Same time, 54 years ago

morning paper. But wasn’t Republic Day the day we citizens of India gave ourselves the Constitution? You wouldn’t have known it seeing the Tricolour fluttering from every street corner this week and cries of “Bharat Mata ki jai!” resounding from every neighbourhood maidan. Patriotism, as we know, is in. And it is not an undesirable thing. Except that there are ways of being patriotic. And the ways on display are getting tediously repetitive.

Isn’t flag waving and slogan shouting perhaps better suited to August 15? Independence Day, after all, commemorates the birth of a nation. The midnight tryst with destiny, the conclusion of a tough, protracted struggle, the horrors and disappointment of Partition. There is drama in that event. The kind of drama that could call for stirring speeches and emotional songs.

Republic Day, in contrast, seems to be a day suited to a more quiet sort of pride, of reflection and thinking about the complicated business of reconciling conflicting hopes and aspirations, of figuring out the kind of nation we want and our places in it. It requires an appreciation of the intellect that created the framework of our democracy and protections for individual freedom. It also bears some thinking about responsibility.

“Be loyal leaders,” the outgoing governor-general, C. Rajgopalachari, had urged in a broadcast talk from the Delhi station of All India Radio on Republic day in 1950. The newspaper, The Hindu, in its editorial that day had written: “Every citizen must remember that if matters go wrong with the State it is he that is ultimately responsible. He must, therefore, not only acquire by study, enough familiarity with the working of the machinery of Government through which democracy functions. He must understand the basic problems which have to be tackled if the good life is to be realised here and now. He must have the strength of character which alone is a nation’s true capital. And above all he must have the will to put his shoulder to the wheel and push and pull, never getting out of step with his fellows, never seeking short cuts, never succumbing to the temptation to find scapegoats.”

In our increasingly opportunistic, wealth-worshipping society however this sort of logic seems archaic and, many would argue, impossibly idealistic. In the decades following Independence if there is one area that has seen considerable erosion it is respect for the law. And if in January 2004, with scams tumbling out of every closet sweeping away the high and mighty, it seems almost understandable that we are reaching out avidly for some untainted symbols, like the flag.

Speaking of scapegoats though brings the recently concluded World Social Forum to mind. The connection may not be immediately clear so bear with me while I ask if there was some sort of consensus in the media to treat the event as a gathering ground for colourful loonies? I saw images of primitive dancing while a TV anchor talked of the WSF’s lofty aspirations; a critical economist sneers at a WSF participant in a debate; and in the press one found anecdotal snippets filled with colour and atmosphere and little attention, if any, to the issues raised in the numerous seminars and conference halls at the WSF. One need not have agreed with the Forum’s views or all its preoccupations but surely an event of its size and prominence was deserving of greater respect?

Or is it that along with our notions of patriotism, our vision has shrunk as well where it has space only for the bleak and narrow and none for dreams, however well trod, of a more just and humane world? The editorial just cited also made an observation that seems relevant in this context: “The Republic of Weimar”, it claimed, “drew up an admirable Constitution which became waste paper because the Republic had no fire in its belly. It is that fire, that energy of life, that must be roused in the dormant consciousness of the people if India is to build up a fair, equitable and viable polity and a full life for her millions.”