“IF YOU WANT TO BUILD A NATION, WE HAVE TO CREATE PATRIOTISM FIRST.”
SACHIN RAMDAS BHARATIYA
It was good listening to a debate ‘India Upfront’ on Times now TV news channel the other day, anchored by Rahul Shiv Shankar ever erudite, well informed and energetic moderator.
As one flips through the news channels (Spoilt for Choice) one looks for the panelists who can give some sensible informed arguments- yet balanced, matured and sensible.
Idiot box is an idiot box for idiots but there are some smart idiots too. And I can consider myself one of this rare breed- Smart idiot.
Smart Alec’s like me look for good panelists, who don’t shout over each other and anchor either on such debates has no control or he deliberately shoos each on the others on purpose to create a commotion which most like- an organized chaos.
The ‘India Upfront’ debate that day was trying to decipher the role of Yogi Adityanath a ‘Mahant’ aka monk who became a chief minister and the road ahead for him and the nation after his second spectacular electoral victory in UP. The panelists were familiar and respectable faces like Swapan Dasgupta, Mohandas Pai, Shantanu Gupta and Sandeep Balakrishna along with congress drop out Sanjay Jha who thank god has started calling himself an author now and not ‘a suspended congress leader’. So I tuned in.
After the stage was set by Swapan Dasgupta with his very engaging speech the discussion went on to and reached a point where ‘Hindu Rashtra’ came up as a point to discuss.
‘Any problem can be made very complicated, provided there are enough number of discussions on it’
Murphy’s Law
It was good to see that now we have started calling a spade a spade and not calling a spade a shovel!
Mohandass Pai said ‘Why are we discussing this silly issue? We are a country with 80 percent Hindu population then what else to call it? Boss he has a solid point. He very nicely said ‘We need to understand the difference between a nation state and a country. A country has a civilization and a culture and a heritage. A nation state is a republic with a constitution. Period.’ ‘We need to respect the Hindus.’
We are a country with the oldest civilization almost more than seven thousand years old. We became a republic with a constitution only on January 26, 1950.
Mr Pai said England is a Christian country with the Queen/King as the head of the church. They call themselves as a Christian country with a secular constitution. Similarly US is a Christian country so is Germany and Norway. Then why are we discussing Hindu Rashtra?
Even Argentina, Greece, Denmark and 21 such states have more Christian population and are called Christian states.
Shantanu Gupta added ‘People from all faiths came to Bharat including Parsis, Jews and Muslims long before- in fact centuries before we had a constitution-and happily lived along. No one has been denied anything he say further ’Muslims in India on their own merit reached the highest office of the president of India, Governors, Chief Ministers, Judges, dominated film industry and also served the armed forces and sports.’ No one stops them.
Shantanu added that our constitution also had the basis of our culture and tolerance because of sanatan Hindu dharma.
He further said since long back there is a tradition in the United States to have once in a year Prayer breakfast meeting where even the senators and even Presidents like Eisenhower attended.
The origin of the ‘National Prayer Breakfast’ is traced back to prayer groups with business and civic leaders in Seattle, organized by Abraham Vereide in the 1930s. When he moved to Washington, DC, he established similar groups with members of Congress. In 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower attended a meeting by invitation of Congressmen, Abraham Vereide, and Billy Graham.
Abraham Vereide was a Norwegian-born American Methodist minister and founder of International Christian Leadership (ICL) group.
It is designed to be a forum for the political, social, and business elite to assemble and pray together. Since the inception of the National Prayer Breakfast, several U.S. states and cities and other countries have established their own annual prayer breakfast events. We could also do.
Field Marshal Manekshaw was a Parsi and the only field marshal, Arjan Singh a Sikh was the Marshal of the Indian Air Force. Manmohan Singh a Sikh was the Prime minister.
No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.
Albert Einstein
Mohandass pai finally said ‘we are debating something which requires no debate. It is Lutyen’s Delhi guys who rake up a nonissue to remain relevant’
We already are a Hindu Rashtra was the consensus- unfortunately the congress guy could not utter a word to contribute or contradict as there was nothing to say. So he smiled in his defense.
“EVEN IF YOU ARE BORN AS A LION, YOU HAVE TO GET YOUR OWN KINGDOM. BECAUSE IN THIS WORLD, FEAR ALONE IS NOT IMPORTANT.”
SACHIN RAMDAS BHARATIYA
Indeed Patriotism is a must. It stands strong when people see nation wealthy and rising . Thus when real GDP is visible ( not cooked data) in life of people , Old /Young /children ..Everyone starts loving the political leaders and country together .
We need great leaders who can bring environment where people start working for nation , not mere talks and Showoff’s .
Real Patriotism is when people can leave religion and personal gains to second level and keep Country interest first and work hard for nation GDP bringing nation competitive to top developed ones.
nation becomes great when people live 8n harmony and political parties debates issue without demeaning any group or opposition for political / personal gains.