Nitish Kumar recently said that Indians now prefer regional parties. It is news to only the cave dwelling Indians. But the question to ask is why? It is because people want their share of the pie to be as big as possible. They want that often at the cost of more deserving states and the nation. Kerala, Poschim Bongo and now UP all have enough Muslim voters to decide who gets to rule the state. These states do not contribute a whole lot to the national GDP other than cheap labor. However, because of their political clout, they now can influence the central government to suit their needs. Majority of people in Poschim Bongo and Kerala hate Narendra Modi and yet when it comes time to squeeze the central government for money they probably are getting what Gujarat (and similar states) contribute to the national coffers. That is only the money aspect of the story. One can justify that unfairness on the need to bring up the entire nation. But then there are issues like security and foreign policy, which should not be left to the regional parties. If Mulayam Yadav wants to keep his vote-bank happy by siding with Pakistan (when he demanded that we bailout Pakistan from a financial mess) or siding with Iran when UN wanted to impose sanctions then we have a problem. Mamta Bannerjee single handedly scuttled a proposed Teesta water sharing accord with Bangladesh. This deal would have strengthened the hands of Sheikh Haseena who is our friend. This had long-term security implications.We have repeatedly written on this blog that regional parties are weakening the central government. With great difficulty, we had finally achieved an effective two party system – NDA and UPA. But now, that is going to become a pipe dream thanks to the selfishness of the voters.
So if regionalism divides, what unites us? Are we essentially doomed to be balkanized (a Paki wet dream) or are we going to maintain the status quo and remain united? If we are, then we need to identify the unifying factor and make it stronger. It is safe to say that Indians are prejudiced against people from various parts of the country. Sometimes that hate becomes virulent as we often see in attitudes towards migrant workers from poorer states. Yet when it comes to a national issue, we stand united. Why do we feel this kinship? The answer that even the liberals would agree reluctantly in private is our religion – Hinduism. Our culture, way of life, way of thinking and problem solving is guided by Hinduism. Indians of other religion are also deeply affected by Hindu culture. Examples are all around us. In the eyes of the world Indian is synonymous with the word Hindu and for extremely good reasons. So what are we doing to strengthen this unifying factor?
NOTHING!
Today the Hindu way of life is constantly under the secular gun. The blasé attitude of the younger generation is very disheartening. Freedom of speech and thought often gets confused with indiscipline. The constant threat of promiscuity is destroying family values. Macaulayite education system now perpetuated by Congress is ensuring that the word Hindu is now close to an invective, a “gaali”. Media and films portray Hindus as a caricature while the western hedonism gets celebrated.
Unless this problem is identified and solved, the Maharashtrians had better get used to the idea of getting a visa to visit Allahabad or Banaras in the Islamic Republic of Uttar Pradesh.
Our blogpost on a similar topic can be read at: http://thenethindu.blogspot.com/2011/07/conservative-india-or-liberal-india.html
The picture is from: http://rummuser.com/?p=4285
No comments:
Post a Comment