An idea whose time has gone
Let us stop this jamboree of a Republic Day Parade.
Even if there is no fog on this 26th January, Delhi will still come to a standstill. Blame it on the Republic Day celebrations. As this news report suggests, the state seems to be taking a kind of perverse pride in converting the national capital into a fortress that day — multi-layered security, anti-aircraft guns, helicopter surveillance, close circuit cameras, snipers on high-rise buildings, additional security force deployments, closure of state borders, disruption of public transport services and many other ‘intensive’ measures have been put in place.
Because Republic Day is a scheduled event with a standard programme, it provides a very attractive target for the terrorists trying to score a publicity victory over the Indian state. Now, the terrorists are not waiting for the D-day itself but looking at innovative ways to perpetuate their heinous terror acts. Some would say that for reasons of security and inconvenience to the public of Delhi alone, the concept of Republic Day parade, as we know it today, must be done away with. The counter-argument is that a nation can not be cowed down by the terrorists and “the show must go on”. Some commentators have tried to resolve the dilemma by suggesting a reduction in the frequency of organising the parade — maybe every three or five years.
Is it then merely a question of cost-benefit analysis or are there larger questions about the need to have a Republic Day parade after six decades of being a Republic?
Republic Day parade is a throwback to the idea of a Nehruvian nation-state, where it was part of an attempt by the government to transform the colonial subjects into citizens of a modern state. It was portrayed as a ‘national’ festival — in tune with Nehruvian beliefs — which unlike any other festival in the country, was free of any religious or regional influences.
Since its inception, the Republic Day parade has had two components: the military parade and the cultural pageant. The Indian state took a deliberate decision in 1951 to incorporate these two elements in the parade.
Whereas other countries, on similar occasions, hold impressive military parades which are calculated to give the world an idea of the armed might of the country, we have combined the ceremonial military parade with the cultural pageant, which signifies that this young Republic values cultural progress no less than military strength. [Statement by the then Joint Secretary of the Department of Education]
Now Indian culture was something very close to Nehru’s heart and he used the cultural idiom to transmit his own idea of India to citizens of a free Republic. In 1952, Nehru wrote to the Chief Ministers articulating his vision of the cultural pageant.
Thus the procession would be a moving pageant of India in its rich diversity. … I would love to see in our procession people from various parts of India including our tribal people, the Nagas from the North East, the Bhils from Central India, the Santals and others showing that they are also full partners in this great enterprise of India going ahead.[Link]
So long before Hillary Clinton made Smart Power famous as a phrase, Nehru and his acolytes were actually implementing the principle of combining Hard and Soft power of the state. Unfortunately, the target of this power game of the Indian government were not other countries of the world, but the citizens of the Indian state. What’s worse is — going by the opening sentence of a recent press release — that the narrative of the state hasn’t changed a bit in the last six decades: …the forthcoming Republic Day Parade – 2010 where India will showcase its varied cultural diversity, development in Science and Technology, military might and economic strength.
Now the military parade part. At a very basic level, military parades are meant to demonstrate Indian state’s ability to defend itself and its citizens from any foreign aggression. The aim of the military display is to drive home the message to potential aggressors that if attacked, India would rebuff and defeat them. The parade also boosts the national pride of the general public by evoking a feeling of awe for the armed forces. At a subliminal level, it is a warning to separatists that they are fighting a losing battle against the might of the Indian state.
In the aftermath of the humiliating loss to China, the military part of the parade was not held for the first time in 1963. After that, as India fought two wars with Pakistan in quick succession, the imagery and rhetoric of the parade turned more militaristic. Although the importance of military might as an element of ‘comprehensive national power’ has diminished in last two decades — with economic weight and political and social stability of the nation gaining greater importance — the parade hasn’t reflected these changes in its design and conduct.
This dissonance lies at the heart of the problem, manifested in an increasing irrelevance of the Republic Day parade to the nation and the average Indian. A young nation, and its first Prime Minister, used the event to convey the idea of a nation to its citizens who had been colonial subjects till a few years back. In the last six decades, the idea of India has firmed and taken deep roots in the country. In fact, this idea of India as a liberal, secular, democratic Republic is almost inviolable in every Indian’s mind. It doesn’t need any further validation by way of pageants or military parades.
As far as the import of military parade is concerned, there is certainly a need to celebrate the Indian armed forces and provide opportunities for them to connect with the larger society. The right occasion to do so, though, is not the Republic Day but the day the nation celebrates the most comprehensive military victory of the Indian Republic — Vijay Diwas. Even there, the military parade should be a mix of the formal and the informal, allowing for greater interaction between the citizen and the military. And perhaps, the really grand military parades could be held on every fifth anniversary of the 1971 victory to commemorate the occasion. As the thirtieth anniversary of that victory falls in 2011, it is an opportune time to undertake this rescheduling exercise.
In the last decade, India has — in practice — already jettisoned most of the distinctive Nehruvian ideas, whether it be non-alignment or a centrally planned economy. It is not a comment on the quality of Nehru’s ideas or their importance to the nation during his lifetime. It is about their relevance to a twenty-first century India. The Republic Day parade, though a rather insignificant event in comparison to the big Nehruvian ideas of non-alignment and centrally planned economy, perhaps falls in the same league.
It is nigh time the government did to the Republic Day parade on the Republic’s sixtieth birthday in 2010 what it does to its own employees on their sixtieth birthday — retire it. To paraphrase Victor Hugo, you can not hold to an idea whose time has gone. And Republic Day parade is one such idea.
Update: Outlook magazine asks the question — Is the Republic Day parade conceptually too frozen in the ’50s?
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by pragmatic_desi and ramkumaran, Sangh Parivaar. Sangh Parivaar said: An idea whose time has gone: Let us stop this jamboree of a Republic Day Parade. Even if there is no fog on this 2… http://bit.ly/8mEcts [...]
“In fact, this idea of India as a liberal, secular, democratic Republic is almost inviolable in every Indian’s mind. It doesn’t need any further validation by way of pageants or military parades.”
I don’t think we are old enough to be that blase about our national identity yet. Not in a country, of such a diverse and fragmented people who were probably politically united for the first time in their 1000s of years of history – only 60 years back!
Cost-benefit analysis needed – yes. Toning down the aspects that cause too much public inconvenience – sure. Doing away with it all? I don’t think so.
What about the PR value – both in terms of the visiting “dignitaries” and possibly some fleeing news coverage internationally ?
Disagree. This country needs a lot more cementing before we do away with the rituals. And rituals are important too.
And soft power is important too
You are reflecting a typical communist perspective.
@Nor’easter:
Fair enough but IMO that the idea of India is pretty well-established now. Even if it is not (at certain places), the increasing irrelevance of the Parade means that it is not the right vehicle to convey the message now. We may need to reinvent the idea or perhaps find better ideas to reinforce the idea of India.
@Neo:
Let the visiting dignitary attend the proposed military parade on Vijay Diwas. Although, no US President has attended the Parade and US is our “strategic” partner. The invitation to the dignitary does have some diplomatic signalling value but not something as valuable to keep the Parade going for that.
As far as the fleeting media coverage internationally, do we need the “tanks and guns” kind of coverage for a liberal, modern and more confident India — such coverage is likely to conjure up images of the Red Army of yore than of a modern nation. I’d say international media coverage which creates a wrong impression is perhaps another reason to stop the Parade.
@N:
Rituals are important in a statist, communist country… not in a free, liberal, democratic Republic.
Rituals are important for humanity – rituals of marriage, parenting etc.
All societies need them because these are the ties that bind and the ties that transition.
Likewise, when a nation has so many disparate groups and is left scarred by long period of colonial exploitation and engineering, rituals are important then too.
By your logic all nations in the world must be a stalinist republic. US spends a tonne on fireworks all over the US on 4th of July. Their indep is over 250 years old.
Every ancient tribe has celebrated the bonding of the tribe.
Every society primitive, liberal and advanced has these rituals. Even the communists had to develop some.
Before making blanket assertions on human nature, do your research.
Of all the articles posted on Pragati, this is one of the most vacuous. Written, for the sake of being written.
Pragati, there is enough happening in India for you to address.
This article actually sounds like something Sagarika Ghose or Burkha Dutt would discuss on “We the people” type of empty nonsense.
If you are running out of topics, I can supply a long list of potential stuff to research
@N:
Firstly, a minor correction. This is not for the Pragati magazine but at my blog.
Secondly, societies have rituals and Indian society also has many — from Holi, Diwali, Pongal, Onam, Bihu, Id and so on. They evolve and aren’t forced by the state on to its citizens.
Thirdly, if you compare the 4th of July celebrations in the US to the Republic day parade, then you are overlooking the role of the Indian army in the independence movement vis-a-vis what George Washington’s army did in the US. A comparable day for the Indian military to connect is the Vijay Diwas. And how statist is 4th of January celebration? Answer for yourself, how many people, including you, really connect with the nation because of the R day parade.
Finally, can we avoid this name-calling please?
In complete disagreement with your views. In fact, I would advocate exactly the opposite.
This is interesting – but was the Republic Day always threatened by terrorists? Don’t we all know the entity responsible for creating such a nuisance? So in effect anyone who suggests toning down the parade because of security is saying – Look, let’s not hold this too often, ‘coz it takes a lot of effort to prevent some whackos from Pakistan trying to disrupt it. This is indeed a perverse way to approach the Pakistan problem. What next? To not celebrate Ganesh Utsav ‘coz we can expect simiar trouble? After all, isn’t this also an annual event that occurs on a known day?
@photonman:
I did not make that argument. You did.
I made a completely different case for scrapping the parade by historically understanding the aim with which it was started. Do we still need to achieve the same aims? Or should we move on now?
Pardon me for saying it if it hurts you, but I’m beginning to doubt your patriotism. Do you feel no desire to give a befitting reply to this? http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/10/china_celebrates_60_years.html
Thank God we celebrate our Republic Day with pomp and show. And no public intellectual- even the contempt-inviting Arundhati Roy!- has aired a view to limit the celebrations.
@Shashwat Gupta:
There can be many valid reasons for continuing with the parade but because China held one after 60 years is not one of them. A far more befitting reply, to my mind, would be a better governed country, better equipped armed forces which can repulse Chinese threats, better infrastructure, far better growth rate so that we don’t have to look towards China and say “me too”. Sorry but my patriotism runs far deeper than size of military parades.
Doing away with the existing model of parade doesn’t mean that it can’t be replaced by something less statist, and spontaneously involving the people… like that example of 4th of July in the US.
was this cartoon in an electr. design mag, long time ago re analog vs digital multimeters debate: read ‘ those in favour of digital can raise a finger.’
agree we must move with times, but maybe not the beating retreat ceremony or some will miss mkg’s favourite abide hymn.
may happen that the rd military parade part gets shifted to say command hqs. a precedent exists – was it just this year when the 15 jan ad parade was off limits to esm and to non em_bed_ed journos ?
@barra din:
Check this for band_o_bast of The Beating Retreat: http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=57238
@Pragmatic(11):
If that’s not the argument you make – and therefore presumably do not agree with – I’m not sure why you bothered to include it. Why not start directly with what you actually want to say, i.e., from para 4? (Republic Day parade is a…) Anyway, point taken.
Coming to your other argument, you say that:
in last two decades — with economic weight and political and social stability of the nation gaining greater importance — the parade hasn’t reflected these changes in its design and conduct.
So this is case for modifying the parade, not necessarily junking it. btw, given the traction that some parochial sentiments enjoy (eg. MNS) it does make sense to drive in the notion of Indianness into people.
The parade makes a lot of Indian people- including me- feel proud as an Indian. It excites young and old alike. This sole reason is enough for me to support its continuance.
Sorry To All Indians before I put comment Here!
Q: Why should we have Indian President?
He has no powers despite being the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces.
This is the Only day ( 26th of January) When Indian President gets Salute of its Armed Forces together. Now link the two and answer, Should we respect our President or Not. (i.e. Should we continue this ritual or Not)
As for security is concerned that has become problem much more deeper than the patriotism shown by all above.
We the people are hurt by our own representatives more than Terrorists. Every time our representatives visit their constituency all roads are blocked in the name of thier security. So this has become a status symbol.
We do have Army day parade on every Jan15.Almost the same contingents do participate in Republic day parade also.So the present parade of celeberating republic day can be a mixture of Military and Civil contigents.As far as security of such parades are concerned,the terrorist activities which are originating from our neighbour should be nipped in the bud itself.Many a times the government’s policy on Pakistan appears as if we are scared of that country.DESTROY THE TERRORIST CAMPS IN PAKISTAN IRRESPECTIVE OF WHETHER ANY TERROR ACTIVITY is ORiGINATED AT ALL.EVEN IF IT LEADS TO A SMALL WAR.PAKISTAN WILL NOT REPEAT WILL NOT USE NUKES.Show guts in security matters.Being a good Economist does not mean that,the PM can be good in security and Military affairs.In the present security environments the PM has to show tremendous guts to deal with Pakistan sponsored terrorism,and show lesser interest in having talks.
In the global villages of today, where the concept of nation states and war has already lost its relevance and is heading for a quite burial. When the national boundaries have become meaning less and and global money, trade and information flows across the the borders at the click of the mouse. The republic day parade are nothing but reminder of the cold war era and historical blunders of the past like world wars. It is a sheer wastage of money and scare resources. Republic means common people -where are common people in the republic day military parades, it has become show for justification of govt military spending to get public and media approval for thousand of crores of public money spent annually on malitary machinery.
Global sounds like a one world government wallah.
Thank you but no thank you. We like having our country and language
@global, Does Pakistan think that way?Does Taliban think that way?does US think that way?I dont think so sir.War is inevitable.If not today it will be tomorrow.Peace is the lull period between two wars.WE had long lull period.If we donot take any action on terrorism and terror sponsored countries huge civilian casualities are inevitable.
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