We really have to stop this outrage about outraged ‘national pride’. (or ‘image’ or ‘honour’, depending on how you word it). It is embarrassing…to national pride.
An embezzlement charge at a private stock exchange hurts national pride.
Students not being grateful to the government hurts national pride.
A comedian’s show hurts national pride.
Civil society’s protestations hurt national pride.
A decision not to accompany the PM hurts national pride.
A politician’s comment hurts national pride.
Some movies hurt national pride.
An awkward hug hurts national pride.
A cancelled visa hurts national pride.
The change in ownership of an airline hurts national pride.
Protesting farmers hurt national pride.
Not celebrating ISRO’s failed Chandrayaan hurts national pride.
A failed cricketing tour hurts national pride.
A badly arranged games tournament hurts national pride.
Retaining the services of British chiefs of defence forces immediately after independence hurts national pride. In 2022.
We literally have an Act of Parliament called the ‘Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act’.
Indeed, we have gone to the extent of threatening war and destruction for hurting national pride.
As you can see, this is across the board, from the Congress to the BJP, from Indira to MMS to Modi, from CPI(M) to RSS. There is no ideological barrier to what one can take personal umbrage and then claim this somehow hurts the pride of 1.4 billion people, as if you can actually define what that is.
My friends, if your nation and its pride are so delicate and fragile that it is hurt repeatedly by the actions of these individuals to do or say their thing, you really need to introspect the strength of your nation and the source of its pride.
We must stop this continuous whinging about how something we do not like at an individual level is somehow so important and significant to the future of this nation that it adversely affects the way the entire world views us, and therefore, automatically makes our nation, and by default, us bad specimens of the species, along with the extremely cynical presumption that how others view us actually matters in some way to our lives.
And while it is no one’s case that one not question certain utterances or acts or practices and/or claim that these hurt one’s feelings or outrage one’s sensibilities and that some of these may be used by some people outside India to judge all Indians, let us not forget that no one person or party is truly representative of India and any typecasting of Indianness or Indians by any non-Indian (heck, even by Indians) is more than likely to be wrong, like any generalisation of any culture, leave alone one as ancient, mature, and complex as India. If you must, you could raise your voice against miscasting, racial or national stereotyping, or cultural appropriation by others who do not understand your specific culture or language or cuisine or costume or traditions or whatever. But to claim to speak for the entire nation is, how do I put it delicately, rather indicative of an exaggerated sense of one’s importance and place in society, isn’t it?
India is a continuously living civilisation for millennia, a vibrant culture with a varied history, with dozens of languages (many with their own scripts, literature, poetry, and art), colourful costumes, a rich and diverse diet, and a highly evolved sense of political identity and purpose, even if we are still a nascent democracy and are just getting used to it. It is almost impossible to not hurt the pride of some group or component of this vast society with absolutely anything you do. And almost impossible to hurt the pride of the collective identity we share as Indians.
Indeed, there is no way to accurately and objectively have a universally acceptable definition of what ‘national pride’ is in the first place. So, how can you hurt something that you cannot even define? Unless you mean to say that it is somehow congruent in its entirety to your personal feelings, in which case, exactly how narcissistic are you?
Let us remember that. By claiming that some action by an individual or a group of people, however important, is somehow damaging to our sense of nation is naive and silly at best, and arrogant and in the long run, dangerous, at worst.
Let us not conflate our personal feelings with the honour of a nation of 1.4 billion independent and individual souls. Because when we do that, we fall into the trap of mistaking a movie actor or producer for the nation, a sports star or writer for the country, the government for the Republic, and a cult leader, even if as powerful as a Jawaharlal or an Indira or a Modi, for India. And by doing that, we end up hurting, for the lack of a better phrase, national pride, if you know what I mean.
