Debate - Patriotism has reduced to mere Tokenism

I presented this debate at JIVE 08, the cultural festival of Jaypee Institute. I was speaking for the motion. And no I did not win a prize but I just thought it deserves a read..

I would like to ask you a very simple question. Do you know the name of the local MP? No? You must at least know the political party he/she belongs to.. Now I am sure half the people sitting here have no idea. We don’t know because we don’t care. But if I ask you about Deepika Padukone and her boyfriends, then each one of us will have an answer.

Well the reason I asked you the above is question is this: If you consider yourself patriotic, then the first thought that should come to your mind when you think of your nation is, who are the ones ruling it? What are their credentials? Is this country in safe hands? Governance is closely related to patriotism.

But we don’t even give a damn.

One of the cleanest figures of Indian politics and the architect of a liberal India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, himself failed to get elected to the Lok Sabha and that too from a highly educated constituency of the capital city Delhi. He had to be brought in as a member of the Rajya Sabha from the far-off state of Assam. So what does that say? We might talk big things but we do not even exercise our right to vote. We’d instead prefer to go out and watch movies when we get a holiday for general elections.

India earned her freedom after much sacrifice and bloodshed. Bhagat Singh, one of the most popular faces of the Indian Freedom struggle, gave up his life for the nation the young age of 21 years. 21 years. Today when I look around, I hardly see that kind of a passion for the country. True, India is a free nation today, true India is not in a state of war. So we don’t require revolutionaries who would sacrifice their lives at the drop of a hat. But there are so many issues plaguing us right now. According to our former president APJ Abdul Kalam, there are several factors that are a threat to our dream of becoming a super power by 2020. Corruption is one such factor. Even being a passive witness to corruption is a form of corruption. With scores of venal people around us, how many of us here feel enough is enough? How many of us actually step out of the crowd, raise our voices and do something about it?

All that we do is celebrate cricketing victories, shout slogans, wave our national flag and think that we’re patriotic.

Patriotism is a big word. We as a nation are not even fulfilling some of our most basic obligations. Our national animal, tiger is on the brink of extinction. But we don’t care. Our National Heritage, all our priceless monuments are in a state of absolute neglect. But we don’t care. Every single day, we litter our nation in the most uncivic of manners. Even when there is a dustbin in sight, we don’t have the patience to walk up to it.

This year, recruitments in the Armed Forces have been at an all time low. We are facing an acute shortage of uniformed men. Which basically means people no longer have that desire to support and defend our nation. No doubt, the current Army Chief suggested a compulsory 1 year cadetship to all Indian graduating males.

Since 1947, we have come a long way. It’s been 60 years. But my heart pains when I see that patriotism has indeed been lost somewhere in the pages of history. Patriotism has been long forgotten and all that has remained is mere tokenism.