INCLUSIVE IDEA OF INDIA
INCLUSIVE IDEA OF INDIA
Dr M. D. Thomas
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The word ‘inclusive’ denotes ‘including or containing everything’. It would further mean embracing all people, irrespective of race, gender, age, language, ideology, creed, class, culture, social mores, food habits, dress patterns, nationality, disability or other conditions. To be included is a universal human right.
‘Being inclusive’ implies equal access and opportunities for all. It rules out discrimination and intolerance. It advocates removal of barriers between individuals, communities and nations. A few of the related words are ‘including, surrounding, containing, encompassing, wide-ranging, universal, global and all together.
‘To be inclusive’ is to embrace and celebrate differences. There are differences in backgrounds, perspectives and experiences, like gender. People think, feel, understand, act, react, and the like, differently. Engaging with every category and to be integrated with one and all is the ultimate value of life. ‘Taking everyone along’, along with going together, crossing all borders, is the spirit of inclusiveness.
‘Nation’ is totally an inclusive idea. It is a country or all the people in a country. It has no particular religion, language, culture, and the like. It is a large body of people, united in terms of a certain territory and government. Nation or country accommodates diverse languages, ideologies, ethnic groups, etc.
People of a certain nation are known for their ‘collective identity’, mostly supported by a set of shared history, features, beliefs, institutions, interests and sentiments. A strong sense of community, backed by integrity, integration, solidarity and relatedness are the assets of the people of a certain nation.
India is a nation and a country, at the same time. The ‘Republic of India’, Bhaarat Ganraajya’ is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh largest country by area, the second most populous country and the most populous democracy in the world. It is a nation with a self-governing State with cultures and traditions.
‘Patriotism’, obviously, is at the core of a nation. It is the feeling of love, devotion and sense of attachment to one’s country. Ethnicity, language, cultural traits, social traditions, historical roots and political affiliations could be at the back of the patriotic sentiments.
Patriotism motivates one to have special affection towards one’s country, define oneself in terms of one’s country, being interested in the welfare of one’s country and being ready to sacrifice oneself for the sake of national prospects. This is often the natural trait of all the citizens, while the degree varies.
Patriotism is not the same as nationalism, even though they share several factors. The former is loyalty to a group conceived of in judicial and political terms, where as the latter is loyalty to a group understood primarily on ethnic and cultural terms. The former has focus on values and beliefs, while the latter on heritage.
Furthermore, patriotism leads one to serve
the country, while nationalism makes one plunge into taking pride in national symbols,
monuments and achievements as well as reviving cultural traits. In either case,
devotion to one’s country or nation leads one to a sense of ‘national
consciousness’, which proceeds to exalt one’s nation or country above some or
all others.
The above crave to project one’s country as ‘the best country in the world’ or at least ‘better than most countries’ is liable to drive one to the passionate promotion of one’s national interests and then impose them on others by force. This is a drive that is liable to go off the track, more often than not.
No wonder, patriotism and nationalism often go beyond all proportions, like a passion or an obsession that is beyond control and one that would violate the identity, autonomy and existence of others. ‘Islamic State’ and ‘Hindu Raashtra’ are outstanding instances of the inordinate type of patriotism and nationalism.
Now, what is the wrong with ‘Islamic State’ and ‘Hindu Raashtra’? Islamic State is a radical and militant Islamic group of the Sunni tradition. ‘Hindu Raashtra’ is the fanatic and extremist idea of Hindu polity that was conceived and mooted by Savarkar. Both are religion-based, exclusive and violent ideologies that brutally cross the courtesy lines between communities of other affiliations and proceed to hate, and even engage in brutal massacres. They function as a ‘blend of power, money and faith’, though in disguise.
Like ‘Islamic State’ elsewhere, ‘Hindu Raashtra’ in India sharply violates the basic fibre of being inclusive. It negates and contradicts the fundamental right of other religious, ideological and cultural traditions to co-exist peacefully. It is a terrorist outfit and is detrimental to harmonious living, indeed so.
Reducing the nation and the country to a certain ideology, language, creed, ritual, food habit, behaviour, and the like, is to violate the very notion of a nation or country, which is inclusive and multi-dimensional in essence. As a matter of fact, this is the sheer breach of the raison d’etre of the nation or country.
The idea of India never existed before. There were only small and big kings and their empires in the geographical area currently called India. If truth be told, it is the British who defeated the petty empires and laid the foundation for the unified land called India, which later was further integrated by the inmates.
Ever since independence, the stalwarts of the nation, starting with Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, built the nation of India, step by step and piece by piece. The spirit of being a nation and a country is the fruit of the sweat and life of billions of people in India, irrespective of varied persuasions.
The India of today is multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-ideological, multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-cuisine, multi-dressed, multi-coloured, multi-traditional, multi-party, multi-community, and the like. This is what the tri-coloured ‘Indian flag’ is all about. India can never be other than a ‘composite culture’.
The obsession of the derailed idea of ‘hindu raashtra’ has to find its way to the world of hell. The ‘kaliyug’ of today has to give way to the ‘satyug’ of tomorrow, sooner the better. The radical, militant and terrorizing mindset does not suit any nation or country, the great land called ‘India’, all the more.
The greatest ideal of India is ‘vasudhaiv kutumbakam’ from Maha Upanishad, meaning ‘the world is one family’. ‘Let good thoughts come from all directions’ is its real driving force. ‘Satyamev jayate’, ‘truth alone prevails’ is the expressway to real development and progress. ‘Sarve bhavantu sukhinah’, ‘let all be happy’, is the esteemed destination of India. Nothing less than these ideals could be acceptable to India.
India is inclusive in its idea and essence, deeply so. It has to be so,
for all times, for sure. The brighter future of India is inherent in being more
and more inclusive in the days and years to come. The ‘inclusive’ character is
the core identity of India. Only this quality can make India respectable before
the world of nations. May the ‘inclusive idea of India’ be on the march, always,
on the celebrated occasion of the 75th anniversary of India as a
free nation, in special, towards a leadership beyond borders!
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The author is Director, Institute of Harmony and Peace Studies, New Delhi, and has been committed to cross-cultural perspectives, cross-scriptural values, constitutional values, interfaith relations, communal harmony, national integration and social ethics and social wellbeing, for the past over 40 years. He contributes to the above cause through lectures, articles, video messages, conferences, social interactions, views at TV channels, and the like.
He
could be viewed, listened to and
contacted at the following portals – websites ‘www.mdthomas.in’
(p), ‘https://mdthomas.academia.edu’ (p), ‘https://drmdthomas.blogspot.com’(p)
and ‘www.ihpsindia.org’ (o);
social media ‘https://www.youtube.com/InstituteofHarmonyandPeaceStudies’ (o),
‘https://twitter.com/mdthomas53’ (p), ‘https://www.facebook.com/mdthomas53’
(p); email ‘mdthomas53@gmail.com’ (p) and telephone 9810535378 (p).
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