‘Standing up’ for freedom of choice

December 27, 1911, when Rabindranath Tagore’s Jana Gana Mana was first sung at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress, it was a representation and celebration of India’s rich pluralism and an earnest plea to the Almighty to shape and guide the nation’s destiny.

It was adopted as the new nation’s national anthem by the Constituent Assembly on January 24, 1950. Over the generations, we Indians have learnt it along with the rhymes in school and have been tuned to stand up as a mark of respect to the anthem which symbolises our nation.

But, the past few years have seen a raging emotional debate on whether it is mandatory to stand for the anthem as a fundamental duty of every Indian or if individuals must have the freedom of choice to decide not to stand for the anthem.

The recent Supreme Court ruling, making it mandatory for the anthem to be played in all cinema theatres prior to the movie, has brought back the whole debate of “to stand or not to stand.” Let us look at the two sides of the debate.

If an individual chooses not to stand, does it make him or her less patriotic? Is this a case of nationalism being thrust down citizens’ throats?

Firstly, insisting on standing for the anthem is mere tokenism and not patriotism. And, why should the State, or in this case, the Judiciary, interfere and dictate it at all, for it is a violation of individual freedom and religious rights.

Secondly, this decision of the apex court with respect to cinemagoers may give an opportunity to hooligans and fundamentalist groups to threaten people who do not desire to prove their patriotism by standing for the anthem or for personal reasons choose not to. We have had incidents in the past which confirm these fears.

Thirdly, movie halls may not be the right arena to prove or display one’s patriotism. For a crowd that has come in for mere entertainment, closing the doors and insisting on standing for the anthem may be nothing more than popcorn patriotism on display.

Also, it needs to be highlighted that the national anthem must be rendered with respect and implementation of this order may lead to legal battles and fistfights in the name of disrespect to the anthem.

Lastly, let’s not turn a blind eye to the implementation challenges of this order. A billion plus population and thousands of cinema halls…well, the overburdened police machinery has another challenge on hand!

The 52 seconds of the anthem mean many things to many Indians. For many of us, it is a representation of the nation and a reminder of the brave soldiers who strive to keep the Indian tricolor flying high. A gush of emotions, a sense of pride and goosebumps is an experience many will narrate.

A different debate
Personally, I feel that we must not debate whether one should stand for the anthem or not. This current debate would not have resonated and found backers in the decades post 1947 as every citizen of the young nation was proud of the newly-won independence and was proud to display his/her patriotism.

In 2016, the debate has turned sharper and more one-sided as we are viewing it from the prism of patriotism, nationalism, religious and individual rights. The anti-stand brigade also quotes extensively from the American experience where the judiciary has been more liberal in its judgments and even politicians like Barack Obama have emphasised on individual freedom of choice to stand or not for the anthem.

But, in our context, even as we celebrate India @ 70 we need to address innumerable challenges to the idea of the Indian State. We are still a nation in the making, so there is a need to build national consciousness and identity.

The national anthem and the national flag are symbolic of it. These two can strike a chord in any part of the nation and help us in realising the identity of an Indian, which submerges all other identities of gender, caste and religion.

To conclude, judicial activism may not be the right path to make us proud of our nation and respect our anthem and flag. Fundamentalists on both sides and chest thumping politicians may not be the right advocates of what is patriotic or unpatriotic. Leave it to us, the common people, to build our nation’s story and choices.

We must focus on educating our children about the importance of our national symbols and teach them to respect it irrespective of their other identities.

A victory of our cricket team, the achievements of a young Sindhu and the MARS mission have been those times when we, as a nation, have felt the need to rise, salute the flag and sing the anthem with pride. Let us strive to create more such moments, and then this debate of “to stand or not stand” will become irrelevant.

(The writer is Associate Professor, Mount Carmel College, Bengaluru)