Happy Republic Day Dear Nationalists and Beloved Patriots — Here’s Separate Wishes For You Both

Photo by Ron Hansen on Unsplash

While we display missiles and what not on Republic Day celebrations in Delhi, remember we as a nation with so much apparent greatness couldn’t protect filmmakers from releasing a movie passed by censor board and cleared by Supreme Court, the highest court of land. We also couldn’t stop goons from terrorizing school children. I don’t see anything to take pride in here. But anyway, since when have we cared for nuances. The states notorious for rapes and worst sex ratio, states that glorify women in ghoonghat (veil) are letting cultural terrorists roam on streets and burn everything in the name of protecting a fictional queen’s honour. Long live hypocrisy!
And to you, the insignificant voter and my dear fellow countrymen who can’t differentiate a failed state that can’t protect its citizens rights for which it is elected in first place and who takes pride in everything that he/she shouldn’t, who constantly let’s himself/herself diverted by non-issues while important issues happen elsewhere, to you who thinks farmers suicides or Dalit atrocities are nothing but Padmavati shit is everything, to you who thinks it’s okay to subvert constitutional process to pass few laws because you trust in a leader, to you who can’t see a surveillance system taking shape before his/her eyes, to you who can’t see daylight mockery of your intelligence where govt passes electoral bonds that are institutionalizing conversion of black money into white, you who can’t see the taxpayers money wasted on huge ads, to you who can’t see federal structure that our forefathers framed getting washed away in the dreams of one nation - one election, to you who believes LGBTQ people needs to be criminalized for no wrong of theirs, to you oh dear countrymen - Happy Republic Day.
Other people, you know it’s not happy here. But I know in my heart you’ve not lost your zeal and vigour, I know you will fight for this nation, I know you will speak out against forces that run contrary to human values, I know you will speak for the marginalised, I know you will raise your voice, speak wherever necessary, I know you will love your nation, its people more than you will ever love any individual leader, I know you will call out wrongs even if the perpetrators are from your own ilk. I have faith in you, in Bastar girls fighting establishment for their human rights, for right to their bodies, in 91 year old Justice Puttaswamy fighting against Aadhaar, for our right to privacy and against efforts to turn this republic into surveillance state, in scientists likeArvind Gupta who are teaching people the value of science through toys so our future generations enable us to move forward, in Justice Gogoi who put his elevation at risk by speaking against his masters, in Saalumarada Timmakka who raised trees (8000 trees including 380+ banyan trees in over 80 years)as children when she realized she couldn’t have kids of her own, in everyone who knows the govt if you voted it or not is for everyone and that it isn’t just your right to question and scrutinize their moves but it is also a necessity that you do so, in numerous others who I might be unaware of but are dreaming of a tomorrow free of prejudice against its own people - Long May Live The Idea Of A Glorious Republic, the republic of Gandhi and Ambedkar’s dreams.

George Orwell in his notes on Nationalism said,
[W]hile nationalism can unite people it must be noted that it unites people against other people.
…All nationalists have the power of not seeing resemblances between similar sets of facts.. The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.. Every nationalist is haunted by the belief that the past can be altered. He spends part of his time in a fantasy world in which things happen as they should..
"By 'nationalism' I mean first of all the habit of assuming that human beings can be classified like insects and that whole blocks of millions or tens of millions of people can be confidently labelled 'good' or 'bad’. But secondly--and this is much more important--I mean the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognising no other duty than that of advancing its interests. Nationalism is not to be confused with patriotism. By 'patriotism' I mean devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force on other people. Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power. The abiding purpose of every nationalist is to secure more power and more prestige, not for himself but for the nation or other unit in which he has chosen to sink his own individuality."
You need not go as far as back to Orwell, our constitution is a stupendous text in itself that values individual rights and freedoms above communities, talks about so many beautiful things and more importantly — this one which we have forgotten in recently and turned weak over time — it enables us to speak out and question the people we have vested the power to govern us (not rule us!). Utilize it. Republic Day is great opportunity to look back at discussionsour constitution makers had while drafting the document (remember our constitution is living and breathing entity not a word written in stone, something that our constitution makers ensured, so it is perfectly fine to tweak it as time flows). I would personally recommend, this new-age Consti-tution series from Meghnad talking about lot of important things in a fun way with gifs and cats!
Thanks a lot for reading this far!!
Good Bye for now🦉

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