Come on, India
By Aradhika Sekhon

PATRIOTISM is love for the land of birth. Fused with nationality, which denotes a group of people speaking the same language, sharing common historical traditions and regarding themselves as a distinct cultural society, it gives birth to modern nationalism. This, broadly speaking, is a patriotic feeling, common to the whole of the nation concerned with its interests as distinct from those of a region or faction. Nationalism is to the body politic, what the spirit is to man himself. In other words, nationalism is a sentiment leading to the deepening of national consciousness and unity on the basis of common ideas and beliefs. In practical terms it may be some way of manifesting national spirit and as such is the sum total of the social and political aspirations of the people. Hence the ideas controlling the life and actions of a nation would constitute its nationalism.

In the Indian context, it is an undeniable fact that in the short span of 50 years since Indepen-dence, patriotism has taken the backseat at times. That the problem is of immense magnitude, especially for India, is verified by political scientists who feel that the younger a nation, the stronger should be the feeling of nationalism. However, gnawing at the fibre of patriotism are the feelings of communalism, the ever increasing population and the resultant poverty, the sense of insecurity and corruption. India it seems on occasions to have lost sight of the course of nationalism that every independent nation sets itself by a co-ordinated and balanced development of its strengths like economy, security, unity in diversity and has a tenuous sense of devotion, justice and pride in all administrative procedures and agencies.

The generations that have grown up after Independence have come to believe in the philosophy that projects the market as the ultimate God and selfishness, the ultimate virtue. To die for the country or even contribute to it without the hope of gaining "a little something" for oneself had become passe. In the 27 years after the last war, Indians have grown up believing that material success is the only goal. In this scenario, a war like that at Kargil slams down into the comfort zone of the generation that is ready to grab what it can from the country and yet is cynical, selfish and derisive about it.

War is the one phenomenon that helps keep nationalism alive. Actually war and nationalism complete a full circle. Integral or narrow nationalism, which aims at expanding territory, promoting economic interests etc, if unchecked, leads to war and war again gives rise to nationalism. The Chinese aggression of 1962 and the Indo-Pak war in 1965 and 1971 exhibited the unity of the Indian people. Also, the creation of Bangladesh was no mean achievement. It filled Indians with national pride. Says Ramsay Muir: "Heroic achievement, agonies heroically endured, these are the sublime food by which the spirit of nationalism is nourished."

Role of the media

India’s first nearly televised war has stirred the conscience of the nation and there is no doubt that the visual media can sway the opinion of a nation by grabbing its emotional jugular vein. For eg., the live telecast of Indira Gandhi’s funeral, which captured the tear-stained, grief-stricken faces of the family, went a long way in garnering votes for the Congress in the 1984 elections. Similarly, the televised sight of Lady Diana’s funeral procession roused such a storm of emotion in Britain that it nearly shook the roots of the Monarchy. The media has now brought the Kargil war into our drawing rooms. More exciting than any tele-serial, the nation watches as the cameras capture the clouds of smoke from booming Bofors guns. The seriousness of the Kargil soldiers as they make ready to trudge up the punishing mountain-top-many of them vulnerable and young —is terrible to watch, for who knows who among them will return.

The raw pain of the parents of the dead soldier, the bewildered grief of his young widow, the tender hands of his child lighting the funeral pyre are images beamed at people day after day as a nation watches and is filled with pride for its sons and pain for the grief of his family. Also, out of the closet have emerged the stories of the miserable living conditions of the widows of the previous wars, of the disabled soldiers forced to leave the Army and eking out a niggardly living, of families still waiting for their sons taken prisoners in previous wars.

All of this has led to an outpouring of gratitude to the soldiers —people who have neither power nor position but whose lives have been made extraordinary by their unquestioning obedience to their profession. Right now there is a tidal wave of support and sympathy for these men and a strong feeling that the country has been served well by the men it sent out to guard its borders. Naturally the empathy with the Army has broadened into an empathy with the country and there is a resurrection of patriotism. Quite separate from chauvinism, where patriotism is sold as the preserve of a few and used to inflame and divide communities, the emotionalism we see now is an honest expression of anguish for the nation whose boundaries have been infiltrated. There is undoubtedly a groundswell of nationalistic fervour.

Spontaneous manifestations

Right from the little girl who cut her finger, wrote a few lines with her blood on a postcard and mailed it to the soldiers fighting against the Pakistan intruders in Kargil, to the big newspaper group which has set up a fund for the Kargil Martyrs, every Indian wants to do his bit for the people guarding his country’s frontiers. The morale of the people, specially the youth in the Kargil region, is very high.About 5000 youth are ready to join the Indian Army to help fight the invaders in the mountainous terrain. Many young men are even willing to offer free service to the Indian Army in Kargil. People all over the country are chipping in by organising blood donation camps. Some are collecting funds like the Okhla (Delhi) industrialist who collected Rs. 30 lakh from friends to despatch to the martyrs’ fund. The All India Dhobi Maha-sabha presented a cheque of Rs. 51,000 to the P.M’s Relief Fund. Many national leaders have contributed a month’s salary and employees of several government departments have willingly contributed a day’s salary. Also, though the government hasn’t declared the operations a war against Pakistan, families of those killed in ‘Operation Vijay’ are likely to be given wartime benefits.

Many others are pitching in to help the war effort in various ways. The Delhi Government has decided not to hold any public functions for the duration of the Kargil imbroglio because "we do not want to waste even a single penny till we are victorious". Many are holding prayer-meetings for the well-being of the soldiers. Morover, ever since the first body came from Kargil, the Army headquarters in Delhi has been flooded by unsolicited offers of help from old and retired soldiers. These requests are not restricted to officers settled in India. There has been a deluge of E-mail from ex-army officers settled in England, Australia, Africa and Canada offering their unconditional services. They are not only willing to fly to India at their own expense but meet other costs to return to the battle front.

Reality of war

There are inherent dangers in situations created by misplaced patriotism, for a narrow or perverted sense of it can create pressure groups which clamour for more active participation in war, more chaos and destruction, in the mistaken belief that we are "teaching the Pakistanis a lesson". The ultimate aims of any war is to either claim territorial supremacy or, as in the present case, regain territory, and ultimately strive for peace. But before peace can be gained, the nation suffers huge losses in terms of people and the national exchequer incurs massive setbacks which leave a country reeling for years to come. The existence of war propaganda is a simultaneous phenomenon along with the fact of war, and the citizenry has to be vigilant against the danger that unscrupulous elements do not use it to whip up a public frenzy resulting in a baying for blood. No blood comes for free and it has to be repaid, at least in part, with the blood of our own people.

That war evokes patriotism amongst the people is true but is patriotism at such a cost really worth it? Generally, people do not want an escalation in hostilities, for, in a war between neighbours there are no winners, only losers. As such, the territorial integrity of both the countries has to be respected.

Also, after the war, the public sympathy and interest in the soldier may fade away with time. Then who is to rehabilitate the wounded soldiers and the widows and children of the soldiers killed ? This problem is all the more poignant because a majority of these are in the age-group of 23 -25 years. The Pune -based Queen Mary Technical Institute for Disabled Soldiers (QMTI) is the only institute in the country imparting vocational training to soldiers disabled in operations, and is handicapped with outdated equipment and low funds.

True patriotism

The true spirit of nationalism should not require an impetus or a trigger to set it off. As a nation we have too many things going for us to allow the surrender of the nationalistic feeling. We, therefore, need to evolve formal codes to strengthen social and moral values. We also need to focus on development, education and betterment of each successive generation and nurture consciously the feeling of love for our country in our children. Moreover, we need to develop a nationalistic approach in governance and curb negative factors like corruption, inefficiency and non-productiveness with a strong hand. If this can be achieved, then the country will not require a crisis to evoke a feeling which ought to be basic to any citizen of a nation!