**Bhubaneswar**: 15 August marks the ‘Independence Day’ of our country. It is a day to remember the martyrs, the heroes of our freedom struggle who fought against the British for a free India. We celebrate this day every year to salute the heroes and reflect over the nation’s achievements over the past years.
On the glorious occasion of the 71st Independence Day celebrations in Bhubaneswar, when OMMCOM reporter crisscrossed the venue of the parade ground after the “Independence Day’ celebrations were over; a simple question took the denizens of the smart city off their guard.
“Who is the President of India?” was a bang-on question which shook them from within.
Shockingly, many of the so-called elite group and students could not answer as to who is the President of India.
Out of the 16 people from different walks of life, only a couple of respondents saved the day.
Amazingly, the students of the smart city seemed to be the most ill-informed lot in the sample survey.
A medical college student Madhusmita, and a student preparing for coaching Shivangi Behera have conveniently forgotten the name.
Another student Rinku Rana and Mahesh (banking student) are still stuck with Pranab Mukherjee as India’s President.
Snehlata, a well-adorned housewife tried hard to remember the name but was unable to do so whereas Liza Baria, preparing for her banking examinations knows that a new President has been elected and racked up her brains but was unable to speak out the name. There were people like Sashikant Nayak, who left the place without answering out of shame.
But there were some students who outrightly accepted the fact that they don’t know the answer. Sunil Ku Mallick from the prestigious Utkal University and Tejaswini from BJEM School were among the ignorant.
When our correspondent quizzed some common people, they were also unable to answer it. Gobind Sahu, a man coloured like the tri-color showcasing his love for the nation found an excuse that he belonged to the labour class and therefore did not know the answer.
If we give some persons a benefit of doubt, we can also infer that a few were partially right. A priest named Mahanta Shiv Narayan Das named K.Govind as our President, whereas a student answered as Rajnath Kobind.
A couple of people in the city saved the day when they got the answers correct. Tapas Pradhan and Sabitri, a B Ed student answered the question right saving the honour of the city.
Smart people of the smart city have a long way to go to demonstrate their smartness in nationalism. And some questions still eludes most of us:
Who is to blame for this pathetic condition of our people? The Supreme Court has issued directions to show respect to our National Anthem as well as the National flag to instill a feeling of patriotism and nationalism, but what about the educational awareness of the people regarding our nation? How will that be instilled?