Nationalism versus Regionalism

India is home to multi-lingual,multi-ethnic,multi-cultural and multi-religious social groups.The diversity is unmatched.For the record, India occupies only 2.4% of the world's land area but supports around 17.5% of the world's population.A majority of Indians, around 80.5% are Hindus.India is also home to the third largest Muslim population in the world(around 13.4 % of the total population) after Indonesia and Pakistan apart from other religious groups like Christians,Zoroastrians,Sikhs,Jains,Buddhists,Jews and a few more.There are 22 languages recognized by the Constitution of India and 1576 others according to the 1991 census!That is quite mind-boggling sometimes scary when you think of how the demographics vary drastically across the country.No wonder India is called a 'Subcontinent'.All this diversity is spread across 28 states and 7 union territories.
The men in power have historically found it easier to rule by dividing people.The British used this policy with a great amount of success after setting foot in India by making the rulers of various states fight amongst themselves.They created a fear of being overpowered in the minds of these rulers and projected themselves as being their ultimate guardians!As a result, the Indians had to bear an oppressive British Raj for almost 200 years.This shows that when people choose to be divided, the repercussions are devastating.
A similar phenomenon is in the offing in Maharashtra where a certain Raj Thakeray is trying to revive his political career after being disowned by his uncle Bal Thakeray because of a tussle with cousin Uddhav to become the 'Shiv Sena Scion'!While under Balasaheb, he learnt that the best way to capture the maharashtrian vote bank was to show sympathy towards them and extreme antipathy towards the migrants, who were bringing their culture to Maharashtra and grabbing all the jobs away!So he went all around detesting the 'bhaiyas from North' and calling for their forced exodus.He even spoke on this issue at his son's annual day function!!Some locals are vehemently supporting their new fascist hero Raj who is now reveling in his new found popularity!The cops and the government kept criticizing Raj and SP leader Abu Azmi for instigating violence and causing unrest but could not decide on what action to take against them.Finally, after almost a week they were charged and apprehended only to be released in a mere two hours!!Similar acts have been performed by a number of other politicians in other states to gain overwhelming popularity.Not going too far from Maharashtra, Narendra Modi pulled off something similar but on religious lines and on a much larger scale in Gujarat after the Godhra riots!He was awarded with his third term as the Chief Minister!Will Raj be able to replicate Modi?Well he may not be!He'll need to orchestrate something more ghastly probably a genocide to become a 'Maratha demagogue'!
It is time people stop falling for such things and learn to live in harmony with each other.We need to learn to put our differences aside and maintain peace which is so very necessary for our prosperity.Let us not allow these blood-sucking politicos to divide us; they have a devilish hunger for power and don't give a damn for the common man!Let us not allow regional and religious pride to outweigh national pride!Let us be one, be united and fight these evil forces.Let us not forget that we are all Indians.....and above all, we are human beings!Jai Hind!