India is Not a Divine Exception
 |
| Temple, Mosque and Church coexist in Thiruvananthapuram |
“Here is the truth that grand old Winston Churchill,
for all his perspective and wisdom, could not confront: we are an ordinary
country.” Andrew Marr writes in his book Elizabethans: A History of How
Modern Britain Was Forged (2020). Britain is a “beautiful, diverse,
law-abiding, hard-working and ingenious country,” he goes on, “but we are an
ordinary one – not New Jerusalem, not Greater Britain…. Once we cast aside the
illusions and forget the absurd ambitions, there is much in our recent history
to celebrate, enjoy and learn from.”
Such humble and candid realism is a
need of the hour, I think. Hence this post.
India now has a Prime Minister who
asserts every now and then that India is the “most ancient living
civilisation,” “mother of democracy,” and “vishwaguru.” No doubt, India had its
own greatness in the past. But we also need to look at the other side in order
to have a balanced perspective. And realise that we, India, are just another
ordinary nation in the world.
Anyone can make tall claims.
Americans speak of the American Dream. The British once believed that the sun
would never set on their empire. Ancient Rome considered itself chosen by
destiny to rule the world. History is full of nations convinced that they were
uniquely ordained to guide humanity.
India is not unique in spite of the
loud assertions we hear every now and then about her spiritual superiority,
moral elevation, eternal tolerance, and exotic wisdom. NCERT’s new textbooks
teach schoolchildren that India gave the world everything from philosophy to
mathematics, and peace too.
Perhaps India’s future depends on
abandoning this obsession with superiority.
Perhaps India should learn the candid
humility of Andrew Marr and see itself as just another ordinary nation made up
of ordinary human beings.
That realisation may actually make us
kinder to one another.
A civilisation becomes dangerous when
it stops seeing itself honestly. Every country has saints and tyrants, poetry
and cruelty, wisdom and barbarism. India produced the Buddha, but it also
produced caste oppression. We gave the world profound philosophy, but we also
tolerated hunger, untouchability, communal violence, and deep inequality for
centuries.
To admit this is not antinational. It
is being truthful.
We have allowed mythology to replace
self-examination. Once people begin believing that their civilisation is
uniquely pure, criticism becomes betrayal. Questions become antinational
insults. Minorities become outsiders. Dissenters become enemies of “our”
culture. The nation starts demanding worship instead of responsibility.
Civilisational arrogance creates
permanent insecurity. Because it may be hiding a deep fear of decline. A truly
confident society does not need endless reassurance about its greatness.
Insecurity begins when pride depends on constant validation.
Ironically, India’s genuine strength
has never been superiority. It has been coexistence.
For thousands of years, this land
absorbed influences from everywhere: Persians, Greeks, Central Asians, Arbs,
Europeans, Jews, Christians, Muslims, atheists, rationalists, reformers. India
survived not because it was racially pure, but because it was mixed. Not
because it was neatly uniform, but because it was chaotically untidy.
Temples and mosques hobnobbed with
each other here. Languages overlapped. Foods travelled. Customs merged.
Contradictions coexisted.
India worked best when nobody tried
to make it spiritually uniform.
Why is the present dispensation
hellbent on making India a civilisation of one identity, one narrative, one
historical memory? India won’t survive that way. It can survive only on mutual
accommodation. Look at the recent Assembly election results in Tamil Nadu and
Kerala. Both rejected the Hindutva ideology lock, stock, and barrel.
No nation becomes noble because it
constantly declares itself noble. A civilisation proves itself not through
slogans, but through the everyday dignity it offers its weakest people.
Most importantly, India does not need
to be the greatest civilisation on earth. It only needs to become a decent
society. And that journey begins the moment we realise that we are ordinary
human beings just like others, and not civilisational trophies.
Related recent posts:
Comments
Post a Comment