The Rise of False?Patriotism?

By Muzzafar Khan Waris

Edited by Namitha Sadanand, Senior Editor, The Indian Economist

“Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into?ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”

Rabindranath Tagore said these words because he truly believed in the ideology of?“One nation, one life”. The champions of our past freedom struggle did not have to rise on a particular morning with?a?forced sense of?patriotism, they were inherently?so.?Dylan?once?said,?“The times,?they are a changing” and indeed like gospel words,?they are?coming true.

Come this?August?on the?fifteenth,?just like any other year,?the average Indian will wake?up late in the morning,?with?a big smile on his face.?An observer might mistake this to?be?the pride and happiness of rising in a free democratic country. But?deep down,?the reason he is happy is because?it’s?a holiday. A?break?from the chaos of office, school?and?the daily humdrum?of life. After a relaxing bath and a hearty family breakfast, he switches on the TV channel while having his coffee. With this starts the?’patriotism’?marathon that will last roughly 10?hours.

These days,?our fake?nationalist?does not restrict his?showing-off to family and neighbours;?social media is his weapon of?choice. From changing?Facebook profile pictures?to?those of the?national flag to liking pages of?freedom fighters,?there is?a?barrage of pretentious?showboating, which is also approved of by?similar minded people. The number of likes or comments?signifies?an ‘achievement’?of sorts,?which?the fake nationalist?believes is nothing short of fighting for our country.?Next comes the WhatsApp status and DP?updates,?such as “Desh?mere?Desh?mere,?meri?Jaan?le?tu” to “?Maa?Tujhe?Salaam”,?replicated by hundreds of WhatsApp users.

Now the question is,?what’s wrong?with?such acts??After all, isn’t patriotism something that we’re ‘supposed’ to?feel? Indeed, we?should; but?the problem?here,?is the restriction of such?sentiments to one day, that too on a superficial level.?Ideally, working for the betterment of the country should be a never ending process which should rise above any particular date or time.

Being?patriotic?shouldn’t be a fashion statement,?but rather a sense of pride for one’s country.?Nowhere is it written that a patriot must be someone who dies in battle; you can be a patriot by doing something as basic as doing your work ethically. Patriotism?doesn’t just mean fighting and dying for your country, it means living and serving your nation in every possible way. You can be?patriotic?by working as?a?farmer and contributing to the GDP. By contributing to the agrarian economy, they play a huge role in driving the wheels of growth by sustaining 125 crore people; their invaluable effort is in no way smaller than a “Desh Bhakti” lecture by any pretentious degree holder. Working for thousands of hours in a cramped lab to solve challenges in Physics and Mathematics, or  for that matter, solving pertinent issues in India can also be a selfless act which portrays a high sense of patriotism and commitment for one’s country.? We take pride in the fact that we are better than the western world in terms of respecting and caring for our parents, but we see numerous instances of us becoming just like them when aging relatives are thrown into old homes. The word ‘Motherland’ was derived for a reason; if you, as an individual, do not respect your mother, how can you expect to serve your country and call yourself a patriot?

Unfortunately,?pledging your allegiance to your country?is becoming more of a showboating trend than truly feeling for it. If only we could feel ’patriotic’ every single day,?the songs and glory on the 15^th?of August would actually hold some?meaning.