By Shiba Aamir for TwoCircles.net,
On November 30, the Supreme Court of India ordered all the cinema halls in India to play national anthem to ‘‘instill committed patriotism and nationalism’’. It said, ‘‘all the cinema halls in India shall play the national anthem before the feature film starts and all present in the hall are obliged to stand up to show respect to the national anthem.”
The apex court judgment reminded me of a dialogue by Aishwarya Rai Bacchan in the movie Hum Kisi Se Kam Nahi, where she tells the character of Sanjay Dutt, “People salute you out of fear and not out of respect.” Respect is something which one earns and comes from within. It cannot be imposed because doing so defeats its very purpose.
According to our honorable judges, however, a compulsory playing of the national anthem will ‘‘instill” the feeling of nationalism and patriotism. But is it really true? If the cure is so simple, why waste crores of rupees stationing troops in Kashmir or in the North Eastern states? Why not play the national anthem instead? India’s national anthem is recognized easily as lofty and moving and stresses the country’s oneness amidst diversity. It hardly requires judicial promotion.
The question here then arises, what is the true meaning of patriotism and nationalism? Is it same for different groups or individuals? According to Wikipedia, ‘‘Patriotism is an emotional attachment to a nation which an individual recognizes as their homeland. This attachment is also known as national feeling or national pride. It can be viewed in terms of different features relating to one’s own nation, including ethnic, cultural, political or historical aspects.” According to Merriam-Webster, Nationalism, on the other hand, is a loyalty and devotion to a nation especially a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups.
So does one’s love for his homeland changes if he changes his citizenship? Will he then stop paying respect to his motherland from then? These are one of the many questions that came to my mind reading the news of the SC order. Our honorable judges say that we will feel more patriotic and nationalist if we stand up for about a minute listening to the national anthem in cinema halls. Then what about the corrupt politicians and the policemen who have the national flag hoisted at their office and table flags on their desktop? Where do patriotism and nationalism vanish while accepting bribes and laundering people’s money meant for the betterment of the country to gratify their own selfish motives?
When I asked my parents about their views, they agreed on it saying that what’s wrong in standing for just 52 seconds and pay respect to our national anthem? But then again my mother recalled the Uphaar Cinema incident of 1997 in south Delhi which killed nearly 59 people and wounded over a hundred when it caught fire while screening the blockbuster movie ‘Border.’ Ironical! Isn’t it?
She said that she heard the news on the radio on why there was such a mishap because one of the two exit doors were bolted from outside. As a result, several died of asphyxia failing to leave the theatre in the rush. “Under no circumstances, the entry door (which can act as an emergency exit in the event of fires or other emergencies) should be bolted from outside,” read the verdict of the court, in the aftermath of the tragedy issuing safety guidelines to cinema owners in Delhi.
The apex court’s instruction also squares with Rule 10(8) of Delhi Cinematograph Rules, which states, “all exit doors and doors through which the public have to pass on the way to the open air shall be available for exit during the whole time that the public are in the building and during such time shall not be locked or bolted”.
But again our honorable judges on Wednesday said that both the entrance and the exit shall remain closed so that no one can leave the hall while the national anthem is being played as it may cause disturbance. What if someone forgets to immediately open the door and some untoward incident happens?
I am really curious to know: how does one measure the feeling of nationalism and patriotism? How can we know that a man is really patriotic and nationalist? I really feel patriotic when I do something good towards my fellow Indians. Like simply by teaching the poor children of my locality because ‘padhega India tabhi to badhega India’, and many petty things like protecting the public property and even urging the people to do the same and even at times picking the litter and then throwing it in the dustbin. Well, this may sound absurd but I really feel proud doing these small things for my country because not everyone can become a soldier and fight at the borders. But we too can make a difference by abiding by the civic rules and doing our basic duties towards our nation.
But should this feeling really be imposed? We may have a feeling of patriotism in the hall by listening to our national anthem and seeing the tricolor on the screen for the 52 seconds. But what about when the moment passes and then we sit down to watch the movie we have come to see? Is it really honouring the national anthem to play it before the screening of B-grade Bhojpuri films or other A rated films bordering on soft porn? Or for that matter what about those thrillers of Anurag Kashyap and Mani Ratnam who tend to show the dark side of our society and human nature through their movies.
Further what about those people who regularly do not frequent cinema halls, how will government and court ‘instill’ patriotism in them? So should the feeling of this patriotism and nationalism be only restricted to the cinema halls?
The Nobel Prize winner, Rabindranath Tagore who is famed to have written the national anthem of both India and Bangladesh held a different perspective regarding nationalism. “Nationalism,” Tagore said in an essay on India, “is a great menace. It is the particular thing which for years has been at the bottom of India’s troubles.”
“Our real problem in India is not political. It is social,” he said, adding “this is a condition not only prevailing in India but among all nations.” Writing about the colonial import of the term, he said India never had a real sense of nationalism.
Tagore further said, “It is my conviction that my countrymen will truly gain their India by fighting against the education which teaches them that a country is greater than the ideals of humanity.”
Another poem of the poet who gave us our national anthem, still holds relevance in today’s scenario:
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
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
(Shiba Aamir is currently pursuing MA in Journalism and Mass Communication at Aliah University, Kolkata.)