Source: Google photo of Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia
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Synopsis: The idea of an Indian Union just like the EU
does not seem too far-fetched but it has many hurdles to overcome. Great
visionaries like Dr.Ram Manohar Lohia and Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay put forth
this idea long ago but said that it could be more of a union of shared cultural
values and traditions making physical and political boundaries less important
between nations. The blog looks at the benefits of such Union.
I am not a political person so normally I do not like to
write about the politics of any country nor do I support any political party or
its agenda but I watched a video where a gentleman was talking about how an
Indian Union could be created that would be similar to the European Union. It
made me think about the idea so I wanted to explain this idea to you in plain
words because the author of the video was speaking in Hindi that you may not
understand.
It was not his original idea. He was simply explaining it
on behalf of the persons who wrote about it, talked about it and encouraged
everyone to promulgate it so that one day in the future their ideas could turn
into a reality for the benefit of the human kind that is hell bent on harming
each other in the name of ideology, religion and hard core fundamentalism that
has taken millions of lives and continues to divide the people in the Indian sub-continent.
These visionary men are no longer alive but they have left
the seed in the minds of progressive people who think about the idea of an
Indian Union that does not seem so far-fetched. They were some of the most
fertile minds in the recent Indian history who left their huge footprints that
no one seems to measure up to.
Such a man was Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia who openly challenged
the so called visionary Prime Minister Nehru in the Parliament on his faulty
policies that Nehru could not counter and kept mum. Lohia was a firebrand
politician and a member of the parliament who never hesitated to speak his mind
openly but he was respected and listened to.
Another leader and a man of great wisdom was Pandit Deen
Dayal Upadhyay who became the national secretary of the BJP that is the party
in power in India now. Sadly he was murdered by the opposition political party
people who saw him as a threat to their existence.
There was a time long ago when India stretched from
Afghanistan to Burma that included Afghanistan, Pakistan, present India,
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka ruled by Hindu Kings before the advent of Islam in the
sub-continent called South Asia. Later the Buddhist religion spread to many
part of this empire including Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. Much later the Moslems
spread to all the countries where they tried to suppress the Hindus and people
of other faith like in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Sadly this process
still continues. We all know how Buddhism was eliminated in Afghanistan and
Pakistan in order to declare Islamic Republics so Buddhist and Hindu statues
and relics were systematically destroyed like in Bamiyan.
Many Indians today think of the Greater India as it used to
be so the idea of something similar to European Union mentioned by Dr.Lohia and
Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay long ago is again seriously discussed.
Here I would like to first mention how the European Union
came into being and how many treaties were signed, where and how many countries
in Europe joined so I will quote this paragraph from Wikipedia that
explains it better than I.
"The European Union is
a geo-political entity
covering a large portion of the European continent.
It is founded upon numerous treaties and has undergone expansions and
secessions that have taken it from 6 member states to 27, a
majority of the states in Europe.
Apart from the ideas of federation, confederation,
or customs union such as Winston
Churchill's 1946 call for a "United States of Europe", the original
development of the European Union was based on a supranational foundation that would
"make war unthinkable and materially impossible"[1][2] and
reinforce democracy amongst its members[3] as
laid out by Robert Schuman and other leaders in the Schuman Declaration (1950) and the Europe Declaration (1951). This principle
was at the heart of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)
(1951), the Treaty of Paris (1951), and later the Treaty
of Rome (1958) which established the European Economic Community (EEC)
and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC).
The ECSC expired in 2002, while the EAEC maintains a distinct legal identity
despite sharing members and institutions.
The Maastricht
Treaty (1992) created the European
Union with its pillars system, including foreign and
home affairs alongside the European Community. This in turn led to
the creation of the single European currency, the euro (launched
1999). The Maastricht Treaty has been amended by the treaties of Amsterdam (1997), Nice (2001)
and Lisbon (2007). ( Source : Wikipedia )"
Now 27 countries in Europe have become part of the European Union making it the single most important economic block where all members retain their sovereignty, their cultural identities, their religions, their integrity of their national territories, their food, their distinct languages etc. yet they have all become a part of the European Union.
All their national currencies have disappeared that have
been replaced by a single currency called Euro so you can travel anywhere in
Europe and use the same Euro. Their national borders remain but now all members
can freely travel to any country in Europe without visas or other restrictions,
can choose to stay and work in another country without any problem and even buy
properties. They can marry in another country and their children can go to a
school there.
The trade rules within the Union have been simplified so a
farmer can sell his products anywhere in Europe easily. The manufactured goods
are traded freely without any fuss within the Union. So you can imagine the
benefits of such a Union.
Perhaps the Indian visionaries like Dr. Lohia and Pandit
Upadhyay could be called the fathers of the idea long before the EU came into
being and thought that it could be possible to create an Indian Union just like
EU. I will explain now why there are some people who do not like this idea so
they oppose vehemently. Dr. Lohia died in 1967 and Pandit Upadhyay died in
1968. India misses these two great men and their profound wisdom.
To understand their disagreement one has to understand the
bloody history of the past 75 years when India fought 4 wars with its neighbor
Pakistan and beat them each time but they are preparing for a 5th war over
Kashmir with the threat of using their atomic weapons. India counters by saying
that its nuclear arsenals are not just for show and deploys S 400 missile
system near the border with Pakistan and China that gives India a complete air
superiority over the enemy weaponry.
Both India and Pakistan spend huge amount of money on
defensive and offensive weapons and maintain huge army, navy and air force that
keep an eye on the enemies all the time to take appropriate measures when
necessary. India is a rich country of multi trillion dollar economy so it has a
huge budget and a very large defense industry that manufactures most of what the
country needs for its defense but Pakistan is not in the same league so it
carries a heavy burden of its defense expenses with difficulties.
Bangladesh became free after the 1971 war with Pakistan and
has made progress in developing its economy by improving its agriculture and
industries that earns them revenue from its exports of manufactured goods. But
it too suffers like Pakistan from poverty, malnutrition and communal violence
from time to time instigated by the hard core fundamentalists who are intolerant
of those who are not like them.
Afghanistan is another failed state that has seen nothing
but war that has lasted over 40 years and has practically decimated the
country, its economy and its infrastructure so people starve, beg on the
streets and live in a state of hopelessness. There is a high rate of drug
addiction among them because they see the bleak future so take to drugs while their government earns money from the
export of illegal drugs like opium, cocaine and hashish to many countries. The
fundamentalists who are in power there insist on archaic Stone Age rules to
govern their country that brings more misery to the people there.
Now Sri Lanka finds itself in dire straits because the
country is bankrupt and cannot pay back its huge external debt to China. People
are fighting for a loaf of bread in the streets so the army is trying to
maintain peace and order. India has sent them thousands of tons of wheat and
millions of liters of gasoline but it can only go so far. They also suffer from
communal violence because of the fundamentalism that divides the people there.
Now let us just think for a minute what could happen if an
Indian Union just like the European Union could be created bringing all these desperate
countries into one Union under the same rules like in EU.
There could be just one currency, easy trade between them,
easy travel without visa, no customs or heavy import tariffs, no restrictions
on buying properties or on investment. There would be no war between them
because there will be no reason for it so they could all unite to fight a
common enemy like China that has aggressive policy of grabbing land outside its
borders. Instead of spending a huge amount of money on their defense, they
could spend it on development of agriculture and industries. They could make
education for everyone possible and give everyone good medical care.
The benefits are easy to see but the hard core
fundamentalists will find such an idea very hard to digest given their history
of intolerance of India and the 75 year old animosity that does not seem to die
down.
The idea of bringing together Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India under one Union can work if people of these
countries want it and give their full support to the idea through plebiscite
but it is not easy because people are afraid of losing their cultural, religious
or ethnic identity.
But this fear is not based on hard reality on the ground
that suggests such a union but on emotions that are stirred up by those who
oppose modernization, progress through development, education and healthcare
for all. In fact there are more things that can unite them than divide them if
they are willing. To live in a failed state in dire poverty and uncertain
future with the constant fear of war with neighbors makes people lose their
hopes and aspirations.
When two countries that have common culture, language and
the same ethnicity are separated by force then a time will come when they will
reunite. It has happened when East and West Germany reunited but North and
South Korea remain separated and wait for the day when they too will be
reunited like Germany. Similarly Burundi and Rwanda are separated by politics
but they have more in common than their differences.
What Dr. Lohia and Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay were talking
about was not just a physical union of various countries under one umbrella but
rather the cultural union of them because after all they all have something in
common that can bring them together. All Moslems were Hindus who were
forcefully converted but they still share a common heritage and culture with
their neighbors and still carry Hindu family names. Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists,
Jains all share a common heritage and culture. They have the same DNA no matter
what their religion says.
No country in Europe that is a member of the EU has lost
its identity, culture, language, food or traditions, its ethnicity or religious
values. They remain sovereign within the Union that has given them a freedom
they never had before like the freedom of movement, the freedom of trade,
owning property or marriage etc. It has given them choices they never had
because all Europeans remember the horror of the past wars and the enormity of
their sufferings.
What such a Union gives them all is better governance under the democratically elected governments using free and fair election but working together with other countries under one umbrella of a Union that drastically reduces the possibility of war between them through dialogue and arbitration. Thus disputes between the countries can be amicably and justly resolved. One currency for all strengthens the Central Bank that can loan huge amount of money to member states for development.
Now imagine how much prosperity can be brought to the poor
people in such a Union? Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay believed it could.
I am a diehard optimist so I too believe that Lohia and Pandit Upadhyay were both right but only the time will tell if their vision will someday become a reality. Their souls will be appeased.
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