These last two
weeks have been particularly traumatic
for us seditious citizens of this great country, for we have been administered,
not one, but two booster doses of nationalism.
The first was at
JNU ( Jawaharlal Nehru University), Delhi, where a day ( Kargil or Vijay Diwas)
which should have belonged to our uniformed heroes was hijacked to serve a
political ideology. The function, presided over by two union Ministers and a
supine Vice Chancellor, which was meant to remember those who sacrificed their
lives for the country 18 years ago, was somehow distorted to a clarion call for
Nationalism. This was further embodied in the menacing silhouette of a battle
tank, which shall now be installed on the campus to inculcate in the students
the spirit of “Nationalism.”
To associate, or equate,
a weapon of war with nationalism or patriotism goes far beyond the jingoism
which has been the calling card of this particular Vice Chancellor so far. It
boggles the mind that any person who has read history or political science can
ever think that the true spirit of nationalism is the creation of the Army.
Yes, the Army protects nations and makes sacrifices for their survival- but it
does not create them ( not democracies, at least). As Rohan D'Souza of Kyoto
University explains in a brilliant article in the Hindustan Times of 26th July
2017, nation making and the creation of national identities are the product
of thinkers, lawyers, writers, teachers,
poets and, most important, the common man on the street facing bullets and
lathis. Nationalism is a concept born out of intellectualism, not militarism;
it is spontaneous, not coerced ; it is felt in our hearts, not worn on our
sleeves. We have to look no further than the history of our own independence
movement to appreciate this truism. To be brutally blunt, the Indian nation was
not created by Generals Thimayya or Cariappa- not even by a Subhash Chandra
Bose- but by people like Gandhi, Nehru, Tagore, Ambedkar, Patel and the unnamed
hordes who took part in- and were beaten up in - the many dharnas, satyagrahas,
protests and Dandi type marches. We respect our armed forces, but do not assign
them a role they were never designed to perform.
As far as I know
there is no other university in the world which has inducted on its campus a
tank as an exemplar or symbol of an intellectual idea or value. A battle tank
is a symbol of the power of the state, of
destruction and compulsive obedience, whereas a university is the
precise antithesis of these concepts. A university is supposed to promote the
power of the intellect and of non-violent didactics, to create new ideas and
extend the frontiers of knowledge, to nurture freedom- of thought, speech and
inquiry- and to question, not comply. Therefore, the JNU tank is nothing but a
well crafted strategy to send a not so subtle message to the students and
faculty of this institution which has been consistently ranked number one in
the country: behave like a Military College, or else. It is no coincidence that
JNU was chosen for this latest putsch by the government- this university is the
one bug-bear that the government would desperately like to see humbled- all
other central universities, including the IIMs and IITs have more or less caved
in- so as to complete its emasculation of academia in the country. The government
has tried everything so far- sedition cases against students, reducing the PhD
seats by almost 800, intimidation of faculty, proscribing of certain events
sought to be organised by the student unions, deregistering students who are
"trouble-makers", even approaching the courts to prevent
demonstrations and protests on the campus- but this pesky university is still
holding out ! Hence the tank. One wonders what will come next- send in a
battalion or two of the Para-Commandos ? Convert the campus into a military
barracks ? Deploy a Sukhoi bomber next to the tank ? And come to think of it, a
lot of our other institutions also need a dose of this right wing idea of
nationalism and patriotism, so can we expect to see tanks outside Parliament
and the Supreme Court too, soon ?- just to inspire more patriotic feelings, of
course.
The second
antibiotic dose of nationalism was administered, unfortunately, by the Madras
High Court. By now adept at rushing in where angels, and even the founding
fathers of our constitution were loath to go, the Court had earlier this year
ordered the State government to waive off all farm loans ! Fortunately, the
Supreme Court has stayed this order. Undeterred by this slight setback the High
Court has now directed that singing Vande Mataram ( the national song) shall be
mandatory for all govt. offices, schools and even private institutions, on two
days every week. I guess its on stronger ground here for earlier the Supreme
Court had mandated the compulsory playing of the National anthem in all movie
halls. However, I am absolutely unable to comprehend why our courts, which have
40 million other cases to decide, are so intent on turning us into a nation of
balladeers and minstrels. These are empty and meaningless gestures- I daresay the
courts would engender much more of the nationalist and patriotic spirit if they
decided cases on time, refrained from giving bail to the likes of a Shahbuddin,
stopped the central govt. chopping down 1700 trees in the heart of Delhi to
build a convention center, or asked the union govt. why it has been sitting on
the Panama Papers revelations for the last two years ( when even a much derided
Pakistan judiciary has removed a Prime Minister for similar charges). The
genuine spirit of nationalism and patriotism is created by good governance,
equitable delivery of justice and responsive public institutions. Give the
people something to be proud of as a country, don't force feed them on tanks
and national songs. Heed the words of wiser people, in this case Winston
Churchill : " I am always ready to learn although I do not always like
being taught."
No comments:
Post a Comment