It is, in the least, refreshing to see that matters important to the wellbeing of the nation are seemingly being discussed in parliament, hopefully, with sincerity and some degree of seriousness from all involved. Most of us, those who possess patience to sit through them, are generally only exposed to the “live” public “discussions” on such matters aired on prime time TV channels. We are aware that those expositions are only situated appreciations from vested interests and generally end in a cacophony of noises. Hence discussions on such matters, especially in parliament, with original views are refreshing.

It is not alarming that many of us Indians, I am referring to 1.4 billion and counting, are not sure about nationalism, republic, constitution and related matters. The concept of India, albeit with a cultural history dating back to millennia ago, is a startup nation state – just seventy odd years old. India was a democracy from the time it was born as an independent polity only after being ruled by dictatorships (mainly as kingdoms and colonies) for four thousand nine hundred twenty odd years. One fine day the diverse people of the subcontinent geographically known as India, are told “come on guys from tomorrow onwards, you rule yourselves”. I am only putting in a perspective of the concept of nationhood of India on the eve of its Independence Day on August 15.

Evolution of a nation 

The nearest railhead from the village of my childhood was eleven miles away. A maid who worked in our house saw a locomotive for the first time in 1978 when she was in her late twenties. Her mother, who was also a maid in the house before her, never ever saw a locomotive in her lifetime. We were literally a closed nation until the early 1990s. The economy opened up then partially, so to speak. The trappings of easy communications and media started to impact society much later in the first decade of this century. The joke about all South Indians being “Madrassis” was a joke then but unbeknown to the nation, probably that was one of the fault lines in the process of integration. A lot of us Indians were unaware of our country and our nation.

 A cunning midwife (read Britain) presided over the birth of the Indian nation. Blood was not allowed to be spilt for the childbirth, but there was a lot of blood really directly unrelated to the birth!!! Then it was a case of bad parenting about which a lot has been said.

But those are not the problems of the day. The Indian has emerged from this chaos with a few scars. Blasphemy you would say; no it is not, I assure you. Then, what is the problem you would ask? The problem is only immature and parochial politics of the land.

What exactly are those problems?  I will go as far as to say that there are no insurmountable ideological problems in our country. There are only differing perceptions of key issues which can be resolved through debates, if outside interference can be curbed. But alas we as a nation seem to be poor at debating and good only at arguing. And then another matter is that a lot of us think that nonexistent Utopia (Ramrajya – nothing to do with any mandir) is the only solution…

A Union of States 

The state of a nation is reflected on its roads. This is not a quote from a famous person. It is only my quote. It is just worth that. The man on the Indian road is always in a hurry to reach nowhere when there is nothing urgent. The nation needs velocity and speed to reach anywhere.  The nation needs short term, midterm and long term plans for its journey towards full development. Whatever be the past, present or the future, nation states will and have to continue to exist. Can we imagine a world without governance? Yes, that would be a time when the dictum “Might is right” will prevail. That would be the time when the world will be at the threshold of “non-existence”.  Yes, be assured that day will come. The Earth has to be destroyed one day. But until then nation states will exist. In the process of evolution, in some parts of the world, economic factors seem to be eroding the concept of nation states. A good example is the European Union. I leave it to you to judge for yourself the chances for its continued success. I suppose we will know in a year or two. England has left the union. The “Greek economic tragedy” did shake the EU’s foundation. The Russia-Ukraine conflict is not helping the EU to hold up.

In any case other parts of the world are far away from any such thoughts, especially India. When we consider India, in effect it is a union of states, probably masquerading as a nation state. After all a Jat is not the same as a Nair you would say! Herein lies, suspiciously, the antithesis to nationhood. After living with Jats, Sikhs, Bengalis and all others in all parts of India, I am at home with my friend Lalluia Cheguil from Mizoram as I am chubby with MS Dahiya from Rohtak. I don’t get offended when I am called a Madrassi nor does Himmat take offence to a Sardarji joke. That is the level of bonhomie we look for in all of Indian society. There are threads holding it together. It will take time for the threads to knot into a net. Hopefully, it is happening, albeit slowly.

Education is the key 

There are seemingly irrevocable hurdles in the form of religions and castes. The key to harmony in a society are its people, religious and civil society leaders. Not the politicians in a democracy as their priority will be voter banks. 

I have my reservation on any type of reservation except for the paid ones such as for travel and outstation lodging et al. Reserved distribution of sub-standard education will not benefit any person, family, society, state, nation and the world. Such education has only benefited the outside world as seen in the ecstasy and pride in us Indians when someone of “Indian origin” is appointed Vice President or Governor of a US state, a PM or MP in British parliament or simply as a CEO of a foreign Company! 

Reservations will not deliver salvation. This in no way is a casteist or racist statement.  India must look to improve the quality of education and make it affordable equally to all irrespective of religion or caste. Else, we will continue to feel safe in “reservations” and never ever look at improving the quality of the society.

It is all in the mind. India needs to change the way it thinks.

(The author is an Indian Army veteran and a contemporary affairs commentator. Views are personal. He can be reached at  kl.viswanathan@gmail.com )