There was a time not too long ago when Independence Day was celebrated as a national festival. I have vivid memories of my school and early college days when families also celebrated the event with gaiety.
Over the years, though, one definite change has come over the Independence Day celebrations. Perhaps naturally, the early fervour and enthusiasm appear somewhat diluted. The sad part is somewhere else. We seem to be becoming more conscious of regional, linguistic, caste and other sub-national identities. The happenings in the recent past in Karnataka as well as in other parts of the country clearly point to this tendency. To put it somewhat technically, it looks as if we are not yet able to claim that the first stage of nation-building is complete. But this is not the whole story by any means.
There are several who speak of the country/nation in strident voices and demonstrate majoritarianism at its frightening worst. Any sensitive person ought to want to steer clear of bigotry, blind prejudice and, at the same time, be concerned for one’s society. Given the context in which we live, our choice is getting limited. You are either drawn into the majoritarian fold or relegated to the category of ‘anti-nationals’, fearing that at any time a charge of sedition may be slapped on you.
The question is a simple one: Can I not be a concerned person worried for my society and yet be critical of what is going on? Is all criticism anti-national? Similarly, should love for my language necessarily get expressed as dislike, or worse, enmity towards other languages and cultures?
The net result is that patriotism in the right and civilised sense of that term gets morphed into hardened majoritarianism and love of one’s language and culture finds expression as dislike of the other.
Our legislatures, which should be models of reasoned argument, have become anything but exemplars of civilised argument. Even worse is the spectacle of the accused in criminal cases being felicitated when they are granted bail. Any uninformed person should be forgiven for assuming that a world-beating sports team is being honoured.
Freeing ourselves from bigotry is probably the most vital symbol of independence which we need to strive for. And we appear determined to move away from that ideal, notwithstanding our invoking Gandhi all the time.
V K Nataraj
Retired professor, Institute of Development Studies, University of Mysore, and former director, Madras Institute of Development Studies