23 January 2002, 01:57am IST
M P K Kutty.
Today, january 23, is the birth anniversary of netaji subash chandra bose. it is also being observed as the national day of patriotism. ‘‘in the name of god, i take this sacred oath that to liberate india and 380 million of my countrymen, i, subash chandra bose, will continue the sacred war of freedom till the last breath of my life. i shall remain the servant of india and to look after the welfare of 380 million of indian brothers and sisters shall be for me my highest duty’’ — this was netaji’s oath of allegiance to india after proclaiming the establishment of the provisional government of india at a cinema hall in singapore on october 21, 1942. though bose chose a path so distinct from gandhi’s, the mahatma made this observation about him: ‘‘the greatest lesson we can draw from netaji’s life is the way in which he infused the spirit of unity amongst his men so that they could rise above all religious and provincial barriers and shed together their blood for the common cause’’. today patriotism is a much-debated value, the protagonists and antagonists resorting to their own narrow interpretations. rabindra nath tagore had a more enlightened view of nationalism. his treatise on nationalism is being studied in british universities. generally, nationalism is inextricably linked with patriotism. in his book, nationalism, tagore says that nationalism is an invention of the west. the nation has thrived for long upon mutilated humanity. society increasingly has become a marionette show of politicians, soldiers, manufacturers and bureaucrats. ‘‘nationalism is a great menace. it is the particular thing which for years has been at the bottom of india’s troubles’’, wrote tagore, much before the country won independence; much before it witnessed partition and the ensuing bloodbath or the genesis of the kashmir issue. where the spirit of nationalism prevails the people are being taught from childhood to hate the ‘enemy’. tagore sees in nationalism, instincts of self-aggrandisement of whole peoples organised together with all the paraphernalia of power and prosperity, its flags and hymns and patriotic bragging. nations are engaged in a wrestling match; they are not bound to listen to the voice of truth and goodness. writing in a similar vein, earl stanley jones, a visionary and close associate of mahatma gandhi wrote: ‘‘one of the greatest dangers to world peace is the rise of modern nationalism. it has taken that lovely sentiment called patriotism and has turned it into the deadliest enemy known to the modern world. it causes men to sin where they otherwise would not’’. the common people of one nation usually have no reason to hate the common people of another nation. but nationalism takes hold of these common people, subjects them to propaganda, instils fear, inspires hate, puts bayonets into their hands and flings them against the common people of another country. the grinning devil inspires this mad business called nationalism. ‘‘the time is fast approaching when to call a man a patriot will be the deepest insult you can offer him’’, — so begins count leo tolstoy, writing an essay on patriotism as early as in the year 1900. the feeling of patriotism, he wrote, ‘‘is unnatural, irrational and harmful’’ and a cause of great part of the ills afflicting mankind. so far from being a virtue, as virulently projected by certain sections in politics here, the prophet in tolstoy saw it as an undesirable emotion, to be overcome by all means available to rational man. the willingness to kill or sacrifice peace and property in defence of one’s land and people was an ideal when it was considered just to plunder and kill people of other nations. but as nations and individuals evolved from lower to higher ideas, outmoded customs got discarded. the progress of civilisation saw the abolition of slavery, for instance. the trend towards globalisation should enable nations to relate to one another in the new idiom. perhaps tolstoy’s prophetic warning about patriotism being a source of much evil needs to be taken seriously.
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