PATRIOTISM
We live in an age when the value of patriotism has become a word of the bygone days. Patriotism has now been replaced by caste, creed, religion etc.
It is to be remembered that freedom can never be maintained without the noble spirit of patriotism among the people. Without it a nation cannot lead an honorable life. A submissive country can have no national or international achievements. It is this spirit that we lacked during a thousand years of slavery. The loss of the true sense of patriotism is reflected in the character of the corrupt people who sell in the interest of the nation every day.
Patriotism has rather been monopolized in India. The ruling party labels the opposition as unpatriotic. The opposition thinks that the ruling party has sold the interest of the nation. The paramount law making bodies of the country which should be controlled by patriots of the highest rank have became ‘arena’ for the selfish people. Their only aim is to hold to the chair or snatch it. Nation is thrown in the den of hounds. Patriotism has been commercialized and is auctioned every five years. Having lost the spirit of patriotism we stand at the threshold of political and economic bankruptcy.
Noble people were crushed in the name of patriotism. Nazism that was forced upon the people of Germany by Hitler or upon the people of Japan by Tojo was not patriotism. It was the manifestation of naked self ambition. It rendered millions of people beggars in their own country. It is in this reference that Brann said ‘no man can be patriot on an empty stomach’. We cannot expect patriotism from 100 crores poor people of India.
When Byron said ‘one who loves not his country can love nothing’ he must have in his mind the great revolutionaries of France, St.Joan of Are, George Washington and those who suffered a lot in bringing democracy to England. Abraham Lincoln, the great patriot did not allow the partition of his country. In our country too patriots like Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, and Subbramanya Bharathi did their duty and hundreds and hundreds of patriots kissed the hangman’s knot for their mother land. Their patriotism has yet to bring fruits.
But the drama being acted by the power hungry politicians nowadays has reduced the spirit of patriotism to mere mockery. Their aim is the progress of themselves not the country. In such a state the word patriotism has almost become meaningless.