RANDOM THOUGHTS ON INDIA’s FORTITUDE AT ALL TIMES…

In present Indian context the term “Patriotism” or “Nationalism” is being misinterpreted, misused by all sections of modern society. Similarly for most politicians of post-independence era, whenever a tricky situation arises, they tend to seriously muse for their respective support base of people before expressing any thought, these are not simple words of a dictionary but sense of emotional cord attached with all Indians. Unfortunately, India’s over 1.25 billion population is not only fragmented based on religion but divided across hundreds of castes/sub castes, linguistic division from North to South or East to West. Despite of unique medley of Indian community, sustainability of our unity as a Nation & trust on democratic principles are intact due to the inherent nature of inbuilt tolerance of majority of Indians, at times emotional reactions are too harsh from different groups or believers of a religious, social or political thought in response to displeasing governmental or non-governmental action or due to different viewpoints among groups, yet, we are able to preserve our Indian-ness ( Bhartiyata)  in  testing times.

I remember the day Mrs Indira Gandhi was killed by her own Security guards in 1984, it looked as if Country would again divide & perhaps HINDUS & SIKHS cannot live in this country together, though the wounds & suffering of affected families of riots cannot be forgotten, we remained united & regained the original ethos of “Unity is strength”. In 1987, when Mr Rajeev Gandhi was killed in a suicide attack by LTTE operatives, again Indian state’s democracy was put to test & succeeded in proving to be resilient. In 1990, after the decision of implementation of Mandal commission report, we witnessed series of stirs in Institutions, fights between the different cast groups, self-immolation attempts by students. Our college campuses closed for almost one month, many of us had believed strongly that now nobody can protect the Nation to fall into divisive trap permanently, yet the temporary phase of chaos died down, India progressed with the same people. Political parties kept doing analysis of gain/loss, the general psyche of Indian to live together in spite of differing views prevailed, country’s ONENESS returned back on cricket or any other sporting grounds of colleges or Institutions.   

Again in 1992, the Hindu-Muslim clashes, riots in major cities became so intense, many had believed as if we were heading for “civil war”. For 12-15 days, there was complete turmoil in most part of Northern India. Once the “Charge” of Emotional battery” got exhausted in both Hindu & Muslim communities, the Indian-ness of society resumed working & one of the toughest examination cleared by the Democratic India.

Today, the most debated issues in print or electronic or social media are related to Jammu & Kashmir scenario, general status of Hindu-Muslim unity in the present rule of NDA/Mr Narendra Modi. In the ‘google age”, we are fortunate to explore or research on any historical incidents, in the process I got the Speech of Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee at University of Kashmir in 2003, excerpt from one part of speech is reproduced below:

“Today I would like to recall one of Mehjoor's couplets, which I had quoted in my Independence Day speech in 2001. Clearly, if Muslim is milk, Hindu is sugar; let the two mix together; Discard discord and love each other. Didn't Swami Vivekananda also express the same thought, after he returned from a memorable visit to Kashmir? Replying to a letter from a Maulvi, Swamiji wrote his famous words: 'I see in my mind's eye the future perfect India rising out of this chaos and strife, glorious and invincible, with Vedanta brain and Islam body.' I have recalled certain names and facts from Kashmir's history only to underscore my belief that the tradition of brotherhood is not something that belongs to Kashmir's past. It is also a part of its living present. The outpouring of shock, grief, and anger that marked Kashmiri Muslims' response to the recent massacre of pandits at Nadimarg is just one example of this. It is the responsibility of academicians, scholars, artists, cultural personalities, mass media and political workers to highlight the age-old traditions of communal harmony and national unity in Kashmir and the rest of India”

The message in the above speech was aligned to the spirit of preserving India’s integrity through philosophical quotes on Hindu-Muslim bonding. In Plastics Engineering, “Polymer blend” or “Plastics material Blend” is developed to attain properties of 2 or 3 individual materials so as to perform better than any individual material for a particular end use application. Similarly, India’s blended society which we inherited for hundreds of year cannot be crumbled by ill-conceived notion or thought of any solitary group.

For many of us in Independent India, India’s partition in 1947 seems to be big mistake committed by the Political establishment at the behest of British to weaken the strong Nation at the cost of Independence. The History cannot be changed but future of next generation can definitely be safeguarded by resolving the root cause itself. Political Establishments of India, Pakistan & Bangladesh have to evolve a bold & effective internal strategy to work on creating a South Asian Alliance or Union of South Asia (Unity of European Union after initial hiccups or solidity of GCC countries still sustained in spite of diverse views or different standpoints of Member Nations on many political/societal issues) but retaining sovereignty of Individual Nations. The theory behind creation of different nations based on religion in 1947 (India & Pakistan) & then based on language in 1971 (Bangladesh) could not bring peace or prosperity, only led to more confrontation, sense of detestation for each other. 

However, in GCC or Europe or North America the working class of Indian, Pakistani & Bangla community altogether considered as one “Clan”. Few months back at Cairo Airport, at Immigration counter a Worker family from Bangladesh (returning back to home after completing contractual obligation in Egypt) was struggling to explain the query of Immigration official, suddenly the Worker came to me with request to intervene by clarifying to the immigration guy, I did do that, he was very happy, obliged and commented in his Bangla mixed Hindi –“Sab,aap hamara aadmi hai, yahan arab aadmi hamara bat nahi samajhata”.

Bold tactical changes in foreign policy leaving aside the historical guidelines followed from the days of partition and honest efforts by Top leaders of India, Pakistan & Bangladesh are the imperative need of the current times to create a better history for future generations. Soft borders, visa free regime, joint association of business & cultural meets, people to people contact within South Asian Alliance of Indo-Pak-Bangla nations may not only eliminate the animosity inoculated in the minds of people since the days of partition or separation from one another but definitely may facilitate in kicking off the process of diminishing hostility/tension at borders, help in bringing openness among politicians of Alliance countries in dealing with all unresolved & redundant disputes inherited by the present generation and to focus on real issues like poverty alleviation, infrastructure upgradation, employment generation for millions of youth of the region. Such thoughts of Alliance or Federation of Indo-Pak-Bangla were expressed by few politicians in India earlier too, commoner and normal Indian sentiments (governed largely by Media ‘guidance’ ) never allow citizen  to refresh, rethink and rebuild a concept to repair the damages caused greatly to all 03 brother nations after division of the Undivided family-INDIA of British period.