Armchair Patriotism / Jingoism

I really wanted to write about the “oh so hot ” 2014 elections but first a short take on ‘jingoism’ in the guise of “patriotism”.

On this bright Sunday morning, while sipping my morning tea I was reflecting on this so called “I’m proud to be an Indian” patriots. These are some of their characteristics – they would be among the first to proclaim that they are proud to be Indians, India is the best country (they would have a ready and long list of achievements to prove that) and they will not tolerate any criticism of the country. Most of this vociferous lot will also be among the first to find ways to go abroad ‘somehow’. 

So, what is wrong with that? Now I come to that.

It is not about “I’m proud to be an Indian”, “Is India proud of you” is the right question to judge how patriotic you are. Now, there are people who don’t indulge in so much of slogan-baji but when they have a chance, they would stand up for truth or someone else’s rights even if in a small way.  I salute the patriotic spirit of such people.  

 
So, really, these are the right questions to ask - Have you ever donated to any cause, stood up for justice, tried to improve your country in some way? Have you done anything other than for yourself and your next of kin?  Or just blame it all on the politicians and push all the wrong things under the carpet. Sometime back I met a person who said this Nirbhaya story has done much harm to our country’s image. But I thought it is about time it did that. Every day we pick up the papers, we read horror stories and apart from a few odd ‘limelight cases’, rarely is justice served. If you attend any protest marches, hardly a handful turn up. 

It is alright to say I’m proud to be an Indian; what it really means is that I’m an Indian and I feel proud to be one. It is all about some sort of personal ego mixed up with national ego – what I sum up as ‘jingoism’. If you wish to know how patriotic you are, the right question is “does India have a reason to be proud of you”?

Surely India has made great strides in the economic arena and while many Indians have done us proud, a lot of credit also goes to the Indian government for following sound economic policies, conciliatory foreign policy and keeping the divergent nation together and stable. But our progress remains marred by issues like rising crime against women, continuing caste system and oppression, poverty in rural India, population explosion etc. In a democracy, the onus for change rests as much on the people as the politicians. This point is often forgotten. Armchair jingoism is easy but standing up for what is right or bringing about any kind of change so tough.

So, time to roll up your sleeves…“Make India proud” – even a small act of kindness or voice for justice would be truer patriotism than all this slogan-baaji!

Don’t be mad at me for writing this, give it a thought.