Nationalism in Decline

The word nationalism evokes different emotions in different people. Some proudly proclaim them to be nationalists, some curse the very idea blaming it for the mayhem of first and Second World War while a large majority are completely indifferent to the idea. There is a sudden surge of nationalist feeling during a cricket match or when we face an external thread as was seen during Kargil war and much recently during 26/11 attack. But as soon as the match is over or the thread is neutralized this feeling also retreats. But is nationalism a switch that can be switched off and on at will? Can this surge of nationalist feeling be called as nationalism? What is nationalism? According to me nationalism is a desire to be useful for the country. It is the willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of your nation. It is selfless state where your nation becomes more important than your religion, your caste, your region, your family and even your life. It was due to this selfless nationalist feeling that we were able to attain our independence. It was a staunch nationalist movement under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi that won the freedom for our country. Historically we were a divided lot fighting with each other in the name of region, caste, religion, etc. It was due to this weakness foreigners came and have blundered our country. It was under the majestic leadership of Mahatma that all these difference were forgotten and everyone stood united in the fight against the foreign occupiers. But after the independence instead of strengthening this unity Congress party started dividing the society. Feeling of nationalism was suppressed and casteism, regionalism, religionism were encouraged. Most of the Congress leaders have mastered the art of divide and rule and used it to divide our society to strengthen their hold on power. “Let the people fight for the bigger share of the pie. For if they fight they will not ask why the pie is so small” seems to be the motto of Congress. Post independence, Congress has always played on the fears of people; it has worked tirelessly to project one community against another. The reason why congress has been successful in doing this is because there is a miss match between requirements and available opportunities. In an environment of limited opportunities people are fiercely competing with one another. In this competition some people are at great disadvantage due to their social and economical conditions. This has led to their just demand for reservation but this demand has severely damaged the unity of our society. Reservation as a policy has failed miserably; the groups that were backward before independence (socially and economically) are still backward. Some individuals have benefitted from reservation but community as whole has not benefitted from it. India would be the only country in the world, were people agitate to be called backward. There is a recurring demand by different caste to get included in SC or OBC list. These demands are resisted by castes that are already there in the list. This leads to caste conflict like the one we saw between Gujjars and Meenas in Rajasthan. There are demands made by people that locals should be given preference in the jobs, this demand has led to violence and loss of life as in Maharashtra were Marathis and north Indians are fighting for very few available jobs which are not even enough for any one community. Any organisation that is looking to unite India and specially Hindus has to find solution for the lack of opportunities. We have to create India where everyone has equal and abundant opportunities to excel. But it is a job that is easier said than done. May be we all know this but how do we do it. There is no magic wand or one step that can solve this problem. It will require a series of honest efforts by everyone, the government, social organisations and people. One of the main reasons for the Indian backwardness is its neglect of education, specially the primary and secondary education. Few days back, I was reading an article on Economic times by Mr Yasheng Huang. In this article he had argued that the reason for the impressive growth of China is the major investment it made in primary education during 50s, 60s and 70s. In India our population has become a cause of concern. Crores of people are getting added to the work force every year but job creation is not able to keep up the pace. So we see a large number of unemployed people or under employed people. This huge population has become a major liability for our country. The quality of human resource in India is one of the worse in the whole world. We have blindly followed the Maculay’s education system which was meant to make babus for British Empire. This system is doing exactly what it was meant to do i.e. create Babus. Maculay had a disdain for anything Indian and this scorn was reflected on the system he created for India. There is hardly any emphasis on our rich culture and traditions in our test books. Vedas, Puranas, Gita have one line existence on our books. Vedic maths, which was rediscovered in early 20th century from Vedas, is an unheard concept in our classrooms. The Hindu philosophy of Karma finds no mention on our test books. Our Ayurveda and Yoga have largely been ignored by our education system. It is not only what is being taught but also the manner in which it is taught that has changed. In Gurukul exploratory learning process was followed, where teachers and students were co-travellers in a search for truth. The teaching methods used reasoning and questioning. Nothing was labelled as the final answer. In Gurukul system students were made self sufficient and effort was made to develop reasoning. Classes were held close to the nature which helped in building creativity in students. This method of teaching is any day better than current way of teaching as it ensures students involvement and interest while the current education system is based on rote learning which kills creativity. A teacher is supposed to give a monologue which students are expected to mug up and reprint on the examination paper. In many schools students, especially in rural areas, are discouraged to ask any questions. The product of this education system is under confident, uncreative person who is afraid to take any initiative and need instructions to do any work. India has rich culture and traditions. Each and every village has a story and a history to tell. Every place has rich traditions and a developed culture that is based on thousands of years of enlightenment. Are we not forgetting these stories, these histories, these traditions and our culture? Rajasthan has been able to retain and preserve some of its heritage because of its emphasis on tourism but can the same be said of other parts of our country? If you go to the village adjacent to a depleted fort and ask the people about its history more often than not you will be stared back by blank faces. Is it not the failure of our education system that we are forgetting the rich heritage of our country, heritage that is the result of thousands of years of experience? In our race to become developed we have forgotten the real meaning of progress. We have defined development according to some scales and are blindly rushing to perfect the score on those scales. We are trying to achieve 100% literacy, so what if the quality of education is not up to mark. We have set-up a goal to industrialize our country and have created SEZ for their growth, so what if they have created regional disparity. We have set-up the goal to increase the productivity of our farm, so what if the food produced in those farms are making people sick. We have set-up a goal to urbanize our country, so what if it has created the problem of slums. We have set-up a goal to increase our tourism, so what if that has destroyed our heritage and natural beauty. The list goes on and on. The problem is not with the goal but the way by which we have tried to achieve it, if it is not so than how will you explain the rise in unemployment with increase in literacy or increase in disparity with increased growth. In this race to grow we have forgotten our roots, our culture and our traditions. Many times we have heard about danger to our national boundaries from foreign and internal forces what we generally forget is the danger to our culture from westernization. Never before has our culture faced such a challenge. Our culture withstood the onslaught of Islam and Indianized it. It remained unaffected by around 200 hundred years of slavery. But now it is facing its greatest crisis for this crisis if from within. It is we the people of India who have forgotten our roots. This has led to degradation of values, corruption and indifference.