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Thursday, March 28, 2024
YourTurnSubscriberWrites: India needs to return to patriotism rather than chest-thumping nationalism

SubscriberWrites: India needs to return to patriotism rather than chest-thumping nationalism

Patriotism is instilled silently by an inspirational leadership whereas nationalism is orchestrated by leaders who build narratives & mobilise people around them, writes Anurag Mehrotra.

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When was the last time you heard and/or read about patriotism in mainstream discourse? When was the last time you got inspired with examples and stories of patriotism? What we hear and, I daresay, are forced to think is about Nationalism. Nationalism is thrust down our throats. It is happening across the world. Is patriotism dead? That brings us to the next most obvious question. What is the difference? We aren’t talking semantics here. Patriotism, to my mind, is love for your country. Love which inspires and motivates.

Patriots are willing to make sacrifices for greater good and even willing to make the supreme sacrifice. To die for the country. Nationalism is also love for your country. But it is built around exclusion and benchmarked against something else. Nationalism as a political tool can fuel (and it does), narratives, chest thumping, blind faith and irrational behaviour. It invariably gives a licence to kill. A patriot lives, and demonstrates, his patriotism by silently doing an honest day’s job.

Nationalism is mostly announced by shouting from the roof top. It is built around narratives, used as a mobilization tool and any counter narrative is deemed heretical. This is in complete contrast to a patriot’s ability to question and disagree to achieve greater good. Patriotism is instilled silently by inspirational leadership whereas nationalism is orchestrated by leaders who build narratives and mobilize people around those narratives. History has shown that patriotic citizens have helped nations achieve greatness. And irrational nationalism leads to disastrous consequences. One look at the Nazi misadventure is enough to prove the point.

As one looks around the globe, over the last ten odd years, nationalism has been on the rise. Interestingly this wave of nationalism has neither differentiated between democratic and autocratic nor between rich and poor nations. The “nationalism tsunami” has swept all of us!

Why is this happening? I am no social scientist but I do observe a trend, globally. As economic growth declines, inequality increases and opportunities evaporate it variably leads to a restive population which unnerves leaders and politicians. Instead of fixing the problem, which often can be painful with gestation period, nationalism becomes a handy tool to divert attention. It not only diverts attention but becomes a tool for mass mobilization. And we see many versions of this across the world.

MAGA in US is an excellent example in a rich democratic country. It is interesting that MAGA has fired imagination of a very large percentage of American population in an era when, for the last 25+ years, US has been at the zenith of global domination. Its comprehensive national power is quite overwhelming. Ironically all actions taken under the MAGA banner tend to harm the proponents of the MAGA the most. China and North Korea, as authoritarian regimes, have taken it to the next level. Nationalism, cultural nationalism and even linguistic nationalism is woven into the narrative of the ruling party and the leader so intricately and any counter narrative of the leader or the party is automatically an affront to the nation. In the past, it led to disastrous consequences.

Millions perished during the Cultural revolution and Great Leap forward. It was only in the Deng era when focus shifted to getting the rat, without worrying whether the cat was white or black, that China prospered. We now see clock being turned back in that country.

The trajectory in our country is fascinating. Independence struggle was largely led by inspirational leadership which fired patriotism. It ultimately won us our freedom but fact remains that nation was very weak in every respect and, given our diversity, survival as one country was in serious doubt. However, it was the patriotic fervour which allowed the nation to strike roots and build institutions.

We were blessed to have outstanding leaders who nurtured institutions which have held us in good stead. Atomic energy, Space Program, Green Revolution, Institutes of higher learning are some examples. The leadership of these institutions were patriots who contributed to nation building through their work and not through chest thumping nationalism. However as economic woes mounted in 70’s and 80’s nationalism became the currency of the political class. It manifested itself in various forms in states and there were many fires across the country.

As country changed course in 90’s the narrative changed as we were able to deliver progress on many fronts. But post 2009, as growth stalled because of global economic crisis and policy and governance paralysis, the political pitch changed. Shrill nationalism is now an integral part of political narrative. Of course, social media is a force multiplier.

I do hope that this wave will wane. The day we deliver progress- social and economic- it will give us reasons to be proud and patriotic. And not hide behind the “nationalism” charade.

These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.

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