Is an Independent India Doomed to be a Divided India? Source : SIFYBy : Major General Mrinal Suman

India is flooded with political leaders who are ready to tear the country apart to retain their relevance. To remain in the news, they revel in resorting to grossly anti-national acts. Siddaramaiah adopts a separate flag for Karnataka and tries to drive a wedge between the North and the South by claiming that the South subsidizes the North. He creates a rift in the Hindu religion by ruling Lingayats to be a separate religious entity. Working President of DMK promises his support if the southern states demand the formation of a separate country ‘Dravida Nadu’ and said that he would welcome any situation in which the southern states demand to break away from India. The Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) led by Simranjit Singh Mann, has been demanding the creation of a state of ‘Khalistan’ to act as a buffer state between India, China and Pakistan. It has recently passed a resolution seeking a separate state of ‘Jat-land’ by increasing the size of Punjab. Farooq Abdullah declares nonchalantly that PoK belongs to Pakistan. Non-Maharashtrians are not welcome in Maharashtra. Chandrababu Naidu talks only of Telugu pride. Where does India as a nation figure in their scheme of things? (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Mamata Banerjee’s charge against the military marked a new low in the sordid saga of political chicanery, falsehood and misrepresentation of facts. She termed soldiers’ presence at the toll plazas to be akin to a military coup. One does not have to be a visionary to predict the danger of abetting illegal migration from Bangladesh for garnering votes. If political leaders can imperil national security for the sake of power, they can go to any extent. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Hamid Ansari’s last interview as the Vice-President of India was certainly malevolent in content and anti-Indian in intent. After having enjoyed all the perks and privileges of office for the last ten years (three years under the present government), his conscience troubled him only on the last day in office. His assertion that India’s Muslims are living with a ‘feeling of unease’ and ‘a sense of insecurity is creeping in among them’ was deliberately meant to damage India’s secular standing. To curry favour with the party leadership, two Home Ministers shamelessly provided anti-India propaganda material to Pakistan and thus brought disrepute to the country. Some of our leaders of suspect loyalties have been demanding that Jammu and Kashmir be allowed to separate from India if it wishes to do so. Seditious acts and utterances by marginalized and ousted leaders are a common occurrence. They feel that narrow and parochial grand-standing is the easiest way to re-acquire political relevance. In the process, they do immense damage to India as a nation. History is replete with examples of Indian kings seeking help from foreign invaders to settle petty scores with their neighboring kingdoms. In due course, having secured a foothold, the foreigners vanquished all local sovereigns to establish their own rule and enslaved the whole country. That, undoubtedly, is the darkest aspect of Indian history. Even now we have leaders who believe in such despicable scheming. Mani Shankar Aiyer told a Pak TV, “Bring us (the Congress) back to power and remove them (Modi)”. Here was a leader of a national party seeking Pak help to dethrone Modi, the duly elected leader of the country. How low can one stoop and yet have the temerity to claim to be an Indian! The above examples are purely indicative in nature. The list is endless. Our leaders are doing their best to ensure that we remain embroiled in petty bickering and internal dissentions. They have a knack and penchant for generating innovative issues to divide the countrymen. Fading political leaders resort to perfidious acts for selfish gains. By constantly reminding their followers of their region, religion, caste and sub-caste, the wicked leaders make them behave parochially; they start flaunting their narrow identity and give it precedence over the country. We are our biggest enemy. It is wrong to accuse the British of following ‘divide and rule’ policy to gain control over India. They did not need to do so. We have always been and continue to be a divided lot. Our approach, attitude and practices have always been directed towards remaining disunited. Unfortunately, we have learnt nothing from history. We keep spawning throngs of leaders who can stoop down to despicable levels to fragment the society for their petty interests. At times, one wonders if God is anti-India. Why does India get cursed with such loathsome leadership? Don’t we deserve better? Our politicians are the fountainhead of all fissiparous forces. Sadly, they cannot be expected to change as they believe in the ends and not the means employed. To them, vote bank politics preclude letting the countrymen stay united. That is the reason politics have come to be identified with everything immoral and decadent. Indian political narrative stinks of treachery and disloyalty, born out of selfishness and vendetta. “Governance was much better during the British days. The country was united and the lives were safer. The British controlled the whole of Indian peninsula with a maximum of 60,000 troops. Today every state has a police force of more than that strength and yet divisive forces are rampant. Indian leaders have torn the country apart”, an elderly citizen rued. However, the most damning comment was, “Our leaders have let us down. We should outsource governance to a competent foreign entity on contractual basis. I am not suggesting foreign rule; but only foreign yoke can keep us united. That is India’s misfortune. Cry, my countrymen.” It was certainly an extraordinary proposition. Even if made in disgust, it reflects the degree of disenchantment of the common people. Will the current political leadership introspect as to how the integrity of the country is getting endangered due to their selfish machinations? Or, does it want history to reiterate the fact that India can remain united only when subjugated by a foreign power; and an independent India is doomed to be a divided India.

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