There is no doubt about the fact that the nation’s life has turned quite eventful ever since the sceptre passed on to the Bharatiya Janata Party. The national calendar is struggling to cope with the number of events that the BJP has thought up as commemorations, apparently for the sake of the nation. International Yoga Day began to be imposed on India since 2015. Now, the Centre has directed the University Grants Commission to instruct higher educational institutions to observe the second anniversary of the surgical strike conducted by the army. Interestingly, the first anniversary of the event was a muted affair, even for the BJP. But then timing is everything in politics. The nation is inching towards the next general election, and the BJP believes that riding piggyback on the army, one of India’s most inclusive and valorous institutions, could redeem it somewhat in the public eye. Instead of milking the army’s image for political gain, the BJP should think about addressing the problems confronting the armed forces. Nominal budgetary increases have led to a paucity in defence expenditure. This, in turn, has undermined initiatives to modernize the army. Additionally, stressful working conditions in India’s restive areas have put immense pressure on soldiers whose sacrifices the BJP seeks to profit from.

Celebrations are also compulsory in New India. Those who are opposed to such theatrics or the practice of shoving unilateral views down the throat of a democratic polity run the risk of being vilified. An eminent social scientist who had said that the government has no right to instruct the people in this instance has, expectedly, been labelled as a ‘Naxal sympathizer’, the sangh parivar’s preferred idiom to describe dissenters. The highest court’s reminders notwithstanding, personal choice matters little to the BJP’s regimental mindset. The choice of the medium to instil in the nation the BJP’s brand of nationalism is also instructive. Given the formidable challenges facing education in India — illiteracy, high drop-out rates and poor rankings of higher education institutions — should not the UGC be tasked to fulfil its primary responsibilities? But then, weakening institutions comes naturally to the BJP.