Is a Soviet-style Republic Day military parade needed in an age of liberal democracy?

With US President Barack Obama visiting India as chief guest for the Republic Day parade, the American media is struggling to explain just what this is all about. The Wall Street Journal, for example, had this rather innovative description of the ceremonies of January 26 in Delhi:

"Imagine a Soviet-style military parade ran into the Notting Hill Carnival and some camels and you’re close to understanding this event that runs down India’s most impressive avenue, Raj Path. The show of military hardware and dancing girls goes on for almost two hours and is always attended by a visiting foreign dignitary."

This laboured explanation is necessitated by the fact that the concept of a public display of military hardware and personnel is quite alien to the US and indeed most other modern democracies. Today, nothing of the sort happens out in the West. George Orwell — the closest thing the modern age has had to an oracle — explained why this was so in his 1941 essay, "The Lion and the Unicorn". Democracy in Britain, he proposed, had much to do with the social atmosphere of the country which abhorred militarism. As an example, he bought up the British disdain of the goose-stepped military parade.

"A military parade is really a kind of ritual dance, something like a ballet, expressing a certain philosophy of life. The goose-step, for instance, is one of the most horrible sights in the world, far more terrifying than a dive-bomber. It is simply an affirmation of naked power; contained in it, quite consciously and intentionally, is the vision of a boot crashing down on a face. Its ugliness is part of its essence, for what it is saying is ‘Yes, I am ugly, and you daren’t laugh at me’, like the bully who makes faces at his victim."

As in many other matters, the Indian government isn’t too enamoured of Orwell’s opinion when it comes to militarism and, specifically, military parades. Every year on January 26, Bharat sarkar grabs the opportunity presented by Republic Day to roll out its tanks, missiles, fighter jets and marching troops, in a display aimed at impressing the Indian populace.

In this, of course, India is not unique. The Americans might not get it and the British might treat it with ridicule but, for example, the now defunct Soviet Union loved massive militaristic displays. In fact they elevated the public military parade to something of a fine art, even exporting the trend to India. Till today, countries such as China, North Korea and Pakistan hold public military parades (although, practically, Pakistan has been struggling to hold its March 23 parade given fears of a terror attack — but it’s the thought that counts, I guess).

Therefore, while India is not alone in deploying public military parades, as those examples show, it is hardly a characteristic of countries which strive towards becoming liberal democracies. It is therefore, somewhat of a mystery why India has one at all.

Is Indian nationalism meant to flow from a display of military might? Does the sight of battalions, marching with clockwork precision, strengthen the collective will of the people of India? What patriotic purpose is served by displaying bristling missiles to millions of viewers on Doordarshan every year?

Or is Indian nationalism, more prosaically — but also, in my humble opinion, more resiliently — a shared dream of prosperity, progress and, to use a catchy American phrase given the context, "the pursuit of happiness".

It is rather odd how a display of military might got mixed up with Republic Day in the first place. The day marks the anniversary of when our constitution came into force — one of the truly epochal moments in world history and maybe even more significant to India, in substance, than the date of August 15. The three main thrusts of this remarkable document — national integration, democracy and social revolution — have stood the country in good stead for the 60-odd years it has been in place. The Indian Constitution, remarks historian Granville Austin, was an “ambitious and noble enterprise”.

We, therefore, need to celebrate this day for the fine values our constitution bequeaths to us, especially given how rare such a document is amongst the comity of post-colonial nations. A militaristic display, harking back to a time when we were a Soviet Union wannabe, is maybe not the best way to go about celebrating Republic Day.