The 2019 elections held in India from 11 April to 19 May 2019 were perhaps the largest democratic exercise in human history ever witnessed. Over a million polling booths were set up to enable over 800 million voters to cast their vote. In the fray were over 8000 contestants, belonging to some 1841 recognised political parties, fighting for 543 parliamentary seats. But the election was not merely a matter of statistics: it was perhaps the most defining election in India’s post independence history, setting the stage for what India wished to be in the 21st century. Would the ancient wounded civilisation, colonised and vandalised for over a millennia, seek to rediscover itself and embrace its heritage? After all, India is perhaps the only civilisation that has survived the ravages of time. Or would India continue to be in a state of denial about its true potential, and remain unmindful of its rich heritage, ethos and culture? The results of the mandate were clear. The battle was for the soul of India and the electorate, in one voice, voted to preserve its soul.
The cultural invasion of India has been ongoing for over a thousand years, and there are still many in India who seek to perpetuate that form of subjugation. Just over two centuries ago, a group of very influential people, including the Governor General of India, Lord William Bentinck wanted to wipe out all traces of Indian civilisation, which they considered as barbaric. This was opposed by Lt Col James Todd, the celebrated author of ‘Annals of Rajasthan,’ who was the adviser to the Board of Directors of the East India Company on matters concerning India and who considered India to be the original source of all knowledge, languages and philosophy of all Europe. He was of the view that preserving such a heritage was in the best interests of not just India, but also for the rest of the world.
In the hearings held by the British Parliament, while Todd made a strong case for India, his opponent, James Mills, author of History of British India, espoused the cause of proselytisation, and pitched for the whole of India to be taken over by the East India Company, the population converted and put to work as semi-slaves for England and John Company. The British government went with the arguments of Mills, but this resulted in great disaffection amongst the Indian population which consequently led to the First War of Independence in 1857 and forced the British government to change its stance. India came directly under the crown, but the cultural invasion continued, albeit with a greater degree of sophistication and finesse, the impact of which is still seen, seven decades after Independence. The heirs of Macaulay and Mills tragically continue to live in our midst, and their narrative forms the dominant discourse in the country.
But the cultural invasion of India had begun much earlier, with Arab hordes invading India in the 8th century. In one such invasion in 712 CE, Mohammed bin Qasim invaded Sindh, defeating the local ruler Raja Dahir, who died on the battlefield for his people. Tragically, his daughters were taken as sex slaves for the Umayyad rulers and the land was pillaged and plundered. Despite that, it is Qasim who is revered today in Pakistan as the first Pakistani while the Raja who fought for the honour of his people lies forgotten. This is a classic example of one culture subsuming another. The Arab hordes, whenever they plundered the Indian land mass, desecrated the temples, killed the priests and destroyed all institutions of learning. Nalanda is witness to what such destruction entails as are the thousands of ransacked temples and monuments all across India. That the Indian civilisational structure survived is testimony to its strength and vibrancy. But a thousand plus years of subjugation has dented the psyche of a proud people, many of whom still suffer from the Stockholm syndrome and seek to justify the acts of the perpetrators of violence, as being the customs of those times. While India has shed its chains which physically kept the country under subjugation, the mental chains still hold the country captive. These need to be broken as the spirit of India seeks rejuvenation.
When we look at India beyond 2020, we see a proud people who can no longer be held hostage to ideologies that seek to demean its culture, its heritage and indeed its very way of life. The process of rejuvenating the Indian mind began in 2014 with a change in government. This process is seeing a continuum, post the 2019 elections, which were a clearer indication that the people of India wished to reclaim their heritage that had been pillaged and falsified over the last millennia. The new India has thrown a challenge to the ideologues who falsified Indian history and spared no pains to denigrate its heritage and culture. A new and assertive India seeks to respect its long held and sacred beliefs, which transcend religious barriers. The legacy of Macaulay and his ilk, so faithfully propagated even post independence by a set of ideologues who held control of the education system and who when in power, corrupted and distorted its history is under challenge. But as these ideologues still continue to occupy positions of power and pelf, whether in India’s bureaucracy, the media, the corporate sector, the social circles and even in the political space, there is resistance to the emergence of alternate ideas.
India beyond 2020 is a nation which is moving to find its soul—a nation accepting and embracing its scriptures, its heritage and its traditions, not partially but in full measure and with pride. In that acceptance, lies its salvation. And in that acceptance, India will emerge yet again as a leading power in the world stage, a nation imbued with deep roots, ready to meet its destiny.
For Pentagon Press.
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