NOT a day passes without some controversy or the other diverting our attention from more important issues. That there is an insidious ferment centred around religion and a certain rigid posturing by a dominant section of this country is not in doubt. Call it coincidence or a grand plan but that section has become more assertive after May 2014 with the installation of the NDA Government. One of the things that this new assertive constituency does is to measure the patriotism of their fellow citizens against their own rigid mindsets. Nowhere in the world is the national anthem played in a cinema hall, except in India. The irony is that the anthem is not played inside Parliament when the House is in session. If patriotism is to be measured only by symbolisms then the worthy Members of Parliament are most in need of reminders that they owe special allegiance to this country by virtue of being public representatives. Hence the national anthem should be played in Parliament before each session begins. The MPs are often most inclined to divide this country on the basis of caste, creed, community and even communal riots.
Their conduct inside the August House is raucous and unbecoming of leaders. If they can be exempted from singing the national anthem then why impose it on cinema goers? Why are citizens being coerced to physically express their patriotism inside a cinema hall only to come out and get back into their regressive mindsets? A patriotic Indian has some intrinsic qualities which is manifested in his/her conduct such as diligence in the performance of civic duties whether or not someone is monitoring those actions. Merely singing the national anthem does not necessarily turn a rogue or an anti-national rebel into a saint. In fact such impositions can turn this whole exercise infructuous and render the national anthem just another state-imposed duty. Patriotism cannot be enforced. It is a value cultivated over a period of time. It begins in the home and is strengthened within educational institutions. It is an emotion that is nurtured and develops over time.
Sometimes it can become problematic in a country like India with multiple histories where every ethnic group has its own anthem. The understanding is that the national anthem cannot be privileged over their own anthems. The two can exist mutually and have done so over decades. The problem today is that there are too many moral policemen trying to enforce their own brand of morals. These cannot be allowed to enforce an emotion they feel strongly about on others who are not ignited by the same fervour. Let and let live should be the code of behaviour in India. That’s the only way to hold a country of diverse races, religions, communities, castes and thought processes together. Capturing these diversities and pushing them into a single silo will only break this country.