Imagine a glass of coconut water, supposed to be good for health. Let’s say this coconut water has arsenic mixed in it. You tell people not to drink it. They turn around and say, “But why are you so against coconut water?”
Or if someone is killed in the name of religion and you object, the argument given to you is: “That just shows you don’t love God.”
The above examples show what happens when right and wrong are mixed together. It’s a potent, deadly mix. The best way to get away with doing something bad is to mix a bit of good in it. At least that is what India seems to be witnessing at the moment.
Last week, something similar happened. A Supreme Court judge passed an order making it ‘compulsory’ for the national anthem to be played in all privately owned cinemas across the country before every movie, with the doors of the theatres shut (though not bolted). The order also prescribes how the national anthem should be played (with only the Indian flag on screen) and how it should never be played (you can’t dramatize it or give it any creative interpretation because, well, he said so).
I am no legal expert, but with all respect to the courts, the order does seem to violate individual liberty and freedom, which is what India is all about. Ironically, this damage to Indian values is being done in the name of patriotism. If people are forced to stand in a cinema hall before a movie, they will become patriotic (watching pirated movies at home, on the other hand, seems to be okay).
A petitioner tried to get the courts to stand up for the anthem before they started work. The apex court shot it down. Clearly, it didn’t want the burden of patriotism at its doorstep. However, it had no qualms about passing it to a privately owned theatre, in a private contract with theatre-goers to screen a movie.
HARD STAND: There is a real risk that the young generation will begin to see the anthem as a chore
These kind of arbitrary rulings are the reason India’s ease of doing business ranking is so low. Almost anyone in authority can pass a diktat in the name of the country. If you criticise it, you are asked, “Why are you against the national anthem?” Worse, you’re labelled “anti-national”.
Which brings us back to the basic issue — mix a bit of good with the bad, and you can get away with it.
Sure, there’s something good in the diktat. The intention to create respect for the country’s national anthem is a good thing. There is no doubt that every citizen should take pride in the national anthem. However, that intention does not justify imposition.
Sure, one is free to play the national anthem every morning and stand up for it at home. Institutions can choose to do it, whether they are schools or private companies. However, the moment you force it, you break a key tenet of India — individual freedom.
The sad part is the imposition won’t increase patriotism. There is a real risk that the young generation will begin to see it as a chore to be done if you want to watch a movie at a cinema. Some may use the time to check messages on their phones. Others may enter the cinema hall late. Does our national anthem deserve that? Should it not be played and sung by people of their own free will and choice?
The order is interim in nature and will be reviewed in February 2017. I respect the Supreme Court and I hope it will reconsider this order, which may not only damage the Indian values of freedom and liberty but also, in fact, lead to the anthem being trivialised and turned into a chore. A suggestion or guideline to play the national anthem is welcome, an imposition is not.
One should note that this order has come from the judiciary, and technically has nothing to do with the government or PM Modi. However, it adds to the somewhat authoritarian mood prevalent in society today — where you are told what to do in order to be a patriot, and may be branded anti-national if you don’t fall in line. The reason for this is not Modi or the BJP, but rather a weak Opposition. The Congress refuses to get its act together. Even in Indira Gandhi’s time, a phenomenally weak Opposition led to a phenomenally autocratic leader. If we want to save India and its free society, let’s wish for at least a reasonable opposition.
We also need reasonable judges who can preserve India’s core values. We should stand up for the national anthem with pride. Equally, however, we should stand up for liberty and freedom, for which our forefathers gave up their lives. One should be careful of authoritarianism creeping into our free society, no matter how wonderful the intentions. Don’t condone something bad, just because it is mixed with something good.
December 11, 2016 ()