Sir

Patriotism is a value that most people cherish. We needn’t demonstrate it in visible ways. Unfortunately, a notion has emerged in our country that ‘patriotism’ ought to be articulated frequently, demonstrated publicly and enforced in such a manner that it will be an abject lesson to the odd dissenter.

The most perplexing thing that happened in 2016, apart from the ‘demonetisation dance’ has been this ‘Jana Gana Mana’ diktat!   It is hard to understand the rationale for the Supreme Court’s order that every cinema hall should play the national anthem before the exhibition of a film.

The editorial in The Hindu couldn’t have said it better. “India has given itself an anthem easily recognised as a lofty and moving rendering of the country’s oneness amidst diversity. It hardly requires judicial promotion.”

The National anthem should be sung on special occasions, especially in schools and colleges This is sufficient to help citizens identify the anthem with something special and higher than their daily concerns. There are clear rules on when the national anthem should be played. Any misuse of the anthem or any wilful insult to it is legally prohibited. Anyone aggrieved by any misuse of the anthem can take recourse to the law. Beyond this, in a mature democracy such as India, there really is no need to make the playing or the singing of the anthem mandatory through a judicial order.

Why were cinema halls were singled out for special treatment by the Supreme Court? Perhaps because they were required to play the national anthem about 30 years ago, a practice that has been largely given up. Playing the national anthem in theatres at the end of the film was given up some three decades ago in most parts of the country, largely as a result of the tendency of a section of the audience to walk out. To reintroduce it now gives the impression that cinemas should forever be the main sites for the demonstration of patriotism.

But again ‘patriotism’ is not something that can be enforced by judicial diktat, or by making cinema halls the playground for a misplaced sense of patriotism.

Yours Truly

Debrata Sanyal, Don Bosco, Guwahati

All opinions appearing in the Vox Pop  category are purely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of the Editor or Newsnet One

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