Skip to main content

Assam-Mizoram clash: Is Essence of India to be 'lost forever', or has it already been?

By Dikteii Hnamte* 

According to Oxford Dictionary, an essence is ‘the intrinsic nature or indispensable quality of something abstract, which determines its character’.
In 1994, at the Miss Universe Contest in Manila, Sushmita Sen was asked, “What is the essence of being a woman?” Her answer may be summed up as “…love, caring and sharing”, which won the hearts of the audiences and the judges and this answer won her the Miss Universe Crown. If love, caring and sharing is the essence of being a woman, the absence of any of the traits would mean that the essence of being a woman is lost and a woman without love may be regarded as half a woman!
Let me give an example of a feast. The essence of a feast must be the variety of the dishes that is being prepared, to meet the taste of all and give them satisfaction. The cook who is in charge of preparing the feast has to know that the essence of the feast would be lost if he prepares it to his own taste only or according to the likes of one group of people without considering the rest. This means that a good cook should know the nature and the tastes of the people he has to feed and prepare his meals accordingly, without favouring one over another.
Another example may be taken with a flower garden. The essence of a flower garden is the beauty that everyone would see with many flowers blooming in their own time. The flower garden will bloom with different flowers like Roses, Lilies, Lotuses, Daisies, Ivies etc., all needing different kinds of soil, water and sunshine and all needing different kinds of gardening tactics.
Some will grow well in water, some in dry soil, some in wet soil, some in the sun or some in the shades. To keep the essence of the garden, a wise gardener must know how to make all the flowers bloom and also know that from the outsiders, his garden will remain beautiful as long as each flower bloom in its own time and are cared for equally.
Even if the gardener is fond of a particular flower more than any other flower; if he loves his garden, he would not uproot all the other flowers (for example, uprooting all the roses, lilies and daisies to make a pond for growing lotuses) just to satisfy himself, for then, it would mean that in the eyes of those who like Roses or other flowers more than Lotus, the garden will lost its beauty and its essence.
What is the essence of India?
When I was studying Class VIII, on my first class on Indian history, the opening line that my teacher used was “India is a land of unity in the midst of diversity” which, to this day, I have not forgotten and I can still see the face of that teacher whenever this phrase was said or mentioned by anyone, even 45 years later!
I did not know its exact meaning at that time, but somehow, it was so beautiful that it got stuck in my mind and later, I understood its significance which is that the essence of India is 'unity in the midst of diversity' – a country having different cultures, languages and religions – being united amidst the many differences. And since then, I have been reminded of the beauty of this phrase time and again.
India has over 500 tribes and the citizens belong to different religions. History tells us about the unity and solidarity that Indians have shown in the face of many odds especially during the time of struggle for independence. The Indian Army, Navy and Air Force have representatives from all regions, community and religion and they all work together as one big force under the National Flag and one is always proud to be part of India with its beautiful essence – unity in the midst of diversity.
As everyone knows, The Preamble to the Indian Constitution declares India to be a sovereign, socialist, secular and democratic republic. The objectives stated by the Preamble are to secure justice, liberty, equality to all citizens and promote fraternity to maintain unity and integrity of the nation.
This beautiful statement which has always been the pride of every citizen of India however has been a subject of doubt on many occasions when the very essence of India was threatened and put to test by many selfish politicians who will put the interest of a few before the interest and welfare of all. The unified character of India has been threatened many a times when the government failed to secure justice, liberty, equality to all citizens regardless of the background of the citizen.
Feeding Mizoram with the favourite of Assam only will not satisfy the hunger of Mizoram, and if fed forcefully, it may choke it to death
Coming to the present clash between Assam and Mizoram, and citing the example of the 'cook' and the 'gardener', what has surfaced is that the cook preparing a feast for Assam and Mizoram, seem to have forgotten that both have different taste and both have come from different backgrounds. 
Feeding Mizoram with the favourite of Assam only will not satisfy the hunger of Mizoram, and if fed forcefully, it may choke it to death. Similarly, the gardener seem to be looking after only the favourite flower of Assam and planning to uproot the flower that Mizoram people have as their favourite.
If the cook would not stop preparing food considering only one group of people, or if the gardener would not plant and look after different flowers and give what every flower needs without favouring one kind of flower over the others, the essence of the feast as well as the garden will be lost.
This is what is happening now in India, starting with Assam-Mizoram, which shows a character likely to be expanding to all North-East states. If this speculation is right (I wish I am wrong), one needs to be a fool not to know where this will lead to.
Has the 'cook' or the 'gardener' taken sides?
Mother India, wake up! You are about to lose your essence, or have you already lost it?
That beautiful essence – Unity in the midst of diversity.
---
*Professor, Dept of Education in Mizoram University

Comments

TRENDING

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat*  The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia.  The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam*  The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative   The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Chinese pressure? Left stateless, Rohingya crisis result of Myanmar citizenship law

By Dr Shakuntala Bhabani*  A 22-member team of Myanmar immigration officials visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to verify more than 400 Rohingya refugees as part of a pilot repatriation project. Does it hold out any hope for the forcibly displaced people to return to their ancestral homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar? Only time will tell.

China ties up with India, Bangladesh to repatriate Rohingyas; Myanmar unwilling

By Harunur Rasid*  We now have a new hope, thanks to news reports that were published in the Bangladeshi dailies recently. Myanmar has suddenly taken initiatives to repatriate Rohingyas. As part of this initiative, diplomats from eight countries posted in Yangon were flown to Rakhine last week. Among them were diplomats from Bangladesh, India and China.

40,000 Odisha adolescent girls ask CM: Why is scheme to fight malnutrition on paper?

By Our Representative  In unique a postcard campaign to combat malnutrition, aimed at providing dietary diversity, considered crucial during adolescence, especially among girls, signed by about 40,000 adolescent girls from over 10,000 villages, have reminded Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik that his government's Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG), which converged with Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman  ( POSHAN ) 2.0 in 2021, is not being implemented in the State.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra*  Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.

Over-stressed? As Naveen Patnaik turns frail, Odisha 'moves closer' to leadership crisis

By Sudhansu R Das  Not a single leader in Odisha is visible in the horizon who can replace Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He has ruled Odisha for nearly two and half decades. His father, Biju Patnaik, had built Odisha; he was a daring pilot who saved the life of Indonesia’s Prime Minister Sjahrir and President Sukarno when the Dutch army blocked their exit.