Losing India!

Lalu’s interview in HT today makes one feel that India is perhaps a lost idea whose time is up. There is probably truth in the fact that India is the only nation in the world which has been forged together with disparate groups whose interests are so different, and at most times antagonistic to each other. There is no other nation with people who are so unlike each other in so many ways. Probably, the Britishers were right in believing that within a decade of two of their departure, India would implode. In fact, it is rather surprising that India has endured for nearly 70 years now. Is the Balkanization of India inevitable? We can only pray that it doesn’t happen in our lifetime, because it is guaranteed to be messy, bloody and chaotic!

The fact is that the concept of India as a nation is only 70 years old. There has never existed an Indian nation, ever in the history. There have been empires of Ashoka, the Satvahanas, the Cholas, the Mughals, the Marathas etc., but there has never been an India, united in mind, or in body. At best, India has been an ethereal, spiritual place united by holy rivers, holy mountains, temples and other holy sites. This ‘India’ had nothing in common with the political India, deeply divided by castes, ethnicities, languages and what not. There are a few, if any, Indian Kings of yore who swore to and succeeded in uniting India as their holy mission. Most probably were conquerors, who added different kingdoms and estates to their territory. Hindu nationalists point towards the great empire of Shivaji’s descendants, who united India, ‘from Attock to Cuttack‘, as they say. This was barely a nation, warlords ruled and the local populace had no common cause with the plundering, ravaging raids of the Maratha army. The Mughal empire might have stretched across the entire subcontinent, but the overwhelming majority remained hostile to the rule of outsiders, whose customs and rituals, they could never relate to. British India, was never even a state. It was a patchwork of territories occupied by cunning Britishers, fiefdoms and despotic kingdoms.

The concept of India or Akhand Bharat, personified by Bharat Mata, came to the fore only at the time of Independence. Fanned by Congress and Hindu nationalists alike, it succeeded in laying the foundation of the concept of the Indian nation, existing since antiquity, but antagonized the Muslims, many of whom eventually seceded from what they perceived would be Hindu hegemony. And thus was born India, for the first time in history- divided by caste, creed, religion, customs and what not, United, only by its recent struggle for independence. Independence, brought with itself democracy which with all its shortcomings succeeded in institutionalizing the existing differences. Instead of forging together a united Indian identity, politics ensured that India would be run on the basis of common minimum agenda of various groups, rather than an agenda for the nation.

The moth eaten India (unlike the envisaged Akhand Bharat)has a chance of enduring for eternity if the ruling political classes choose to ‘Put India first‘. But they instead prefer to put the interests of their vote banks before the nation. So you have Mayawati, courting the Dalits, bringing disgrace to Babasaheb Ambedkar’s legacy that she claims to uphold, you have Lalu and Mulayam who have successfully united their castes and minorities to create a potent vote bank, you have Rahul Baba, who sometimes woos Muslims, sometimes Dalits, and now farmers- well whatever gets him seats, and you have the BJP that has effectively forsaken its Hindutva agenda for power! The race of politicians, united in their rejection of the idea of India has threatened the very existence of the nation.

The violence in North East, the anti Sikh pogrom, countless Hindu-Muslim riots, the flight of Kashmiri Pandits, Caste wars in UP and Bihar, Language troubles of the 60s- all threaten to tear this nation apart. Perhaps, it is all just a continuation of the process that began in 12th & 13th century when foreign invaders, first exploited the differences amongst the local populace to establish their hegemony. Perhaps, eventually India will fall and everyone will go their way. Perhaps, it is only then that its accursed people will realize what they have lost.

It is then that people would perhaps appreciate that the nation that has endured for 70 years gave hope and opportunity to millions. India is already surrounded by a string of failed states on all sides. Look at what their leaders have done to their people, what abject misery those populations have been reduced to. For all its shortcomings and structural fallacies, India needs to endure. Its people and politicians need to unite. Differences need to be set aside and India needs to be put first. India needs to reclaim its position in the comity of nations as a strong, confident and prosperous nation. Its people need to be equal partners in achieving this. Our systems and institutions must exist solely to reinstate India to the glory it deserved. There is no other alternative. After all,

हिमालयं समारभ्य यावदिन्दुसरोवरम्
तं देवनिर्मितं देशं हिन्दुस्थानमं प्रचक्षते

(From the Himalayas all the way to the ocean, the Devas created the sacred land of Hindustan)