Patriotism and power

Patriotism beyond anything

Some 50 years ago, the daredevil Biju Patnaik piloted his Kalinga airways Plane in jakarta to find the Indonesian President sukarno in the first flush of his fatherhood. Sukarno’s wife gave birth to a baby, and the family was searching for a name when Bijuda called on them. Sukarno explained the problem on hand. Bijuda cast his mind back to th clouds that had greeted the baby’s arrival and suggested the Sanskrit equivalent name for them. Sukarno’s daughter was promptly christened Meghawati. And thus the daughter of the leader of the world’s largest MUSLIM nation got a HINDU name.

“For great men, religion is a way of making friends; Small people make it a fighting tool.”

For a large country with a billion people; a country with a thriving industry and a large pool of scientific talent…a country which is moreover a nuclear power: India does not count as much as it should. In terms of our influence in the world affairs, probably no other country is so much below its potential as we are.

After Pokhran II, the WEST speaks about India and Pakistan in the same breath. Is it not in our national interest to demonstrate the world that we can think of a world beyond Pakistan? That we are a qualitatively better, more mature and secular country with a greater commitment towards the values of democracy and freedom?

People say that the test conducted by India in May 1998 was ill concieved. One should bear in mind our experience in the past. Pandit Nehru spoke in the Un against Nuclear Poliferation and advocated Zero Nuclear Weopons in all countries. We know the result.

There are around 10000 nuclear warheads in United states’s soil, another 10000 in Russia and a number of them in France, china. UK and Japan. START II and the recent agreements between United States and Russia only talk about reducing the number of warheads to 2000 and even these agreements are limping. No one takes reduction in serious terms.

It is essential to remember that two of our neighbours are armed with nuclear weapons and missiles. Can India be a silent spectator??

India has been invaded in last 3000 years by a number of conquerors including the British, dutch, Fench and Portugese. Why is it that India never invaded other countries? Is it because our kings were not brave enough? The truth is that Indians were tolerant and never understood the true implications of being ruled by others. But after the independence, is it possible to remain with economic prosperity as the only goal? The only way to show the strenght of a country is the might to defend it. Strength respects strength…..not weakness.

The decisions and policies of the United Nations Security Council are dictated by those countries who posses nuclear weapons. How is it that we didn’t geta seat in the Security Council so far but now other countries are recommending that India be made a member?

All the nations which have risen to greatness have been characterised by a sense of mission. The Japanese have it in large number, so do the Germans. In the course of three decades Germany was twice all but destroyed. And yet it’s peoples sense of destiny never dimmed. From the ashes of the World War II, it has emerged a nation, politically assertive and economically powerfull! If Germany can be a great Nation, why can’t India?

Our sense of mission has been weakened that we have ceased ourselves to be true to our culture and ourselves. As a divided people with no pride in our past and faith in the future, what else can we look forward to except disappointment, frustation and despair?

In India, the core culture goes beyond time. It preceeds the arrival of Islam, it preceeds the arrival of Christianity. The early Christians, like the Syrian Christians of Kerala, have retained their Indianess with admirable determination. Are they less Christian because thire married women wear Mangalsutr or their men-folk wear Dhoti in the Kerala style?

A.R.Rahman, may be a muslim, but his voice echos in every soul of whatever faith when he sings VANDE MATARAM.!!

The greatest danger to our sense of unity and pride comes from those ideologists who seek to divide the people. What is now cause of concern is the trend towards putting religious form over religious sentiments. Why can’t we develop a cultural-not religious- context for our heritage, that serves to make Indians of us all? The time has come for us to stop differentiating.

There are success stories among faliures. There is hope among chaos; promise among problems. We are one billion people with multiple faiths and ideologies. In the absence of a national vision, cracks at the seam keep surfacing and make us vurnerable. There is a need to reinforce this seam….