When hundreds of diverse and heterogeneous princely states were combined into a union called India – in the backdrop of the most ghastly partition that the humankind has ever seen, no one across the globe could imagine at that time that this country would be able to hold together for long. But not only did we stick together for all these years today, in a world where even the most homogenous countries across the world are jostling over petty differences, India stands tall as an epitome of how to use these differences as a glue to unite its various hues and colours to form a beautiful rainbow.
“Unity in diversity” was the underlying philosophy behind the founding of this great country, but very few realise that it is the respect and acceptance of diversity that has kept this nation united. At a time when “tolerance” for differences and diversity is being emphasised as an important virtue of modern democracies, Indian civilisation for centuries has not only “tolerated” religions and cultures that were foreign to it, but had embraced them with open arms and even assimilated its own culture and values with them and made them a part of its own common heritage.
It is true that the independent history of this country is marred with cases of violence and riots based on religion, caste, language and various other issues. But these have largely remained an aberration as most of them were and continue to be triggered and sparked by current rulers trying to replicate the divide and rule policy of the erstwhile British rulers for their own political motives and does not signify any sort of mutual disharmony.
I live in the state of Maharashtra which was formed on the basis of language (Marathi), but that language isn’t the only language in the state and even the dialect in which it is spoken changes as you move from one city to another. The sheer extent of our diversity in religion, castes, languages, cuisines, attires is enough to leave any outsider visiting the country gobsmacked. And such is the strength of our culture that we don’t even realise these differences and instead of overblowing these divergences we are conditioned to look for common threads that unite us.
And those seeking to establish a homogeneity in our society don’t realize that this diversity is not our weakness but is our biggest strength and makes us who we are, and trying to paint this colourful country with a single hue will just make it dull and boring. Those seeking to restore the lost glory of the past fail to understand that heterogeneity is in the DNA of this nation and the only way to take this nation to the heights where it once was, is by strengthening this heterogeneous characteristic of the society. And any attempt to tamper with this important trait that unites us all would just prove to be a big blunder and the society and the country would soon start to unravel.
Advocates of a homogenous way of life should look no farther than our armed forces, that how despite of all the differences they work as a united force. Sooner or later they will have to realise that any attempts at homogenizing the society would just further create more division and will hamper the peace progress of this country in the long run.
“Diversity in unity” should be our mantra moving ahead towards a better and a brighter future for this country.