Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Why I talked the way I talked

These days Assam is burning. The main stream media is trying their best to brush aside the issue by terming either it is a communal issue or ethnic conflict. This conflict has historical roots. Unfortunately historical knowledge differs widely in India. In an interesting talk with editor of Asian Age I have learn  something that I never learned in my school.

So North East was historically never part of India until British rule. This made me curious when actually India came into existence. So next question


Naturally 140 characters are not sufficient to explain entire history that we learn in our schools. I discovered very lately (mainly during my civil services preparations) that history tutored during schooling in India is very shallow.

At least, gladly, 1947 was the first conservative guess for India to emerge on world map. In my attempt to obtain probable year of birth, I decided to put the question little differently


So the year India born changed from 1947 to 1950 when first constitution was adopted. But is it all? No. Constitution of India has been amended several times in the past. In short span of 1950 to 1976, constitution was amended 42 times. Interestingly, "Socialist" and "secular" words in the preamble of constitution were added in 1976 under 42nd amendment.



Therefore, India did not born until 1976. really?

Of course narrative of India differs from person to person. According to Sir Winston Churchill, greatest Briton ever, India "is merely a geographical expression. It is no more a single country than the Equator". Its appalling that  similar views exist even today in elite and extremely learned community of India. This poses an extremely serious question. What is the concept of India? Any answers?


1 comment:

  1. concept of india, like concept called 'hindus', emerges from the mouth of the mlecchas.
    Bharat is what ppl here called this land. that word connects them directly to the samskrti of this land. and conveys the vibrancy of its living cultural heritage

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