United India stands, Divided it falls

Last Updated on June 12, 2023

I know that the title of this essay sounds cliche. It has lost its meaning through overuse and misuse by politicians and con-artists in every walk of life. In the name of unity and solidarity of people, they have taken advantage of the people they represent to protect and advance their own personal interests. They have been doing it systematically by making public wealth into private.

Politicians, especially bad ones want us to divide for them to establish vote bank(s). These vote banks are so blindly loyal that they will vote for them no matter what. However, Often, their rhetoric says they are inclusive and support diversity just so they can instill false hope and mislead us.

But, they usually act to appease only those communities that will vote for them in the next election and many elections to come. This has been the strategy of almost every party in India, to be fair, but also in many mature democratic countries like the US, Uk, France, etc. This is one of the main reasons why there has been democratic backsliding and authoritarians coming to power all over the world.

This injustice is not possible without us being distracted from the real issues that affect us. This has been made more and more successful over the years by inciting and maintaining in-fighting among us. So, We, the people of India are divided based on so many lines.

I will go over some of the aspects by which we are divided for various reasons. It could be for administration, power, historical, religious or cultural reasons, but we have always come together when it comes to building the nation as a single community.

Unfortunately, we are gradually reaching less and less across the aisle. Not only the common people but also community leaders are moving apart from each other. Initially, this might stop us from addressing common issues and challenges faced across communities. In the long run, even in short term at worst, this will result in a serious threat to the peace and integrity of our nation.

Following are the aspects used by British colonialists before independence and also politicians now to divide us and rule.

States or Language

There are in total 28 states and 8 union territories in India divided mainly based on language for administration. Our differences in language are not small. Many of them have evolved separately and simultaneously to be different from each other, even though sharing the same mother/root language.

Yet, we have agreed to be a part of a country. Our languages might be different, but we have taken extra effort to learn additional languages – English or Hindi so that we have a common language to connect and communicate with each other.

Wikipedia states there are 447 native languages. That is really so many that if you think of it. We would need a separate library just to keep bilingual dictionaries translating words from one language to another.

Religion

I think most of the religions in the world have some presence in India. Of course, the supermajority may be Hindu but the Muslim population is also more than 15%. There are Christians, Parsis, Jain, Buddist, and Jews who all have been living together for the most peacefully.

This is possible because we have been living on the principles of
Sarve Jana sukhino Bhavantu – Let the People of the world be happy
Sarva Janangada Shantiya Thota by Kuvempu

It is part of the secular culture from freedom fighters and cultures from all the religions that we have learned to live and co-exist peacefully. There were instances of barbaric times in Indian history but also peaceful co-existence from Ashoka to Akbar.

As much as we would love to believe that there haven’t been any differences, conflicts, or clashes between religious communities, we cannot ignore the fact that we always waged war and destroyed each other’s sacred places and monuments. Despite all the animosity, we have somehow managed to resolve it peacefully time and time again.

We have been living in harmony side by side with each other for many centuries now. We believe in Vasudeva Kutumbam as it is enshrined at the entrance to our parliament.

However, lately, there has been more hate speech and divisive talk and it is seriously disrupting the harmony of our communities at every level from a small village to a nation as a single community.

Castes

It is safe to say that there are more castes in India, especially in the Hindu religion than there are religions in India. There were severe divisions among castes before independence. There was a hierarchy of castism where many castes were backward and a few castes were privileged.

Since independence, We have made a serious effort according to the constitution given by Dr. B R Ambedkar to have special provisions to eradicate the discrepancies and discriminations based on caste. Despite all the criticism and challenges against the positive discrimination, much progress has been made since independence in eradicating casteism.

Yet, we have a long way to go toward completely removing negative discrimination and in the long run, positive discrimination as well. So that, everyone is on a level playing field and can access all opportunities equally.

One thing we must be proud of is the progress we have made in the space of untouchability in eradicating it.

Gender

This is the one aspect that has been the cause of the biggest discrimination in history. Starting from the sati-system, female infanticide, dowry system, women’s inequality in education, jobs, pay, etc.

Fortunately, a lot of progress has been made on this front. Women have shown their true capability by excelling in every field. Yet, even now in rural areas, women are more underprivileged and oppressed. Governments and NGOs have various schemes to empower women e.g. by encouraging and supporting them to form self-help groups so that they can be financially independent.

There is little support or schemes from the government for the LGBTQ community in India. Though the supreme court has legalized homosexuality and a few states have announced welfare schemes, there is still so much to be done to unshackle them and remove the stigma around them.

Economic classes

We have achieved food security by building dams and canals for irrigation. This has lifted many families from extreme poverty. Though we have come a long way, we still lag behind in terms of raising our living standards. We still lack quality education and quality healthcare and a good-paying job.

In reality, in terms of the economy, we have actually moved apart instead of coming together. In other words, the rich have become richer and the poor poorer. Yet, we don’t let this divide us for national interests. We have always come together – rich, poor, or middle class. The current situation has become worse than in the British Raj period of the pre-independence era.

Education

Some are highly educated, some are educated just enough to be called as literate and some don’t even know how to read and write. Educated, Uneducated or less educated, or more educated, doesn’t matter, we all come together to solve a problem or start a business or form an NGO. We all want to serve the nation with our own individual capacity as much as we can.

On a global level – Countries

We live in a time where different parts of our phones are manufactured and assembled in different countries before getting into our palms. We live in globalization. Whether we want to or not we are dependent on other countries and other countries on us. Our economy doesn’t survive if we close our economy suddenly.

All countries have to come together peacefully. It is not important whether the countries shared an unfriendly past or not, because we have to and can only address climate change together, world hunger, and all other global issues. Climate change and world peace have become 2 critical issues for the survival of the human race.

We may be divided, but to stay united, we have always focused on what unites us and gives us strength.

I only hope that as we move along we learn to perceive anything that comes as a threat to our unity as a test to further strengthen our unity.