seas are sick with pollution. Yes things are indeed quite miserable. Yet do we have a good reason to be patriotic?

Silver lining

There are many Indians who do not waste time on brooding about the poor health of our country and rejoice at everything that is good with it. They find joy in the smallest things. The very fact that we call it Independence Day is because we are an independent country and have been for more than 69 years. That in itself is something to crow about. We are Indians and our home is India, when our cricket team plays we shout and cheer for India. When our sportsmen do well in the international arena, even if we get a single bronze medal, we jump and shout and feel pleased for a week. When the national anthem plays, even in a darkened theatre, we stand tall and our hearts fill with pride. It is natural to be patriotic. Our democracy is active, food and clothing are still affordable, our GDP is growing at a healthy rate, retired government employees are getting decent pensions, we have one hundred crores mobile phone subscribers, we have sent a mission to mars and launched 20 satellites into orbit in one go. In general we have a vibrant social life, plenty of festivals and our democracy and political system is, sort of, working quite well.

Speaking up

Whatever is the reason, we are Indians and there is something about Independence Day that stirs the patriotic feelings in all of us. While that is fine we must ask ourselves how those feelings can result in actions that will demonstrate our love for our country and for the city we live in. It is not enough to stand up for our country but also to defend it. All of us cannot join the armed forces but wherever we are, we can be patriots in our own right.  Even if we cannot do few great things for our country we can do little things frequently. We should never be afraid to stand up for what is right and complain against what is wrong. If we see a fellow citizen doing something uncivil we must be ready to protest. Whether they are defacing public property, littering, jumping a queue, driving irresponsibly, misbehaving with women, children or the elderly, we must speak up.

Keep a patriotic eye on our government

When our government does something dishonorable, foolish or cruel, when they waste money in our name, hide information that they should share with us, damage our environment in the name of “progress” a true patriot must raise his or her voice. As Edward Abby, author and naturalist said “A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government”. The most unpatriotic thing we can do is to be unconcerned, apathetical, and cavalier. We are being unpatriotic when we make statements such as “we are Indians … we are like that only”, “no use protesting … nothing will change”, “we are powerless against politicians”, “how can someone like myself change things - no one listens to me” and so on. In this day of social media, internet and the power of groups everyone can make a difference and even if we fail at the beginning we must try again and again. Putting aside a couple of hours a week to defend our country is a patriotic thing to do.

Patriotism can be a tool for development

Finally not only should we be patriotic ourselves but must also encourage our fellow citizens to be so. As Indian writer Vikram Verma says “Independence means enjoying freedom and empowering others too to let them do so”. Every citizen we empower strengthens our society and our country. The greatest step a citizen can take is over the fear threshold. “What will they think of me?”, “will he get angry if I ask why”, “he is too big an official and I am merely a private citizen”. These are some of the reasons that we do not speak up and do not exercise our rights. And it is also the reason why patriotism does not rise to become a useful tool for developing our country. This Independence Day, after we have raised the flag, watched the march past and sang our National Anthem we must take a moment to reflect on the factors that make a patriot. There are many things one can do but we must be fearless when it comes to improving our country and our society. Many people have given years of their lives and undergone immense difficulties to help India become independent.  The baton has passed to us now. Will we drop the baton or will we seize it firmly and race ahead?