The Republic of India is a heterogeneous mixture of racial, lingual and social groups, held together by a basic thread of unity. This unity in diversity is the backbone of our national development. The Britishers ruled India on the policy of ‘divide and rule’ and created tensions among the Indian people. Did our country progress then? No, but freedom was won only when people rose above the consideration of caste religion and language.
Communal riots, regional violence and ethnic animosity disturbs social peace and acts as hurdles in the way of human progress. For example, lets look at the communal disturbances that have taken place in the past few decades, namely the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 after the assassination of the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi and the Hindu-Muslim riots at Ayodhya in 1992 and at Aligarh at 1989. What was the atmosphere like?
There was fear, panic, tension and violence everywhere. It posed a serious threat to our national unity, social cohesion and democratic ethos. The attention of the government is always focused on controlling the situation and regaining normalcy. Under each circumstances can we think of human progress? Certainly not.
For peaceful conduct of elections in one state, the government has to spend anything upto `300 crores. Why? Because there are people divided on the basis of caste and community. These crores would have given so many bridges and roads to the state. This is perhaps one of the major reasons why some states are more backward than other states in our country.
A progressive, powerful and developed country does not divide it’s society on the basis of caste, religion and other such mundane issues. You will find people of every religion, every region in the developed nation contribute in a positive way towards that country’s development. Whereas in India we keep fighting for a Telangana, Gorkhaland and further division of states, disturbing the peace of our country and thereby affecting its progress.
Thus it must be understood that progress cannot be visualized without peace and harmony; it is pre-condition for human progress.
Rachana Chadalavada is a IX standard student at Kendriya Vidyalaya Picket