Seventy-five years ago, our forefathers brought forth upon a divided Subcontinent a nation conceived as a continuation of an old civilisation. ‘India that is Bharat’ was an idea whose pledge was being redeemed in a post-colonial world.

Few gave it much of a chance.

A quote attributed to Winston Churchill warned, ‘If Independence is granted to India, power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues, freebooters; all Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight amongst themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles. A day would come when even air and water would be taxed in India.’

As we mark the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Indian Constitution on 26 November 1949, it’s a wonder that we have lasted so long. Dr Ambedkar in his last address to the Constituent Assembly, on 25 November 1949, had his forebodings:

“Will history repeat itself? It is this thought which fills me with anxiety. This anxiety is deepened by the realisation of the fact that in addition to our old enemies in the form of castes and creeds, we are going to have many political parties with diverse and opposing political creeds."

Recent events have seen an exaltation of political creed above the peaceful functioning of the country. ‘India that is Bharat’ is being supplanted with the notion of ‘Bharatiyata’, relegating to the background the ‘idea of India’.

A Hindi–Hindu–Hindustan vision necessarily implies that those whose identities do not fall within these markers must necessarily accept, by implication, a lesser participation and say in public affairs.

If citizenship is the right to have........

© National Herald