The surest way to kill patriotism
Here’s the video for A.R. Rahman’s rendition of ‘Vande Mataram‘:
It’s a lovely, not-secular song with Durga, Lakshmi and temple metaphors, but the surest way to kill patriotism is to try and make it compulsory:
.. the BJP [directed] all [Indian] states ruled by it to make singing of the national song [’Vande Mataram’] compulsory in all schools, including madrassas… [Link]
Yes, it’s an annoying political stunt which is the mirror of the flag-burning amendment puffery in the U.S. Yes, the extreme end result is moral police in pickups beating those insufficiently patriotic, religious or virtuous, like Saudi Arabia and the Taliban.
But there’s a subtler point here: most things the government makes compulsory lose respect, and people assume those memes couldn’t hack it in the free market of ideas without artificial restraint of trade. Europe learned this with its state churches, which American settlers fled. The U.S. is said to be more religious precisely because of its freedom from a religion anointed by the state.
The Maharashtran government already forces movie theaters to play the national anthem before every movie. By your third or fourth movie of the week, the flag and anthem, which command respect on genuine national holidays, have been thoroughly desecrated. They come after a 20-minute parade of ads and are forced upon movie watchers in a politicized context unrelated to patriotism. Meaning is lost to ritual. You’ve never seen so many bored customers picking their noses, aching to sit down, chilling outside the theater until the anthem is done. (Also, the clip most theaters use has the production values of a ’50s filmstrip: a tutty flag circa 1940, badly stitched from scraps, its proportions askew, an ancient version of the anthem, and celluloid full of stains and scratches.)
There are American analogues. A mandatory ‘Vande Mataram’ wouldn’t quite be like the anthem at American baseball games — those aren’t required by the government, and ‘Vande Mataram’ is the national song, not the anthem. But it would be very much like the Pledge of Allegiance made mandatory by Congress after the the Red Scare in the ’50s. Every elementary-age American kid knows the words. Most don’t know the meaning. And the specter of enforced patriotism is an insult to the very concept of America.
‘Vande Mataram’ contains a passage evoking the Indian independence struggle:
Though who savest, arise and save!
To her I cry who ever her foeman drove
Back from plain and Sea
And shook herself free. [Link]
How ironic that a political party which swathes itself in the symbols of Independence would emulate the mistakes of the British.
on Tuesday, August 29th, 2006, 9:08 pm in Politics, Religion › 
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Great analysis Manish. I would love to attend one of those executive committee meetings of these dumb fucks where they make these decisions. I don’t think the majority of people who actually vote (farmers etc..) would care about this.
Another problem with decisions like these is that it’s hard to get rid of them after a while.
surely you mean “tatty” old man… although the other word ..uh.. does capture your emotion.
great analysis btw - and bang on. just want to add the reference to the bengali novel “anand math” as the origin of the song. it was essentially a fight song, and many of my older relatives, some of whom are old school ex-Jan Sanghi’s or members of the RSS, hold it in deep regard. Sung with fervor it does set the blood rushing - i do agree with you that this move cheapens the sentiment.
manish…just saw the ar rahman video. evocative… but not quite the vande mataram being pushed by bjp. you may be aware of it, but it wasnt clear in your post and i wanted to point it out.
i wanted to make a point with some canadian context. “O Canada” was originally written in French. So even the english version is … not quite the real thing for a purist. To me however, there is no other alternative than the English version. It just means more to me that i understand the weight, the depth and the context of each word. To take this point further, there has been a movement in recent times to make the anthem independent of language so as to include the population who is not comfortable in either official language. i think it is a neat move because the anthem is expected to evoke a desire to nurture, to cherish one’s country and that can not happen if the speaker is just mouthingthe words. Every citizen should have the right to state his/her emotion in the language he/she is most comfortable. The alternative would be, as being positioned by these ideologues, to have forced recitations for the benefit of the listeners… !!!
Anyway, my point was that I liked Rahman’s version of Vande Mataram. The music and the song allowed him to express his love for the country with the deepest passion without compromising his faith (I gauge he is Muslim by his name)… and that is just peachy. It is participatory citizenship - the way things should be in all democracies.
test… odd. the thing ate my previous post.
Dudes,
This is a beautiful video. However, the song here is variation of original Vande Mataram. Original song is highly sanskartized Bengali and more powerful. Of the three nationalistic songs: a) Jana Gana, b) Sara Jahan se Acha, and c) Vande Matram, VM has very strong roots to the rise of Indian nationalism and ran into problems from Day 1 since it was essentially a song of rising by Hindu ascetics (by BC Chaterjee in Anand Math). JanaGana and Sara Jaha were poetries, poignant no doubt.
PS: I do not think it should be made compulsory. On its own, it will outlive all the hoopla, it always has. I agree