As Citizens, We Must Not Confuse Patriotism With Nationalism

Muskan Syed Riaz

5 years ago

As a citizen of the world, I have witnessed and grasped a lot more than what the individual governments have intended to expose me to. Sounds like a great connotation, doesn’t it? But what’s the harm in trying to attain such a level of understanding and analysis?

I am an Indian citizen, or would it be correct to say that I am an Indian national or perhaps my nationality is Indian? All are the same, and hence we use them all interchangeably. You get the point. At the same time, I am a resident of Dubai, hence an expatriate in this country, which also makes me a Non-Resident Indian. So Indian I still am and will always be. And so, we miss home. We get a lump in our throat when the radio in our cars happens to play “chiththi ayi hai” or “sandesey atey hain” (though chiththis and sandeseys (letters) have vanished from the face of the earth, we know what they have always meant to us.

We get goosebumps at the sound of “Jann Gann Mann” at the beginning of a cricket match when India is playing. We plan to spend our annual leave in our homeland while we have all the means as well desire to travel the world and at times we do, but nothing matches the satiation of going back to the old house in that narrow street which we actually fled for a better life, career and all sort of desires.

At the same time, we criticize and cry about things we don’t like and those we want to see changed. This list is not small: the corruption at all levels in the governance, in our economy, the malpractices in our society, the lack of values in our youth, the pollution in the air, the adulteration in the food—actually, just anything that doesn’t appeal to our sensitivities. I don’t like the PizzaHut in India while I love what they serve in the U.A.E. A friend once mentioned that Pepsi in India is more sweet and less fizz and that she likes it better in the U.A.E. Insane.

The point is, while we do all the criticizing, we must not forget to appreciate—rather be proud that we are the people of a country whose Constitution gives us the right to freedom of speech among other precious rights, and I don’t want to repeat the preamble in this space, but I have just got it flashing in your brains right now.

Alhamdulillah (praise be to God). A great nation that India has been for centuries, even greater in its ideologies, does not require an xyz like me to provide a testimony to its greatness. But what is it, that lately we have been continuously fed with the idea of nationalism and have been made to fear the fate of being an ‘anti-national’? Almost every day we hear something or the other revolving around nationalism or someone being an anti-national. I wish there were an index to determine how many times these two words have surfaced the various forms of media around us in the last couple of years.

Also read: The UAPA Amendment And The Future Of Civil Liberties In A Constitutional Democracy

This is calling out to the immature naïve brains of the youth and the growing children in particular, and all Indians in general, beware! Before you are driven to a notion not worthy enough of your attention and hence, efforts.

Nationalism, as a term and an idea, is being sung about a little too much, but what does it actually mean? The gap between the nationalism that has been portrayed and what it really means could be an eye-opener. I urge my readers to find out. And please do not refer to the editable pages on the internet for your research and be careful while choosing your sources.

Patriotism is what we want to practice and celebrate and not nationalism. The word ‘patriotism’, did it get you wondering already that we don’t hear it at all these days? Are you wondering why? I would love to hear from everyone who has just invested time in going through this article of whatever they think about it.

Signing off
A Patriot