Of Native Cultural Prowess And Borrowed Military Grandeur
By Jawed Naqvi
31 January, 2007
The Dawn
When we discuss a flawless display of marching army columns who can deny the Nazis were brilliant. But their view of German culture was ever less so. North Korea surpasses everyone in showing off its disciplined military march past every year. Some would say it is immaculate, even breathtaking in execution. Recently the communist rulers in Pyongyang added nuclear weapons to their overbearing military clout. Yet who can miss the reality that North Korea's politics is out of pace with its more stable and prosperous neighbours. The military grandeur of the Soviet Union could not keep it together.Australia and India celebrated January 26 as national holidays. For India it was the 57th Republic Day. For Australia it was simply Australia Day when people have fun and reflect. Australians do not have nuclear weapons even though they supply vital uranium to nuclear reactors around the world. Is Australia a weak country without a greatm army or strategic weapons?
India celebrates its Republic Day differently. It has an array of imported Jaguars, Mirages, Sukhois, MiGs and a host of expensive battle tanks, besides impressive weaponry and radar systems, most of which are out on display at its Republic Day parades. For some years it has been showing a variety of domestically built nuclear capable missiles too. Is it a more secure country than Australia?
The problem with revelling in military might by a country like India is two-fold. It does not reflect the varied and peace-loving culture of its people. A lovely little glimpse of India's cultural range has been traditionally on display since the inception of the annual parade and pageantry. However some Indians, particularly those settled abroad, like to indulge in mindless chatter on the internet about India's unique military might displayed in its parades. They do not know the costs involved.
It does not seem to occur to our friends that military arsenal could neither save the Soviet Union from imploding into a debris nor has it stopped Iraq, which like India, was a Soviet client for defence hardware, from being vanquished by a superior military power. Perhaps Iraq would not be such an easy prey had it succeeded in acquiring nuclear weapons. On the other hand, the criminally imposed conflict on Baghdad had the potential to lead to an even more unthinkable calamity had Saddam Hussein succeeded in acquiring nuclear weapons before Israeli planes knocked out his nuclear reactors in Osirak in 1981. Who knows.
There was a small news item in The Hindu of January 28, 1957, that described India's seventh Republic Day celebrations. It's worth recalling here because it shows that the focus 50 years ago was on India's amazing, and still unbeatable cultural mosaic, not so much on any misplaced military grandeur.
"The diversity of life in the country, from the snow-laden Himalayas of the north to the palm-fringed shores of the south and from the jungle-clad hills of the east to the arid regions of the west was presented with kaleidoscopic effect in a pageantry procession which was one of the highlights of the Republic Day celebrations in the capital," The Hindu reported half a century ago.
"The pageantry procession, which took 45 minutes to pass the saluting base of President Rajendra Prasad on the central vista, followed the armed forces parade from Rashtrapati Bhavan to Old Delhi along a six-mile route. Dr Prasad took the salute and witnessed the colourful cultural pageant. The Soviet Defence Minister, Marshal G.K. Zhukov, sat between Vice-President Radhakrishnan and Prime Minister Nehru on the left side of the dais where, from beneath a red-and-gold ceremonial umbrella, the President took the salute.
"Public enthusiasm for the annual pageantry reached a new pitch this year and citizens began filling the lawns, wet with early morning dew, hours before the parade was scheduled to begin. A great cheer went up when Mr Nehru arrived and walked around exchanging greetings with the spectators. There were more cheers when the President arrived in the gleaming state coach." So President Rajendra Prasad arrived in a gleaming, horse-drawn state coach, not in today's armour-plated Mercedes Benz. Mr Nehru travelled in an open car, not kept safely away from the people by forbidding security detail. And people, just ten years into a traumatic independence were a confident lot. They still are, but they need to be left alone. The Indian state has little to do with the blossoming of India's cultural assets. On the contrary the state's overbearing presence has often harmed the way the people like to live.
There were some 26 tableaux from different states in this year's pageant. From the composite culture of Jammu and Kashmir to toy and mask crafts of Orissa, diverse aspects of India were on display. A brilliant range of dance forms from the north-eastern states to the tribal dances of other culturally gifted states is always a moving sight to watch. Maharashtra's vibrant 'laavni' dance we don't get to see often. It goes back to the merry culture of its fisherwomen and their men folk. All this cannot be understood in the context of the unitary state that India is subconsciously seeking to become.
To cite a small but useful example it is the quest of the state, going by a presidential address in parliament in 1996, to change the dietary habit of the tribal people of the north east. How ridiculous can we get? But G.G. Swell, an outspoken Christian tribal leader berated the parliament for seeking to ban beef eating. "That's our staple diet. Do you want to starve us?" he asked Prime Minister Vajpayee. The trampling of human rights, and thereby their cultural rights, of the people of some of these states by the Indian army has certainly not helped the cause of the beautiful mosaic that the country otherwise is. Nor has the army succeeded in quelling a perceived rebellion by the people.
We can understand the country's need for the very high security bandobast given today's context of our troubled neighbourhoods. Moreover, a prime minister was assassinated in 1984 and a former premier killed in 1991. We can also understand the need for military preparedness in view of the 1962 standoff with China and two wars that followed with Pakistan. But showing off military hardware and fighter planes that were bought with the taxpayers, hard-earned money is to concede the argument that any country, even Saudi Arabia, or Brunei can flaunt exotic weaponry with their superior riches. To what avail?
A possible answer was couched in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's meeting last week with young NCC cadets a day after the national parade. "It may interest you to know that Mahatma Gandhi was so impressed by the idea of a regular morning drill," he told the children, "that he introduced this practice in his Wardha Scheme of Education. He wanted every student to participate in the drill. He saw its significance in the larger context of nation building."
According to Dr Singh, Gandhi addressed a Scouts Rally once and said: "If the whole nation of 300 million could be drilled so as to move together and act together and if necessary die together as one man, we should attain independence without striking a blow and set an example of a peaceful revolution for the whole world to emulate." If that is a view shared by India's recent rulers, it was not evident in last week's military parade.
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