Tags:
Journalism of Courage
We are pained, enraged, disgusted and highly sensitive to the developments at Kargil. Sahara India Parivar can never be associated with anything that is against the interests of our country in any manner8221;. Yes, Mr Subrata Roy, who can? These are indeed difficult times, Mother India, her honour, her pride, her life itself, in danger, is calling out to every child, son, stand up and prove it, show that you are worth your mother. Certainly everyone cannot march to Kargil. Everyone cannot shed blood. There are so many ways to serve the nation, to deal with the enemy. Like the way the sponsors of the Sahara Cup has abandoned the Indo-Pak series following Kapil Dev8217;s patriotic call for a cricket moratorium. Well, it is no big deal, the cancellation of a cricket series. But see how an issue was created by the nationally awakened. Nobody was thinking of the Sahara Cup. Then Kapil Dev went to Srinagar, saw the wounded jawans, realised the enormity of the Evil across the border, thought of the motherland, and did hisnational duty: a call for cancellation. Who could disagree once they were reminded? We are not talking cricket here. It is all about the expressions of patriotism, about issues8217; that serve the nation. The kind of issues, once brought out by the patriot, that can only evoke wholesome national approval.
Who can differ, who can afford to be anti-national at a time when the nation is at war? Be prepared for the parade of more issues. It may very well be the bus. What did the bus achieve? Our Prime Minister was conned. He was taken for a ride by the vicious enemy. In retrospect, a spectacle of humiliation. Cancel the bloody bus. Such murmurs are already in the air. Or, it may be the flights. Or trade. Or visas. And not surprisingly, Bal Thackeray has asked Dilip Kumar to return that award given him by Nawaz Sharif last year: Nishan-e-Pakistan. How can the thespian remain Indian with an award like that? So Thackeray: Please prove your national loyalty. Do we need this, this manufactured patriotism, thisobligatory nationalism? No, we don8217;t. It may be very nation-friendly to activate the enemy-feeling by identifying safe issues and causes. It is also very tempting because you rarely get a chance to express your national credentials. After all, what is nationalism in the time of peace?
