India Today – August 19, 2019

AUGUST19, 2019 INDIATODAY 27

IN TODAY’S WORLD, WHERE ‘PATRIOTISM’ AND

‘NATIONALISM’ ARE USED INTERCHANGEABLY, DEFINING

THESE TERMS IS NO LONGER A SIMPLE MATTER

THE FAITH OF

A WARRIOR

BY LT. GEN. D.S. HOODA

O

NE MIGHT THINK THAT

EXPLAINING the concept and

meaning of patriotism would

come easy to a soldier. After all,

we are the most visible sym-

bols of a group that displays

its commitment towards the country by being forever ready

to sacrifice lives for the nation’s honour. However, in today’s

world, where ‘patriotism’ and ‘nationalism’ are often used

interchangeably—and the subject has acquired an emotive

character—defining patriotism is no longer simple. Personal

biases may also creep in, and it could be argued that my

perception of patriotism could be completely different from

another soldier’s.

A possible way around this predicament is to look at

the issue of patriotism from an organisational, rather than

individual, perspective. The military is not an ad hoc group

of people, but a profession with a unique and distinct char-

acter. Morris Janowitz, in his classic work, The Professional

Soldier, states, ‘[A] profession is more than a group with

special skills, acquired through intensive training. A profes-

sional group develops a sense of group identity and a system

of internal administration. Self administration... implies the

growth of a body of ethics and standards of performance.’

In a military, individual inclinations are subordinate to the

group identity and professional ethic of the organisation. It

is this professional ethic of the Indian military and its link to

patriotism that I will attempt to describe.

In the military, we are completely comfort-

able with displays of love for our country and our

flag. The Indian tricolour flies in every unit and

over each post on the border and drapes the cof-

fins of our martyrs. The national anthem plays

during all formal and informal events, and we

stand tall and proud. We are willing to lay down

our lives to defend India’s territorial integrity,

both from internal and external threats.

But we also do not see patriotism in

merely symbolic or geographic terms; it is

also in the promoting and defending of India’s

national values.

Walter Berns, in his book, Making Patriots,

defines patriotism as devotion not only to a

country but also to its principles and, equally

importantly, an understanding of these prin-

ciples. To this, I could add the practice of the

principles as enshrined in our Constitution; and

this is where the military stands out. Equality,

secularism and fraternity are essential parts

of the military’s culture, not merely because

they are morally desirable, but because they are

indispensable to our way of life.

All men in uniform are equal. There are

soldiers of all castes, creeds and colour; Jats,