Hyderabad: Two youth got arrested for not standing up for national anthem at a multiplex in Kachiguda on Saturday. Surprisingly the arrests were made possible by a mere phone call by a “vigilante”. However movie goers feel that we now stand in attention more out of fear, than out of love for the nation. Some feel that patriotism has been turned into tokenism as they now stand up out of compulsion and fear. An NGO worker says though she had been standing up for the anthem since her childhood voluntarily, she believes that forced patriotism is not right, as forced actions lead to revolt.
It must be recalled that Salil Chaturvedi, the wheelchair-bound writer and disability rights activist was assaulted for not standing up while the national anthem being played at a multiplex in Goa.
In a similar case of harassment by vigilantes in Hyderabad a physically handicapped movie watcher was threateningly asked why she didn’t stand up for national anthem. When she showed her fractured my leg, she was told ‘Then, why did you come for a movie?’.