The Value of Harmony and National Integration in Indian Community

Rabindranath Tagore beautifully describes that, “keho nahi jane…..samudra holo hara” which means, ‘No one knows at whose beckoning; how many streams of humanity came in indomitable waves from all over the world over the millennia and mingled like rivers into the vast ocean creating an individual soul that is called Bharat’ OR I may say EK Bharat but is it Shrestha or not? Let us find out via this essay.

The idea of unity and greatness of India comes from the fact that it has been successful in saving its varied culture despite the history of wars and cultural conflicts. Justifying this fact, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan correctly points out that, “Any difference that may appear are only on the surface, but we remain a distinct cultural unit with a common history, a common literature and a common civilization”. Every conqueror and foreign elements adjusted themselves into the Indian setting and a common synthesis of all resulted into a tolerant and united India.

The BHARAT that we see today is the culmination of many unfortunate and fortunate events. The unfortunate event of partition knifed the historical unity while the freedom from British reinstated ‘British India’ as ‘BHARAT’. At that time India was freed but people got chained by the clashing ideologies of two religions i.e. Hindu and Muslim resulting into chaos. The iron man of India then took the responsibility of Integrating India and ‘Statue of UNITY’ is a testimony to the fact that he was successful in doing so.

World was wary of India’s unity but leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Sarvepalli radhakrishnan, Dr. Br Ambedkar made it sure that Ekta stays forever in the Bharat. Threats like Sikh riots, Naxalism, LTTE etc. were the downs that united India faced and many have been solved while some are still thriving. Well, what does Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat actually mean? It may have different interpretations for different sections but largely it focuses on the celebration of unity in diversity within the nation whereby focus is on respecting various cultures, result of which has to be communal Harmony and National integration among the citizens. Let us discuss the ideas justifying that India stays united and Shrestha as well.

Society is made up of people and interrelationships amongst them thus fraternity amongst them ensures social order in the society. Celebrating festivals of south, north, north east by every Indian shows the respect and unitedness that people embrace for each other. Further Social indicators like health and education are bettering across the country and zeal of backward states to learn from the schemes of forward states shows the readiness to learn from the progress of few members in a Family of Indian states. Further cultural elements include language, food habits, Dance, Music etc. and one example of this uniting people can be seen in form of state days being celebrated in LBS academy, Mussoorie.

These elements of culture strengthens the communal harmony as different communities feel revered for their uniqueness by the other communities. A rape in Delhi makes the whole country cry and their wrath results into marches across the country shows the zeal to have justice for every Indian citizen irrespective of his/her identity/community. Let’s talk of the Ekta that we see in Political sphere i.e. every state is given equal opportunity to forward their grievances and accordingly the required funds are devised to them (finance commission and interstate councils being the main authority to do so). Example like pooling funds by other states in calamities like Kerala flood shows the readiness of Indian states to feel the emotions in the pain of other states. Economic Ekta is no less in India as seen in form of positive inter-state trades.

Further, No state shows inherent biasness for the people settling their, to avail economic opportunities, coming from the other states which depicts high level of tolerance. Every state is good in production of some particular items like Gujarat for cotton, UP for sugarcane, WB for jute, Assam for tea etc. which altogether makes India Shrestha in terms of economic production. No doubt that all these makes India 6th largest economy and doesn’t stop it from dreaming to become a 5 trillion dollar economy in the near future. All these things shows that there is an awareness amongst the citizens of having common identity which in other words is the definition of National integration. Every state contributing to sustainable goals for helping India to achieve a goal at a global level shows the Ekta for making India Shrestha in the eyes of world. And to know the contributions of various states, indexes like state based SDG index help to improve further. Till now we have only partially discussed about the fact that why we feel that ‘we are one’?

The factors that we discussed above are the materialistic factors but there are also some symbolic factors like National flag, national army, and national anthem. When a person in the north east listens to the national anthem he/she feels connected to the person in the south thus making them feel one. A terrorist attack makes all feel guilty for the death of our soldiers which shows a sense of Common loss for the country. Other things like Cricket or a finals in Olympic or Miss Hima das running for a medal and if India wins then the common feeling of winning makes India Shrestha. But not everything that glitters is gold i.e. there are many factors which are a threat to Ek bharath- Shrestha Bharat further threatening communal harmony.

Communal riots, caste prejudices, language barriers, ethnic clashes are some of the manifestations of cracks in the fabric of united India. Communal riots as witnessed in Muzaffarnagar (2013) resulting into deaths of few, questions the degree of fraternity in our country. Mob lynching especially the cases of Muslims being targeted for beef (Alwar case) shows the lack of tolerance and thus questions the idea of Ek Bharat. Caste prejudices has been deeply entrenched in our society as witnessed in Koregaon incident which shows the lack of zeal to treat everyone equally. Politicians use caste as a base for getting votes which institutionalizes the feeling of segregation even more.

Language barriers result into bullying of people in the new areas, this has been witnessed in Cities like Delhi. Further it restrains a person from south to interact with a person from the north thus dilutes the feeling of having a common identity which reduces the degree of national integration. Economic issues like unemployment and poverty are resulting into people resorting to unfair means of earning like human trafficking, drugs selling etc. which ultimately leads to economic disorder. Further, Clashes between different ethnic communities like Babri masjid case (religion based), Sabrimala case (gender based) etc. are again a threat to national integration.

All the above threats are rooted in the divide and rule policy of British India which continued even after 1947 in the forms that we discussed. In last few decades, terrorism has emerged to be a great threat to Ekta in bharath as terror groups try to polarise a section of group against others and try to disintegrate the country( as witnessed in J&K). As understood, communal harmony is the path to understand national integration as the former aspires that people of different backgrounds must come together a live peacefully for a harmonious coexistence. Considering the need to make India free from the clutches of above problems, Programme of Ek bharath Shrestha Bharat was launched in 2015 to celebrate the 140th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, man behind integrating the divided India.

This programme aims at 5 fold objectives i.e. to promote national integration via structured state engagements, to celebrate the unity in diversity, to showcase the rich heritage and culture of every state, to establish long-term establishments AND to create an environment for the exchange of best practices amongst states for the overall national development. Every year two states will be paired to know about each other via activities like Rajya darshan, educational tours etc. thus cementing the bonds and making bharath Shrestha. Overall, this will help to spread a spirit of oneness resulting into deeper and longer bonds. The constitution of India has clearly laid enough focus on communal harmony and national integration in form of various articles like article 25-28, fundamental duties where by a citizen must try his/her best to increase the degree of fraternity amongst the fellow citizens. Also examples like setting up of National foundation for communal harmony (1992) justifies the intentions of various government to visualize communal social coexistence. Instead of pointing out the differences, one should focus on similarities and build upon it. Much more has to be done.

Reformation at every level will be required if we want the ship of Ek Bharat to keep sailing in a Shrestha sea. Education can be a big reformer whereby focus should be both on teaching humanistic subjects like sociology, ethics, philosophy along with teaching objectivity via scientific subjects. Sensitization should be done for every sort ethnicity present in in India. Syllabus should focus more on ‘we are all one’ rather than ‘why aren’t we one’ i.e. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. Right to education act should be utilised in both letter and spirit. Further, Bollywood can play a major role in propagating unity via making movies like swades, chak de India, baby etc. which instils a feeling of oneness. Requesting people to stand up for national anthem in theatres is another way to remind the belongingness to one entity i.e. bharath.

Role of younger generation has to be important in making the India Shrestha. Discouraging child marriage or labour, having high tolerance level, finding creative solutions for the disabled, reporting the corrupt practices, creating jobs for people via start-ups and so on, are some of the contributions that young people can make for inclusive growth. If the growth includes all then integrity within the nation strengthens as everyone feels that he/she has contributed in some way for the nation’s progress. Further social services via NGOs, working on slums, focusing on health infrastructure, community based services are some of best ways to ensure harmony among the people.

As we know that almost 50% are still dependent on agriculture for their daily needs, high focus in this field i.e. doubling farmers income, e-NAM AND inclusion of social security for informal sectors are equally important to integrate these people with the rest of workers in different sectors. Further in the sphere of polity, politicians must not use religion or caste as the basis for demanding votes, Women’s percentage in Lok sabha has to be increased ( only 12% as of now), all of these will help in integrating India in political terms. Every state has to be a partner in achieving the goals like climate change reduction, gender equality, sustainable resource management, environment protection and only then EK BHARATH WILL BECOME SHRESTHA BHARAT.

If national integration is ‘Ekta in Bharat’ then communal harmony is what makes it ‘Shrestha Bharat’. If we achieve what we discussed then it will result into efficient functioning of democratic institutions, increase the degree of secularism, freedom of expression and all that we could imagine for a united India. Focus of NEW INDIA 2022 has to be on inclusive growth along with upliftment of vulnerable community while respecting the background/culture of every Indian citizen. As our constitution wants us to ensure unity, integrity and fraternity in India, we must strive to achieve all of these. Mr. Pranab Mukherjee aptly puts that,’ for us democracy and constitution is not a gift but a sacred trust whereby the goal should be to use 395 articles and 12 schedules for socio-economic transformation of the country’. We must strive to convert violence, anger, conflict into peace, harmony and happiness.

The way our soldiers are protecting Indian Territory, the way state is trying to get people out of poverty and deprivation and the way citizens are playing their role in spreading love, optimism will always flow whereby India will stay Ek and Shrestha. To end we must remember that, “I am a citizen of my country and I can sacrifice anything for ensuring unity in my country because at the end my sacrifice doesn’t matter but the fraternity and integrity matters’.

Only a united country is free, justifies Oliver Kemper when he says that “The foundation of freedom is unity”. It can be used as a tagline for the National integration day i.e. 19th November whereby focus should be on making people understand that if you are united then you are free to love everyone irrespective of their identity, resulting into national integration and communal harmony.