Politicians, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are tweeting away to glory about the great achievements of Indian medalists, while the media is going gaga over the Indian feat! Even losses are being described as heroic. Roads are being renamed after the athletes to honour their performance at Tokyo and the pundits are predicting unprecedented boost for sports items in which the medals have been won. What if they lost the medals, they have won the hearts of 136 crore Indians! Headlines scream.

An Olympics medal is no doubt not a small achievement and its significance can in no way be demeaned. But that must not be allowed to overshadow India’s failure to win even one gold medal, just one out of nearly 250 that were available at the Tokyo Games. If Indians feel so high about a couple of Olympics medals, one wonders what would be the state of mind of a Chinese, whose Olympics team has already won 37 gold medals, 24 silver and 17 bronzes or the average American, whose compatriots are just behind the Chinese, claiming 33 golds, 36 silver and 17 bronzes.

A cringing pain flashes across the heart when one sees that even countries such as Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Belarus, Ukraine etc. have won gold medals at Tokyo Olympics. For a country, aspiring to be a $5 trillion economy by 2025, this is humiliating. All Indians must hang their heads in shame that 136 crore of their fellow countrymen and women could not produce an Olympian gold medalist.

It may seem whosoever feels this way suffers from a mindset that lacks sportsman spirit. But the poor show at the Olympics is not just about winning or losing; it is not even about sports. The most important part is that the medals tally is a very realistic representation of the development and progress achieved by the respective countries.

In fact, India’s position on the medal list of the Tokyo Olympics matches with its position on the list of the world’s poorest countries. According to the latest medal tally, India is at the 66th position, with zero gold, two silver and three bronzes. On the other hand, on the list of the poorest countries of the world India stands 67th. The medal tally acts as a prism, which serves as an alternative index of development and economic progress as a nation.

This is not about sports. It is a most serious issue that should dominate the national narrative as we prepare to celebrate the 75th Independence Day, which is barely a week away. This is the issue on which Prime Minister Modi has to provide an explanation to the people in his Independence Day speech. But it is most likely that his national address would be full of platitudes and self-congratulatory notes in true bronze flavour. Incidentally, he has sought people’s inputs on what he should say in the ritualistic national address. The Independence Day national address is meant as the government’s message to the people on the performance of the nation; it is not to parrot what a few publicity-crazy people would like the prime minister to say.

As we celebrate the 75th Independence Day, it is time for introspection as to whether the Indian nation has delivered or failed. We have to realistically see whether the development model that we have followed produced the results that the nation-builders had envisaged. It is time to critically examine whether we have succeeded as a nation and determine what has gone wrong with whatever we have been doing so far. Aspiring to be a 5 trillion dollar economy is one thing, but what is of utmost importance is whether we have succeeded in fulfilling the aspirations of the people when they set out to found a republic that strived to promote the welfare of people by securing and protecting a social order, in which social, economic and political justice shall form in all institutions of national life.

One major problem with us, as typified by our response to the bronze medals at Olympics, is that we settle for the second best, and not the best. This has characterised everything about our nationhood, our social, political and economic responses, including our selection of the available options. If we have to succeed as a nation, we must only settle for the best and only the best deserve to be cheered. This must be the true spirit of the 75th Independence Day celebrations; not three bronze medals at Tokyo. (IPA Service)