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What Happened At IIT Delhi Hints At An Emerging Trend Of ‘Patriotic Jingoism’
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By Azra Qaisar:
The season of college fests has begun. And this year, a patriotic fervour seems to have gripped the season. Strangely, IIT Kanpur invited Major General GD Bakshi and Markandey Katju to speak at their annual cultural fest. While ‘casual sexism’ has always been a part of the fest culture across universities, patriotism bordering on jingoism is the new trend this year.
IIT Delhi saw something similar happening in this regard on October 22. The ProNite at IIT Delhi Rendezvous’ 16 featured the popular Indian music band – Euphoria. The concert began with the video of a new song by the band – ‘Halla Bol’, which talks about azadi (freedom). The term azadi has become a much used term after the February 9 row in JNU this year. While the song itself appears to be a commentary on various issues that are affecting the country currently, interestingly student politics also seems to be represented as one of them.
Euphoria is a band that has been creating music for more than 20 years, and it was no surprise that a huge number of people gathered for their performance at the Open Air Theatre at IIT Delhi. The performance began with Palash Sen, the lead singer of the band asking the crowd to chant “Bharat mata ki jai.” Speaking from the perspective of someone who has attended one of Euphoria’s shows before, this seemed different and perhaps uncalled for in a college fest. What followed next was a declaration that this concert was being dedicated to the Indian army “standing at the borders.” The screen flashed images of the Indian flag. He ended his introduction by derogatory hand gestures towards Pakistan, and the crowd cheered.
Many would say that there is no problem in any of the aforementioned activities. These are perhaps perfectly normal activities that any patriot would carry out, but here’s the problem. Why has this not happened before and why is it happening now? The socio-political conditions in the country have laid the groundwork for such statements. Patriotism is no longer mere love for the nation – it is being conflated with jingoism. Euphoria made this statement knowing well that this was a crowd comprising of young people. The statement was not needed at the beginning of a music concert. It was not necessary because the situation did not demand it. It was also not needed because as much as it is important to love one’s nation, it is also important to not express that love to make a point.
These statements come at a time when relations between India and Pakistan are already tense. The entertainment industry is running into many troubles because of employing Pakistani artists. If examined in the context of this situation, Euphoria’s statements could then translate into a political stand – that a pertinent musical group stands with the army, is not friendly towards Pakistan while many others in the industry feel differently.
It is also important to understand this within the context of the past one and a half years, when campuses across India have been in the news for taking political stands – be it JNU, HCU, or FTII – however, they have received their share of criticism for doing so. Universities live under a facade of being apolitical, and the proponents of this facade discourage political activities among students. However, statements made by Palash Sen in his performance were also political and made on a college campus but are deemed perfectly acceptable.
In my opinion, it is a disturbing trend and it remains to be seen if this patriotic jingoism continues to be a recurring theme in the upcoming college festivals in the country.
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Sudhanshu
I don’t agree at all with you. Unfortunately, you don’t know the difference between patriotism and jingoism. We don’t think India is the best, but we hate Pakistan because it is a threat to India’s integrity. You don’t know what our soldiers are doing for you at the border…You don’t wanna know, you hate that topic cause you are not patriotic. Anyone who loves his country (and hence, is patriotic) will always hate the threats to his country. You can’t understand that. You will always remain doubtful and hate it and perceive it as jingoism. Sad.
Himanshu Kumar
Chanting Bharat Mata ki Jai at a college fest in a song dedicated to the Indian Army is taken to be jingoism. Seriously? You are feeling so bad when a derogatory hand gesture was made towards Pakistan. What for? Though I agree that if you love your country there is no need to show that. But what’s the issue if someone showed it? What’s the issue if someone expressed one’s love for country? I don’t want to say anything here because if I will try to prove my point, you may start howling that India is getting “intolerant”. You just try to access what message are you trying to deliver when you say such petty things as jingoism. Write good articles, brother. May god bless you!
Deepak Kumar Thakur
I really don’t understand what was wrong with chanting Bharat Matha Ki Jai at the beginning of the concert ,I also believe that it was no wrong to perform with the flags on the screen or army as a theme .I going by your statement would condemn the derogatory gesture made for pakistan.
I would like you to understand that it is always a right time to cheer for your army ,While you were righting this a soldier somewhere along the line of control would have been in an encounter with either the terrorist or the Pakistani Ranger .
You also must understand that the soldier who is standing tall and strong along the border doesnt need you to appreciate their effort ,They gonna serve the nation or may even die fighting so that you sitting somewhere in a Air-conditioned office may write this.
I believe that everyone should be liberal but u should be able to distinguish the thin line between being liberal or anti national.
Anurag
I strongly diagree with you madam. The kind of language you pseudo intellectuals(sorry for that word) use while talking about such things strucks my nerve. You sound to me like a person from a first world country,people who donot have enough issues to talk about, so they nitpick issues like jingoism.
Ma’am i agree, right now the country is riding high on deshbhakti bandwagon but there nothing to worry abt it. Country like ours where civilians tend to put their immediate family first and just go with corruption and other things need the kind of patriotism you are talking about to catch upto the world in next decade or so. We have been scoring points by talking abt gandhi, now we need netaji SC bose to hold our hand. Strengthing current regional dynamics with our neighbors will go a long way and making our citizens little more passionate abt India’s interest will work in our favour.
Secondly, since you mentioned sexism, i want to draw an analogy parrallel to sexism.
In present time, feminism, awareness for women rights is at all time high, but you must have heard few people complain abt feminism being unjust and sometime being unfair to men. This is what i say them, patrichary has been around for long time and it will not be easy to get rid of but if in doing so,feminist ideals go too far and sometimes cross a line then its fair, becoz patriarchy did it too. That is how there will be a balance. People relish balance only when they witness both extreme.
Same goes for jingoism