Opinion Amid Manipur violence, this Independence Day, a question for Indians: What is patriotism?

But that still doesn’t answer the basic question: What is patriotism?

Before the Dharasana Satyagraha, Sarojini Naidu asked this question. Mahatma Gandhi answered her by handing her a flag, “Hold it firmly”. She held on to it despite charging batons; the act of holding on to the flag became a metaphor for standing firm on principles. Swami Vivekananda believed that one cannot protect one’s country’s respect if one cannot secure their mother. That is the way to “serve your motherland”.

In the extreme patriotism of Machiavelli, there is no space to question one’s country’s right or wrong. Noted political philosopher Stephen Nathanson acknowledged the sense of discomfort that many have when talking about patriotism and so he espoused a “moderate patriotism”. It is characterised by a special affection for one’s country, personal identification with the country, a concern for its well-being and the willingness to promote an idea that can benefit it.

For philosopher Simon Keller, patriotism involves the alignment of ethical virtues of the self and those of the country. Gratitude, therefore, becomes one of the central virtues of patriotism. Philosopher Maurizio Viroli, one of the foremost experts on Machiavelli, talks about the moral obligation we have towards our country because we are “indebted” to it; because we owe “our country our life, our education, our language, and in most fortunate cases, our liberty”. And “if we want to be moral persons, we must return what we have received, at least in part, by serving the common good.”

The common good is the nucleus of patriotism.

In a country as diverse as ours, further fragmented by identities and technology, that is a robust definition. For it’s only the common good that can go beyond religion, caste, class, attribute x or y. It is all-encompassing, it puts the country front and centre. This is what President Droupadi Murmu referred to in her address on the eve of the 77th Indian Independence Day.

Patriotism doesn’t belong to any particular category. Like humanity, it cannot be framed in terms of identity. It is not about you versus me; it’s about what binds us together, what teaches us not to hate — and, more importantly, not to stand and watch when hate is on display but “hold the flag”, as Bapu advised.

But when an RPF constable kills people in cold blood, we just watch the video; when women are assaulted and paraded in Manipur, it takes a video to shake us to the core. This is because too often, we are spectators, looking at the differences between us. For us, the middle class, life has always been about “managing” what matters to us — professional, personal, even moral — and keeping a spectator’s arm’s length from almost everything else.

A manager is someone who treats everything or everyone as a resource for tangible results, and who frames every idea or question of ethics around maximisation of profit. As the middle class, our values are shaped by reviewing, reporting, managing, controlling, output, input, cost-benefit analysis. That’s why we will not jump in to stop someone from recording a hate video because we don’t want the trouble, the mess of what follows. We want to manage our engagement. Patriotism, however, cannot be managed.

There is a line from John F Kennedy’s inaugural speech that, even if it is a cliché, resonates across time and cultures: Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.

Translate that question to the India of 2023 and the one answer that comes up, loud and clear, to what the middle class can do for the country is this: We can stop managing patriotism in terms of what the country can do for us.

Beyond the honest pursuit of our professions, the most patriotic thing we can do is to start saying “no” to hate.

It’s not easy because hate is visceral and strong, it grows from our deeply-held prejudices and insecurities but it continuously corrodes us. As long as we keep watering the seeds of hate, whatever the soil, whatever the sunshine or water, we will not be able to reap the benefits of patriotism. In fact, hate breaks the country, it poisons our veins with mistrust. Patriotism, in its very essence, has to be inclusive. A patriotism that starts to exclude, that makes others take a test to be certified patriotic is not patriotism.

Patriotism is the soul force Mahatma Gandhi talked about when he defined satyagraha. The best gift we can give each other is to tell our children that patriotism is about caring for the country you live in. This caring means caring for all those who live in this country, caring for those who are less privileged than we are, who are more vulnerable than we are.

We need to tell our children that contrary to what they hear on TV and in popular culture, politics and morality don’t have to be contradictory. In fact, patriotism is where these two come together.

Our preamble asserts, “We the people of India.” Let’s leave “I” alone and become a “we” to create institutional memories as families, society and country. Patriotism needs that spirit of love, gratitude, service, respect. Patriots don’t hate, they also don’t stand by as an audience while people are being degraded and hurt. They jump in to help. That’s what Gandhiji meant when he told Sarojini Naidu to hold the flag — against the batons of hate.

The writer is the author of the books, Being Good, Aaiye, Insaan Banaen and Ethikos: Stories searching happiness. He teaches and trains courses on ethics, values and behaviour