Unity in Diversity?

Doompi recently sent me a link to an editorial on a Chinese newspaper. Being from India and having been exposed to views our country has subscribed to and imbibed in me, I would be lying if I said that it did not agitate me. But thinking about it for a little longer gives a slightly more interesting insight into the whole "border dispute" that we have had. It is certainly true that we have had border issues with almost all of our neighbors. Barring probably Bhutan (who is dependent on India for their military support). Considering this, indians have always been led to believe that they have the most horrible set of neighbors. Be it Pakistan whom we have always been at loggerheads with, China whom we have had a long running border dispute in the north east and Ladakh, or Sri Lanka who has always held us responsible for most of their internal problems (whether it is because of the IPKF or the LTTE).

We helped Bangladesh get their independence from Pakistan in 1971. However things are far from rosy there. Before independence, Bengal was seen as the voice of india and where most of the mutiny struggles began. I was recently talking to a Bengali friend of mine and she seemed to be of the opinion that Bangladesh was far from different in comparison with the state of west bengal. She was all praise for the bengali literature. In her opinion, most of the commendable Bengali literature that instigated liberated thinking originated from the erstwhile east bengal. However she felt the need to emphasize at the end of her monologue that "the only difference is their religion". On the outset, it seems like a very innocent statement to make considering that it does seem to be the single most important difference between the two countries.

Several indians who have interacted with Pakistani people have also always felt that their cultures are very similar to theirs. The only difference there again is the religion. Religion is certainly a pretty big thing in India. Being from a very conservative religious family, being a hindu came pretty naturally to me. As a kid, whenever I used to think about geography, I remember focusing on the religion in a particular country. In my world view then, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis were mostly Muslim, Buddhism was predominant in China and parts of Sri Lanka. I remember feeling a lot more comfortable about Nepal as a neighbor because of it being a hindu state. Now that I think about it, it feels like a pretty natural thing to feel for most indians. Like the person in the Chinese newspaper mentions, it does seem to be a very "narrow minded" perspective that most indians seem to "religiously" follow. It explains the whole inter-religious riots that ensue most tragic man made accidents. Whether it was Babri masjid, Godhra, the Orissa missionary riots or Punjab/Khalistan.

Apart from religion, we also have a very dominant regionalism. Having lived in North India but being South Indian by heritage has exposed me to several prejudices as well. Of course most of it was jovial banter. But even if jovial, if "I" was exposed to these prejudices in the niche middle/upper-middle class society it goes to prove the extent of hatred imbibed into indians in general. This is probably why someone like Raj Thackeray (who has the balls to only talk in Marathi in a national channel interview although he speaks good hindi) still survives. The middle/upper-middle class society takes pride in condemning and passionately hating what he represents. But considering their own hypocrisies how can they be so contradictory?

I remember in middle school geography, I had to learn about all the different states in the country. There were separate chapters devoted to states like UP, Bihar and even the small state of Goa. Each state had its own unique language, its state dance and other cultural festivals. However the north eastern states were studied as three states together in one chapter (Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura).

People from North east have always been considered different from the rest of india. Mostly because their appearances are quite deceptive. Inspite of the prejudices lying deep within, letting these states go their own way is an obvious ego issue for the country. So before looking at our neighboring countries being villians, there is an impending need to address some such internal issues.

Haasil is one of my favorite movies. There is a dialogue in that movie "Arre bombay waale gundon ki baat hi alag hai. Unka kehna hai paisa do nahi to jaan se maar denge, ham kehte hain gaddi do nahi to jaan se maar denge. Wo choti industry hai! Ham des chalate hain!" (Translation: Rogues from Bombay are different. Their philosophy is give us money else we kill you. Our philosophy is give us the seat else we kill you. They are a smaller industry. We run the country!)

"Ham des chalate hain" is something which is deeply inscribed in most people from the hindi speaking belt! How then can we claim "unity in diversity"?