“Our army men are standing along the border 24*7 to protect us and you cannot even stand outside an ATM for the nation’s sake or stand for just 52 seconds before a movie as a sign of reverence to our nation?” This is exactly how the governing administrators question our sense of nationalism.
But why do we fail to realise that [envoke_twitter_link]due to their jingoism, we tend to doubt our sense of nationalism[/envoke_twitter_link]? Banning beef for the sake of the nation, banning 86% of the constituted currency of our economy ridiculously, for the sake of the nation, banning Pakistani artists for the country’s sentiments, and finally, playing of the national anthem mandatorily before every movie in a theatre as a sign of respect for the nation, such absurd regulations have been enforced to instill nationalism in our minds. But what I fail to understand is how our governing authorities and lawmakers perceive such obnoxious regulations as fruitful steps for the betterment of the nation?
Will making me sing the national anthem before watching a movie increase the parameter of my nationalistic sense? And what if, after watching the movie, my sense of nationalism goes even down than before, will my payment for the movie ticket be refunded?
My next question is that why has religion been misinterpreted as a platform of discrimination over the choice of meat? Why has mindless vandalism and inflicting atrocities towards human sentiments in the name of safeguarding religious sentiments not been taken into account? Doesn’t every religion preach love and tolerance towards other religions? Then why did the authorities take up the inane step of banning beef altogether?
Such questions arise because of the insane “orders” from the authorities. But why are they never answered by the authorities? The media houses are always standing strong when it comes to propagating hypernationalism over nationalism. The governing authorities, on the other hand, infuse nationalism with extremities, turning it into jingoism. So amidst such chaotic views of the pillars which hold our democracy, isn’t it highly necessary for the people of the nation to hold on to the idea of pure nationalism without its adulteration with obnoxious extremities? Peace and tolerance, which is dying a slow death in our nation, can only be held strong when we, the people, do no let our sense of nationalism get infused with jingoism and let the fine line between the two terms, be as it is.