India’s millions of
Bollywood-mad movie goers will soon start a trip to the cinema with a mandatory
dose of patriotism.
The country’s Supreme Court
said in an order Wednesday that all movie theaters should play the national
anthem with an image of the Indian tricolor on the screen before the start of
any feature film. All those present in the hall “are obliged to stand up to
show respect,”
The national anthem has long
has been played in theaters in a few Indian states including Maharashtra, home
to Mumbai where the Bollywood movie industry is based, but this is the first
time that the apex court has given an order making it mandatory in all cinemas
across the country.
The court’s ruling comes at
a time when patriotism is in the headlines as Prime Minister Narendra Modi
tries to rally the diverse nation behind him to fight corruption, untaxed
money, and terrorism.
“Be it stated, a time has
come, the citizens of the country must realize that they live in a nation and
are duty bound to show respect to national anthem which is the symbol of the
constitutional patriotism,” the two-judge bench’s order said, invoking India’s
constitution, which says respecting the national anthem is one of the
fundamental duties of every Indian citizen.
The court said it had issued
the directives “for love and respect for the motherland is reflected when one
shows respect to the national anthem as well as to the national flag.”
The court was hearing the
petition from Shyam Narayan Chouksey, a 77-year-old retired government engineer
and social activist based in the city of Bhopal in central India. Mr. Chouksey
said in an interview that he wanted the court to “clear all the doubts and
confusions regarding the proper use of the national anthem.” He said he was
unhappy with what he saw as the rampant misuse and commercialization of the
national anthem.
Mr. Chouksey said that the
idea came from his youth days when cinemas played the anthem after the
movie ended. “But the people were in a rush to go and they rarely paid
attention.”
“In Europe and America,
people don’t throw garbage and litter everywhere because they have public
spirit,” Mr. Chouksey said. “In India, people don’t have that public spirit,
which begins through respect for the national ideals and symbols like the
national anthem.”
The court said the order
should be enforced within 10 days. It didn’t specify what action the
authorities could take against violators but said that it was giving directives
only as an “interim measure” awaiting the response of the federal government in
New Delhi. The next hearing in the case is on Feb. 14.
A lawyer for the Indian
government told the court that the government will bring the order to public
attention through electronic and print media.
Some critics said Wednesday
that the order took the tradition of playing the national anthem at events too
far, citing Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, composer of the song.
“It is my conviction that my
countrymen will gain truly their India by fighting against that education which
teaches them that a country is greater than the ideals of humanity,” he
wrote in a 1917 essay on nationalism.
