SUBCONTINENT OF INDIA

The subcontinent, that is, India is made of different regions. Each one, each region, resembles a country in Europe or Africa. Each region is inhabited by people who resemble each other . They dress the same way when they do so for a traditional day of merry making or mourning. They have similar eating habits. There is commonality in their abode. The cattle they nurture, depend  upon and find useful to keep as household pets are common. The songs they sing when they marry, the season when they marry is common. On festive days a couplet quickly catches on only because the music and the words that follows is universal among those live in the region. The regions in this subcontinent have their own traditions, language, history ,both political and cultural. They have their heroes, literature, savants, artistes and  institutions which a country could desire. They take great pride in being a Malyali, aTamil, a Telegu, a Konkan, a Oriya, a Bengali, a Gujerati,  a Ahom ( Assamese), a Maratha, a Punjabi or a Kashmiri. Irrespective of the religion they may have embraced, the desire to be also known by the region of their ancestors is never dormant. Today,  we may be living in regions where our ancestors were not born or grew old.  Compelled by circumstances or by choice, happily made  we have made our homes else where. But the regional tug is permanent. A sub-nationalism streak , if you like is ever present

But we, at the same time, do also call ourselves Indians ( Bharitya) . We take pride in India’s place in the pantheon of powers. The pleasure and joy of belonging to a region does not diminish the pride of being an Indian. This feeling was not always there. When the British were colonial powers here they did succeed in their’ divide’ games. They divided the population, some times, fatally.  Partition! They projected local satraps as regional heads and encouraged them to go alone .The state of Hyderabad, as it was known before 1947, was one such state. Similarly Junagadh. Kashmir too. Even certain Southern States under the influence of Dravidian Parties toyed with the idea of splitting the country ,Nothing came of these devilish efforts. Thanks to our founding fathers we healed our self-inflicted injuries of partition and shrugged off its  afflictions in quick time. We gave ourselves a democracy- by the people for the people of the people regime.

Sixty eight years down the memory lane . Though there are surfeit of good people in politics, there is also full measure of an  ineffective lot among them. Its they and they alone who have given birth to many fissiparous tendencies among ‘we the people’ of India. Solely, to win elections they have done so. They have struck at the root of even unifying factors . Religion unites but religion also ignites. The latter is their tool to emerge victorious at the polls .Caste is inextricably linked in our society. It has a down side as most such factors have. A chunk, a very large junk indeed, of its black holes are filling up. Come elections some open up and some more are created. Elections leverage evils in caste system and dent communal harmony . What ails India? What ails the Election Commission?