MAKING OF THE INDIAN NATION
Quest for a Foundation for Unity
THREE quarters of a century have passed since India gained its independence, but it has yet to join the ranks of the truly developed countries. That is a dream still to be realized. And this is in spite of India being a large country with all kinds of potential. One reason for this tragic failure is the Indian people’s lack of national character. The plight the country finds itself in today can be traced to this basic shortcoming. Bereft of this sterling quality, Indians have fallen short in taking the country towards progress and prosperity.
What is national character? It is, to put it simply, the capacity and the will to hold the interests of the nation supreme in every sphere. If there is a clash between individual and national interests, individual concerns must be subordinated to the greater good of the nation. Whenever a nation has made any progress, it has been due to this spirit of nationalism. Without such a spirit, no nation can advance either internally or externally.
In a period just under 50 years, many countries like Singapore, Korea, Malaysia and Japan have succeeded in fostering a strong, national spirit in their people, and now stand alongside developed countries, while India still lags far behind. The reasons behind this state of affairs must be investigated. There is one basic reason for this: attempting to achieve the possible by means which are impossible. Producing national spirit or character in India is certainly possible. It is just that we have set off on the wrong track, and once on this track, it is difficult to retrace our steps and get on to the right one.
After Independence, an “Indian nation” had come into existence in the political and geographical sense. But, at the psychological level, the level of feelings and emotions, our position was still that of a nation in the making. For the desired national reconstruction to take place, our leaders proposed a recipe based on the concept of a common heritage consisting of three main parts: religious unity, historical unity and cultural unity.
Religious unity implied that all religions were essentially one. It was believed that if this concept could take root in people’s minds, it would produce a sense of unity all over the country. Historically, of course, this assumption was wrong; there is a long, sorry record of coreligionists fighting fiercely among themselves. For instance, in the war of Mahabharata, the warriors on both sides were of the Hindu religion.
In the first and second World Wars, the combatants on both sides were Christians. Babur (the first emperor of Mughal dynasty) had armed confrontations with his co-religionists, finally inflicting decisive defeats on them.
The attempt to bring about religious unity in India has had active support right from the time of Akbar (the third Mughal emperor), who bolstered it politically, to present times, when intellectuals such as Dr Bhagwan Das (a contemporary of Jawaharlal Nehru) attempted to solve the problem with his encyclopedic knowledge of the subject.
But this goal could never be achieved for the simple reason that the assumption that all religions are one and the same is incorrect; and no durable structure can be erected on false premises.
It is an undeniable fact that there are differences among various religions. Given these differences, it is difficult, if not impossible, for the adherents of one religion to reach the point of agreeing that the tenets and practices of another religion have an equal value. However, if the adherents of different religions see each other, first and foremost, as human beings, as members of the same human race, they can certainly accord each other equal respect. Through mutual respect, many social benefits can accrue. Attempts at mutual recognition of religious beliefs are futile at best.
What is national character? It is, to put it simply, the capacity and the will to hold the interests of the nation supreme in every sphere. If there is a clash between individual and national interests, individual concerns must be subordinated to the greater good of the nation.
Let us now look at how history comes into the picture. It is assumed that even where there are people of different persuasions, a common sense of history will produce a common sense of nationhood. And where this is seen to be lacking, it is advocated that such a sense be inculcated. But this would again be an attempt to achieve the possible by means which are impossible.
All countries, be they as small as Singapore, or as large as the USA, are inhabited by varied races and ethnic groups. In this respect there are several different strands to their historical heritage. But in none of these countries has there been any attempt to bulldoze people into sharing a common sense of history. Instead, there has been an acknowledgement of each citizen’s individuality. That is why, albeit imbued with different historical feelings, the various groups lead harmonious lives and are engaged in the common cause of nation-building.
The third point concerns the acceptance of a common culture. This is wholly impracticable. Culture inevitably evolves over a long historical process. It can never be imposed upon a group through any external agency. After the Second World War, a movement was launched in the USA to produce a common culture throughout the country by a process of Americanization. A similar movement was launched in Canada, but in both countries, these initiatives failed. Ultimately both had to abandon the idea of one culture society, and come to terms with multi-cultural society. In India, as elsewhere, this is the only possible and achievable solution.
The truth is that the only practicable basis of nationhood is patriotism. That is, the feeling on the part of the individual or group that their future is linked with one country and one country alone; that individual success is inextricably linked with the progress of the country; that the interests of the country must be held supreme, and that if sacrifices are required for the safety or advancement of the country, these must be willingly made. Without such feelings of patriotism, no country can be successfully run.
If the task of constructing the nation is to be successfully accomplished, we must rid ourselves of our obsession with such impracticable concepts as unity of religion, history and culture, and should forge ahead on the same lines as Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Britain, France and America.
Our prime target should be the inculcation of patriotism in our countrymen. And it should be a patriotism which is based not on the past, but on the present and the future. The only way to do this is to instill in each and every individual a deeprooted love of his country
Our prime target should be the inculcation of patriotism in our countrymen. And it should be a patriotism which is based not on the past, but on the present and the future. The only way to do this is to instill in each and every individual a deep-rooted love of his country. Instead of wasting time on the impossible, we should concentrate on building the kind of national character to be found in developed countries. If we set ourselves sedulously to such tasks as these, we should, within the span of one generation, be able to create for ourselves the ideal nation.