UNITED WE STAND DIVIDED WE FALL
The story runs-an old man called his four sons and gave a stick to each. He asked them to break it. All of them broke it easily. Them he joined four sticks with a thread and asked each one of them to break the bundle of sticks. None could. He advised them that unity is strength. If we quarrel and remained divided anyone can harm us.
What is true in an individual’s life is true about a nation too.TV country started having setbacks since Mahmud of Ghazni attacked India in 1026. He attacked Somnath and looted all the gold and other valuables before going back. As the princes of India were not united they could not ‘ save the country from this onslaught (fierce attack). It was followed by many other Muslim invaders including Muhammad Ghauri in 1191 and 1192, Qutbuddin Aybek in 1206, Gengis Khan in 1221 and Jalaludin Khilji in 1290. It all went on till Babar defeated the Lodis in 1526 at Panipat and established Mughal dynasty. In such a vast country small armies of these kings could defeat the princes of India one by one as they were all divided.
The greatest harm that this division resulted in was the conversion of Hindus into Muslim faith. With a large number of converts the Muslim Kings gained ground. It gave rise to communal problems. As soon as the star of the Mughal emperor was defeated in 1857 and was interved in Rangoon (now Yangon) Jail in Burma (now Myanmar) with his sons and died there unsung.
The East India Company had established its rules far and wide. The policy of the British was to divide and rule. It was because of this policy that they could defeat the Marathas and Sikhs too. They could stay in this country for about three hundred years with this policy.
The British were successful in their efforts to rule the country for such a long time. They took the advantage of division in the ranks of the people who were fighting for the cause of country’s freedom. They were successful in dividing the liberals, the firebrands and the revolutionaries. Gokhale belonged to the first group, Subhash Chandra to the second and the followers of Veer Savarkar as well as the pro socialists Bhagat Singh and his companions belonged to the third group. This division of the freedom fighters too gave a breathing time to the foreigners to stay here.
The greatest division was in the forties fomented by the then Viceroy of India and followed by Jinnah and Nehru. Gandhi and Kripalani opposed it. But the country was divided as the leaders were divided. The Nation was divided on the basis of religion. Pakistan came into existence. Later on in 1971 East Pakistan broke off and Bangladesh was formed. India was truncated into three parts. Both Pakistan and Bangladesh declared themselves Islamic countries. Hindustan was sandwiched in between in a strange manner. The large number of Muslims remaining in India served as the snack filling in the sandwich creating so many problems. Pakistan threw all the Hindus out and the 2 crore Hindus living in Bangladesh have no courage to speak a word against the government. They are just serfs (slaves). By this division we have fallen to the ground. One just wonders if we can ever get united a wishful thinking.
The division in the ranks of politicians is quite visible in the post independent period. The Congress after Lai Bahadur Shastri’s Prime Minister ship was divided into two groups while Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister. It gave a very great jolt to the political scenario of the country. Banks, Oil Companies, Insurance, mining, a large number of industries were nationalized giving the government complete control over the number of industries were infrastructure. All know how difficult it has become to free all of them (with 50% surplus people working in them) from the clutches of government control. The division in the rank and file of the politicians was also responsible for the declaration of emergency in the country.
The process does not stop here. The division continues. Now it is
between the Centre and the States on the one hand and the castes (more than 6000 according to Mandal Commission) on the other. Because of this it becomes difficult to form stable government both at the centre and the states. Throughout the countries elections are fought on the basis of
castes. Thus good persons can hardly have an access to the state or central legislatures. Because of this division even criminals become law makers. This division of good men and the bad ones in the country is very harmful. We have fallen morally.