Friedman & Michael author of - Growing up in America writes that No matter where he went , he always discovered that land of 10000 lakes where politics actually worked to make peoples life better and not pull them apart.
Sadly, in India our politicians are still busy in dividing people and scratching old wounds. Either some outfits used Secularism and Social justice to divide people by appeasing them and some dug in old wounds in the guise of uniting people. Actually they were all as a matter of fact Dividing people for their own vested interests. None said that ; Lets establish the rule of the law.
There is not a single country which doesn’t have an unpleasant History of wars, of subjugation, of deprivation; USA, UK, Japan, China, Germany, Italy, Switzerland …each one of them have historical grievances and many nations have one or more communities who might be carrying grouses and complains against the other. But by and large their politics worked to make peoples life better and that’s why they have prospered.
However, in India we find even after 70 years of independence we have not come to terms with our history. We have, despite our founding fathers making all efforts to move on ahead in life and look towards better future we are still stuck in our past.
This reminds me of the reply ; Will it Change the History of India ? given by Dr Rajendra Prasad, the then President of India to a sarcastic remark ; “ I thought you would have removed these paintings” made by the British King when he noticed the Paintings of old British Kings and Queen still on display in the Rashtrapati Bhawan during his visit in 1950.
This is an ample proof as to How our founding fathers wanted India to be ; Progressive and not stuck in past. Dr Rajendra Prasad in his first speech in 1950 after taking over as President of India, emphasized ; We have inherited no old enmities. Our republic enters the world stage, therefore, free from pride and prejudice, humbly.
So, Why are we still fighting over our history, why is it that instead of scientific enquiry into our history we are busy running down each other and so emotionally involved with it. Instead of making History a subject of academic pursuit we have made it a trivial subject of quarrel.
Ostensibly, the electoral compulsions compel the politicians to exploit these differences that have arisen because of our chequered history of invasions, subjugating people of ONE community or the other. As a result we are destroying the social fabric of our society. The elections in India are like a war amongst the communities wherein the Madaris ; the politicians make the masses fight like monkeys on trivial issues.
In a country which has a history of some 4000 years its natural to have masses of different religious and ethnic backgrounds having their own histories of pride and subjugation and grouses. But to exploit them by scratching old wounds for electoral purposes is unethical and will not make our future any better. It must be understood that more than a divided society it is the conflict that makes the society unprogressive and hollow from within. A diversified society brings diffrent perspectives to the table. Look at Switzerland for example, the population of Switzerland was 62.6% native speakers of German, 22.9% French 8.2% Italian. The German region is roughly in the east, north and center; the French part, in the west and the Italian area in the south. There remains a small Romansh-speaking native population in the east. They also have a long history of invasions by Romans, French and Germans. But today the swiss are known for their exquisite High quality precision surgical equipment, watches etc despite speaking different languages in different provinces.
The more we dig in past the more turmoil we will create, the more we learn from history instead of digging the old wounds and trying to correct it the better it will be for the health and security of the society and the more we focus on present the better will be our future. Once again it would be apt to remind the countrymen what Sardar Patel once said on this issue that India is a divided country ;
“Give me to rule United Kingdom for one year and I will have Saxons, Vikings and so on fight amongst each other.”
Implying that it all finally boils down to what do the leaders do to win elections; do they keep digging the past, scratching the old wounds and dividing people? Or do they keep highlighting the differences amongst communities and appease one community at the cost of others bending laws and procedures? Or they focus on issues related to Governance ; Development, Growth, Health, Economy, Education and so on.
The unfortunate thing that has happened in India all these years is that media, the fourth pillar of democracy has also not played its role fairly and has often appeared to be helping the divisive politics and contributed towards undermining our unity.. Take for instance a few news-reports
One. A leading English newspaper published after the Bihar elections a decade ago ; NDA won the elections because the secular votes got divided between Congress and RJD implying that the people who voted for NDA are communal and the rest who supported Laloo, Communists, Congress were the torch bearers of secularism in this country.
Two. A report published in the paper with a Head line - One Dalit woman molested. It indicates the malafide intentions of the reporter, particularly when the woman was not molested, because she was a Dalit. Was it not adequate to state that a woman had been molested? Such headlines not only enrage the Dalits who have been for centuries subjugated and oppressed by the upper caste Hindus. Why the hell some one has to dig old wounds?
The unity, can only be attained by highlighting the similarities and not by playing up the differences and also not by digging the past and scratching the old wounds. The system has to ensure that core values ; liberty, equality and freedom of expression are upheld at all costs. The moment an institution is seen to be compromising with core values it leads to frustration and disgruntlement.
Our core values, as a result of compromises, instead of becoming strength of our democratic set up, have become our weakness. Just because we have misinterpreted the concept of secularism, even after 70 years of Independence, we have to continue proving our secular credentials to the world, where as, France having a sizeable mixed population need not have to. None questioned the Secular credentials of the French Govt even after they (legally) banned the open display of religious symbols.
The electoral compulsions have made the Indian politicians adopt the same policies, which enabled the British to rule India for 200 years And so have segmented the Indian society along all possible lines; Upper caste Hindus, Dalits, Ati Dalits, Schedule castes, Schedule tribes, Rajputs, Thakurs, OBCs, Muslims etc etc. which have become their Vote banks.
Sangh and BJP thus think about the Hindus ; so they keep scratching the old wounds of Hindus to remind them their old pain. Congress and other parties compete amongst each other to keep the Hindus divided and win over the Dalits, Schedule castes and the Muslims. One politician went to such an extent that he wanted to nominate a Muslim Chief Minister, even if he was not elected by the people; Heights of Secularism.
The competition amongst these political outfits to consolidate their vote banks has resulted in the destruction of a mosque - construction of temple at Ayodhya , calling Ram setu a mythological bridge, thereby hurting the sentiments of millions, providing reservations to some in educational institutions and for jobs, providing salary to Pandits and Maulanas and providing tax payers money to go on a pilgrimage.
These political outfits have not given up here, the search is still on to discover newer techniques, newer ways, newer avenues to segmentise the society. The fear is where will all this take us to ? Have the people forgot the damage and destruction communal riots cause ?. Why are we playing with fire ?
There is hence an urgent need for the political parties to shed off their tunnel vision and stop looking at the people from the point of view of caste and religion. And media must compel them to do so. The emergence of social media has already dented the credibility of formal media , In a matter of seconds the events are flashed and circulated on social media with the comments of millions of netizens. The formal media must restore its credibility and the sooner it does the better it will be for the society.
If the issues that are being discussed and the manner in which they are being argued upon in social media these days are any indicator, then it appears that India has now been permanently divided and a social conflict is just round the corner.
Therefore, the sooner we give up this policy ; “Show me the face and I will show you the rule.” The better it will be for the society. Let us all strive to build a society where Rule of the Law prevails, irrespective of caste, religion, creed , gender and pedigree.