Tuesday, November 04, 2008

The ‘UNITED WE CAN’T STAND AND DIVIDED WE CAN’T FALL’ THEORY


Have you seen the latest furor in the news due to the politics of regionalism? It isn’t something new as we all have been used to something of this sort over our lifespan. I am gonna make a very controversial statement here. I think it is good that we aren’t united as one and that we have divisions within society.

Confused? Agitated?

Yes, I said it. Nonetheless, in no way does this mean I condone the poilitcs of division more so the politics of division being played by the so called leaders of our nation (read the THACKERAYS) I say division is healthy because it means that the society is divided between groups of divergent thoughts. Different thoughts harbored by different sects of people only means that they are working towards a common goal along different paths. Which path is better, only time would tell but if different paths did not exist, society as we know it would not exist.

So what does this mean? Do I condone the fact that we should think of ourselves as belonging to different sects on the grounds of religion, regionalism or whatever else there is to it? No, like I said, we work towards a “common” goal and that for us is in the present context is India. Yet, to contribute to her progress, we must take different paths. Different paths do not mean that we are at each other’s throats and the only way we make progress along the path we are is by halting all progress along the other paths that our fellow citizens have chosen. If I belong to one state, it does not mean that I do not let another state make any progress nor does it mean that I do not let them pursue the path I have chosen. On the other hand, if another’s path is better than mine, it does not mean that I quit my path and hack the other out of his path to use it. What is required is for us to both to work towards a confluence of paths so as to be able to move forward together.

And no, we cannot stand together as one because we aren’t one, we are many. We can stand together as the many that we are by accepting the fact that we are different and that we each have our own views. Society is a market. The market cannot develop unless there is competition. The competition is futile if it isn’t healthy. We all are players in the market, we each have our own goods that have their own USP. How well we are able to utilize the strengths and work on the weaknesses is upto us.

Please do not be a counterview to proving I am wrong by saying we must act as one and we are Indians first because that line of thought in itself is rooted in the idea of divisionalism (is there a term as such? If not, you read it first here! Hehehe… ok, getting serious again…) because we are after all, humans first or perhaps living organisms first? I hope you understand what I am trying to say here. Division is a necessity to foster different ideologies and instead of nipping an idea in the bud, I always think it best to allow it to die a natural death. The idea of regionalism or religion isn’t a very bright idea for divisions but it would be wrong to condemn the idea of divisionalism. The further we make progress, the further we understand our differences and learn to utilize the differences to our advantage. As one, we cannot stand but if we accept the many that we are, I reckon we couldn’t fall…

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