Us, Peace loving Indians
In May 1998 India carried out its 2nd Nuclear test in Pokhran. There were the usual diplomatic noises. USA suspended aid to India and so on. A few years later I was in Chicago. One of my business colleagues (an immigrant from Poland) said something interesting. He said, he would not have been surprised if China had done a nuclear test, but he always thought India was such a peace loving / pacifist country and was therefore very surprised when Pokhran 2 happened. Bill Clinton said something very similar. And this despite the fact that a nuclear weapons program was a part of the Vajpayi/ NDA election manifesto and hence public knowledge.
Then when Agni IV was recently launched, we saw similar responses from the western world. India was seen as “a responsible nation”, a label Pakistan has not been able to acquire.
Rightly or wrongly, India (and I suppose by extension Indians) have been historically seen as peace loving. It could be because after the 9th century AD, no Indian kingdom expanded beyond the sub-continental boundaries. Invaders from the west met with little resistance. The British ruled us for 150 plus years without major rebellion. Even earlier in the times of Ashoka the great, he formed his empire without major wars.
All these have helped give India a pacifist image. But the question is, are we really a peace loving people ? Consider for instance
• The massacre during partition in 1947
• The killing of Sikhs in Delhi after the assassination of Indira Gandhi
• The Godhra incident
• Assam violence over the last 25 years.
• Caste based violence and killings in UP/ Bihar in the 70s and 80’s
• Increasing murders for commercial gain and sex related crimes.
So what does this mean ? That as a nation we are peace loving but as a people we are not ? Or that while we are not aggressive towards other nations, we do not occasionally mind killing our own people.. that nationhood is not as strong as caste / religious feelings ?
Endpiece: Following the recent Assam violence there was panic among the North East people in Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore. Politicians of all colours ( Manmohan Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Karnataka CM and Home Minister) made loud proclamations that NE people should not fear anything and that they were part of India. Sonia Gandhi is on record saying that action will be taken against the culprits.
Now something similar happened a few years back in Mumbai . Shiv Sena members publicly thrashed Biharis who had come for some Railway recruitment to Mumbai. The media showed video clippings of the incident. Curiously, I do not recall any major politician except Lalu Prasad Yadav making any statement in favour of the victims . Any answers ?
In May 1998 India carried out its 2nd Nuclear test in Pokhran. There were the usual diplomatic noises. USA suspended aid to India and so on. A few years later I was in Chicago. One of my business colleagues (an immigrant from Poland) said something interesting. He said, he would not have been surprised if China had done a nuclear test, but he always thought India was such a peace loving / pacifist country and was therefore very surprised when Pokhran 2 happened. Bill Clinton said something very similar. And this despite the fact that a nuclear weapons program was a part of the Vajpayi/ NDA election manifesto and hence public knowledge.
Then when Agni IV was recently launched, we saw similar responses from the western world. India was seen as “a responsible nation”, a label Pakistan has not been able to acquire.
Rightly or wrongly, India (and I suppose by extension Indians) have been historically seen as peace loving. It could be because after the 9th century AD, no Indian kingdom expanded beyond the sub-continental boundaries. Invaders from the west met with little resistance. The British ruled us for 150 plus years without major rebellion. Even earlier in the times of Ashoka the great, he formed his empire without major wars.
All these have helped give India a pacifist image. But the question is, are we really a peace loving people ? Consider for instance
• The massacre during partition in 1947
• The killing of Sikhs in Delhi after the assassination of Indira Gandhi
• The Godhra incident
• Assam violence over the last 25 years.
• Caste based violence and killings in UP/ Bihar in the 70s and 80’s
• Increasing murders for commercial gain and sex related crimes.
So what does this mean ? That as a nation we are peace loving but as a people we are not ? Or that while we are not aggressive towards other nations, we do not occasionally mind killing our own people.. that nationhood is not as strong as caste / religious feelings ?
Endpiece: Following the recent Assam violence there was panic among the North East people in Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore. Politicians of all colours ( Manmohan Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Karnataka CM and Home Minister) made loud proclamations that NE people should not fear anything and that they were part of India. Sonia Gandhi is on record saying that action will be taken against the culprits.
Now something similar happened a few years back in Mumbai . Shiv Sena members publicly thrashed Biharis who had come for some Railway recruitment to Mumbai. The media showed video clippings of the incident. Curiously, I do not recall any major politician except Lalu Prasad Yadav making any statement in favour of the victims . Any answers ?
1 comment:
HMmm Thanks... i am greatly encouraged..I have been blogging on a different site till recently and I thought I would try and get a bigger audience here!
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