Amulya Ganguli on the Indo-Asian News Service:
“There is little doubt that Indian democracy today represents a unique experiment. There has been nothing so successful on this scale anywhere in the world. India’s distinctiveness lies in the fact that while all the other established democracies see merit in trying to retain their original homogeneous racial and religious characteristics, India proudly flaunts its characteristic of being a mosaic of 4,635 communities speaking in 325 languages and dialects, which is written in 24 scripts. No other country can boast of its currency notes carrying all the 17 “official” languages, with the probability of more being added in the future….
“Historians will say that this “unity in diversity” has always been in India’s DNA. From the Mauryan Emperor Asoka (273 to 232 BC) to the Mughal Emperor Akbar (1556 to 1605) the emphasis of all perceptive rulers has been on assimilation. As India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru said in his Discovery of India, if the same policies were pursued by a Buddhist and a Muslim emperor separated by 1,700 years, the reason was that the voice of India was speaking through them. It is the same today.”
Read the full article: 61 years on, India triumphs odds
Cartoon: courtesy E.P. Unny / The Indian Express
“Unity in diversity” in India comes from basic cultural belief- there are different paths to reach God, and all those are correct.
This unique evolution seen here because its predominantly Hindu. Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism – all thrived without being persecuted. Majority people, and their culture shd be congratulated for that- which ‘psuedo’ Ganguly will NEVER do.
For ‘challenging’ traditional Hinduism, no fatwas were prounced against Gautama Buddha, or so many reformers. On the contrary, historical evidence says, Pataliputra Brahmins were respectful to Buddha.
Buddha was co-opted into respectful position. Atheists got their position in indian school of thoughts without being banished. However, as SWAMI VIVEKANANDA said, Hindus never tolerated intolerance. Probably, Jammuites are now showing that.
India’s history begins with Buddhist Asoka and ends with Mughal Akbar. There is nothing to Indian history before, or in between. This is not unity in diversity or diversity in unity, whatever that means. This is the Indian ‘intellectual’ class indulging in cultural, historical and political ‘exclusivism’. The identity, and the connecting thread, for over 80% of India’s population has to be excluded, negated and denied – not acknowledged anywhere even by accident.
Just like how the Kashmiri exclusivism resulted in the movement in Jammu that involved all of Jammu, Hindu, Sikh and Gurjar muslims, this exclusivism too will meet its resistance.
The question is, how do we cope with those who seek to destroy us? Not arrest the terror suspects, like URA wants us to do?
Is the logic correct in the slogan ‘unity in diversity’?
How can you have unity ‘in’ diversity?
Should it not be ‘unity with diversity’ or ‘unity in spite of diversity’?
@Chet,
It is like the thread binding the garland.
Or like the clay that goes into tha making of different pots.
Our belief is : Ekatma sarva bootantaratma
The “I” in you and the “I” in others is the same!! Like the Sun whose reflection is seen in a thousand ponds, the Self in all of us is the same.
I am glad you brought up the topic. There is a deeper truth in this statement that is not obvious.
No doubt – it has been a quite interesting experiment. Here is the most important thing : With all of its flaws, India is on the right direction. Slow, bumpy but on the right direction. That’s all matters.
Jai Hind!
@Truth From Facts,
That is indeed deep ! I had the same doubts as Chet…
This is the time of the year for the slogansmiths to peddle their wares. The biggest mistake we Indians commit is bask in the (largely meaningless) glory of our unity, diversity and antiquity. These things are pretty much irrelevant to the real problems facing us.
I guess that’s what happens to a country that celebrates daaridrya. We have more people talk about the romance of “our way of life” like farming and agriculture (as practiced in India) and practically no one really willing to help people out of what is actually a horrible way to make a living.
Unity in Diversity. OK. Very good.
But what we are having, is it really a true democracy. We all saw the CNN-IBN sting operation. But most of the people have taken it as normal and may forget it soon. Is this real democracy?
Please read my blog on Indian democracy in
http://lvnaga.wordpress.com/category/indian-politics/
I welcome your comments.
Nagarajan
Democracy in India is a joke…
The problem with some people is that their concepts of democracy and unity in diversity remain pretty theoretical musings disconnected with real life and developments. What Amulya Ganguli says is ‘timeless’ as in ‘valueless’, not ‘priceless’.
This democratic model has failed to deliver and has brought out the worst in our poiltical class and is increasingly attracting the worst lot to that profession. The country simply cannot afford to continue like this. Rather than do some honest introspection and effect some fundamental changes before it is too late, such individuals keep taking out the same material from their fantasy bags, irrespective of what is happening in the real world out there.
These are the guys our politicians love. These are the guys who do more harm to this nation than they realise sitting in their pretty unreal worlds.