The song ‘Watan ki raah mein watan ke naujawan shahid ho’ is misguiding By Justice Katju

I heard this old song, written by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan and sung in the 1948 Hindi movie ‘Shahid’, just now on youtube, and I believe it misguides patriots who wish to serve the country

My reasons are given in the article below which I wrote some time back, in which I said that the song by Bismil ‘Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai’ should not be our national song, because it encourages patriots to give up their lives, instead of preserving it. It is said ” He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day ”, and that is the tactics of hit and run used in guerilla warfare.

https://indicanews.com/should-sarfaroshi-ki-tamanna-be-the-song-of-the-coming-indian-revolution

In the song ( Watan ki raah mein ) some lines are no doubt to be applauded, e.g. 

 ”Ghulam uth watan ke dushmanon se intiqaam le”

( Slaves, rise up and take revenge on the country’s enemies )

and

”Pahaad tak bhi kaanpne lage tere junoon se ”

( Even the mountains have started shaking before your valour and indomitable spirit )

But the emphasis and repeated refrain in the song are ”Shahid ho” i.e.sacrifice yourself and become a martyr, which is wrong and misguides our patriots.

As I said in my article above, in the historical people’ struggle to transform India into a mighty industrial giant, which must be our national objective ( as that alone can abolish our massive poverty, unemployment, child malnutrition, lack of healthcare and good education etc ) we must seek to preserve the lives of our patriots.

 Though patriots must be brave, and certain risks in this struggle are unavoidable, unnecessary risks and adventurism must be avoided. If our patriots are all killed in the struggle, who will then lead the nation in the revolutionary struggle, and in the task of national economic and social reconstruction after the revolution is successful ?