WHAT UNITES INDIA
India survives because it has mastered the art of turning many into one power brings the incompatible together. The Indian ruling elite front is a united front.
If the British left",warns Winston Churchill while opposing India's independence."power will go to the hands of rascals,rogues and freebooters. All Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight among themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles." But India is far from being lost,Ideology is dead. Long live the ideology of opportunism, which keeps India united.
Power unites and makes India one of its most engaging playgrounds.
Indians draw on Hindu Heritage in moral and social relations,Muslim heritage in music and secular western thought in politics.
Political communities are fragile entities. It takes decades to build them. And just when we think their unity is secure,they begin to show cracks and even unravel in a remarkably short period of time. Who would have thought Yugoslav federation born around the same time India,would disintegrate within three years amidst so much bloodshed? And that is Soviet Union,with much longer process of consolidation under Stalin and his successors would collapse just as quickly? By a strange miracle INDIA is intact till now despite so many disturbances.
India has managed to survive after much bloodshed,even Kashmir is still a burning issue. After partition,India remained what it had already been, a multi religious and multicultural country. Most Indians,be they Hindus,Muslims, or Christians, can hardly speak for five minutes without resorting to their Sanskrit derived local language. Urdu and bits of English,their mode of thinking and the structure of their Identity are also multi-conceptual.
They draw on Hindu heritage in some areas of life such as moral and social relations,Muslim heritage in music and romantic love,their secular and western heritage when dealing with civil,economic and political matters,and their Christian heritage when dealing when dealing with social service,concern for the poor and non-violence. Sometimes they even draw on all of these heritages as architecture and the interior décor of their houses.
On a whole we still have unity with united country and with some exceptions a united people.
If the British left",warns Winston Churchill while opposing India's independence."power will go to the hands of rascals,rogues and freebooters. All Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight among themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles." But India is far from being lost,Ideology is dead. Long live the ideology of opportunism, which keeps India united.
Power unites and makes India one of its most engaging playgrounds.
Indians draw on Hindu Heritage in moral and social relations,Muslim heritage in music and secular western thought in politics.
Political communities are fragile entities. It takes decades to build them. And just when we think their unity is secure,they begin to show cracks and even unravel in a remarkably short period of time. Who would have thought Yugoslav federation born around the same time India,would disintegrate within three years amidst so much bloodshed? And that is Soviet Union,with much longer process of consolidation under Stalin and his successors would collapse just as quickly? By a strange miracle INDIA is intact till now despite so many disturbances.
India has managed to survive after much bloodshed,even Kashmir is still a burning issue. After partition,India remained what it had already been, a multi religious and multicultural country. Most Indians,be they Hindus,Muslims, or Christians, can hardly speak for five minutes without resorting to their Sanskrit derived local language. Urdu and bits of English,their mode of thinking and the structure of their Identity are also multi-conceptual.
They draw on Hindu heritage in some areas of life such as moral and social relations,Muslim heritage in music and romantic love,their secular and western heritage when dealing with civil,economic and political matters,and their Christian heritage when dealing when dealing with social service,concern for the poor and non-violence. Sometimes they even draw on all of these heritages as architecture and the interior décor of their houses.
On a whole we still have unity with united country and with some exceptions a united people.
Comments