Sunday, February 3, 2002		Article

Building a nation sans jingoism

Today, India is at the crossroads. Separatist tendencies have taken strong roots over a period of time. The Northeast and J&K are proving to be the nation’s vulnerable spots. Then other discordant voices by various casteist and communal forces are striking high notes. The need for stressing upon the importance of national integration has become imperative, say Amar Nath Wadehra & Randeep Wadehra

There are constitutional guarantees that safeguard our rights. There are expectations of performance of duties. There is a need to understand that rights without obligations cannot survive for long.

NATIONAL integration is a perennial process that demands a sustained supply of material, emotional and spiritual inputs. It involves mutual understanding and a continuous dialogue among the various segments of the polity. It is a prerequisite for nation building. At the material level, all citizens should not only be avowedly equal in the eyes of the law, but should actually be treated as such. Be it the assurance of a better quality of life or opportunities for the redress of grievances — there should be no discrimination. At the emotional level, we should be able to empathise with our less fortunate compatriots, or with those feeling alienated. At the spiritual level, there should be an understanding of subcultural dynamics an understanding of the needs and aspirations of diverse ethno-religious groups in our society. The enumeration is by no means exhaustive.

The concept of national integration in the Indian context began to evolve with the onset of British Rule. Before the arrival of the British all those who came to the Indian subcontinent blended into the multihued cultural mosaic. Those were the times when India held the same attraction for foreigners as the West, especially the USA, holds for today’s Indians. People came to study in our universities, to do business, and generally in search of a better quality of life. Greeks, or rather Macedonians, came with Alexander to conquer India. After Alexander’s return quite a number of them stayed back with Seleucus. Gradually their ethnic identity submerged with that of local tribes. Similarly, tribes from Africa, Central Asia, the Far East and West Asia too came and settled down here.

Jews often acknowledge that India was the only country where they were never persecuted. Not many know that Christianity came to India much earlier than it reached Europe. The first converts, according to the legend, were Kerala’s Namboodiri Brahmins in 4 AD. Then came the Muslims. Though they became the ruling class and replaced many of our traditional institutions with their own, they too eventually became a part of the rich Indian cultural mosaic. Unable to fit into the traditional caste system, they maintained a distinct selfdom though.

At no stage, however, did the locals feel the need for forging a national identity that would become a protective shield against alien influence. With the British came the concept of nationhood. Indians, exposed to the Western education and thought processes, slowly began to realise the importance of national unity — politically speaking. Leaders like Tilak, Gokhale and Mahatma Gandhi helped transform national integration into a viable idea. If Gandhiji was the Father of the Nation and Nehru its uncle or chacha, Sardar Patel was the surgeon who helped in its ultimate birth. This is not to belittle the respective roles of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh and countless other patriots. Mercifully, we had visionaries in those days who gave us a Constitutions that has withstood the test of the time.

Once Samuel Johnson, a British lexicographer in the eighteenth century, had remarked, "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel". Years later in the early years of the twentieth century Melvyn Bragg, another Briton and an author, improved upon this definition when he remarked, "Patriotism is seen not only as the last refuge of the scoundrel but as the first bolt-hole of the hypocrite". And lest we should mistake the British, they are not lagging behind any other nationality in patriotism. But the problem is that it can be carried a bit too far — especially by our unscrupulous politicians.

Today, India is at the crossroads. Separatist tendencies have taken strong roots over a period of time. The Northeast and J&K are proving to be the nation’s vulnerable spots. Then other discordant voices by various casteist and communal forces are striking high notes. The need for stressing upon the importance of national integration has become imperative. Words, thoughts and deeds contribute towards making of a nation. The bridging of gap between precepts and practice on the part of our leaders helps sustain a viable polity.

Where have we gone wrong? Often the majority community is held responsible for all the national ills. The secularist parties, who feared the rise of the Hindu Right, encouraged this school of thought. Thus, the very assertion of one’s Hindu identity was considered an act of communal provocation. Minorities became vote banks. Communal parties representing minorities saw in this an opportunity to aggressively demand a larger share of the national pie. This led to competitive communalism, with rather tragic results for all.

One major threat to India’s unity today is casteism. Caste based political parties are coming up in different parts of the country. Sooner or later the Bihar style caste wars might break out in the rest of the country too. Little do we realise the genesis of caste in our society.

Dr Radhakrishnan points out that the institution of caste originated as part of the Aryan effort to absorb the various racial groups with whom they came in contact. As against the extermination of the aboriginals and the Red Indians, caste was the superior method of harmonisation. It recognised local custom and affirmed the infinite diversity of human groups. It stood for the ordered complexity, the harmonised multiplicity, the many-in-one which is the clue to the structure of the universe. Each caste had its own purpose and function. Each pursued its own aims free from the interference by others and contributed to the prosperity of the whole.

Let us not forget that all comers were welcome in the past. It was our tradition not to be hostile to foreigners. Thus the term ‘Xenophobia’ is absent in our literature. This catholicity of worldview helped blend disparate ethnic and cultural groups into one harmonised whole.

There are constitutional guarantees that safeguard our rights. There are expectations of performance of duties. There is a need to understand that rights without obligations cannot survive for long.

Last, but not the least, one must not forget the increasing economic disparity between the haves and the have-nots. Already, Left extremists are gaining support among the rural youth, and violence is increasing in states like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. All of these are important states. Once the Left extremists gain acceptance among the urban youth the results will be catastrophic for the entire nation. Employment avenues need to be increased. Not merely through government jobs but by increasing the scope of the private sector. This is where the educated elite has to play a prominent role. It must contribute towards the nation’s economic prosperity by devising ways and means of enhancing private enterprise. Let the well off citizens pay their taxes in full. Corruption needs to be rooted out. Wasteful expenses need to be curbed. Let us act responsibly and invest our surplus resources in productive activities.

Thus forging of national integration is a process that needs to be kept firmly on course through diligence on the part of all citizens. Inputs like honesty, accountability and justice on the part of our governmental and other public functionaries can certainly help in this regard. Again the nation’s integrity is not the responsibility of the majority community alone, but also of the minorities. Time has proved that our credo of tolerance is the right way to attaining nationhood. We have eschewed the articulation of love of country by spewing hatred on others. This is how it should always be. Finally, patriotism is something that cannot be enforced; it spontaneously oozes out of the citizens’ bosoms as a beautiful hymn sung in self-coordinated chorus. Flowing down from the majestic tranquility of the Himalayas, to the vibrant Indo-Gangetic plains and the rugged Deccan, the harmonised melody permeates the profound depths of the ocean surrounding the peninsula.