The Real Liberation from the West
Manzoor Ahmed Manzoor
The question of Indian Greatness does not exist today as the question of Indian independence existed before 1947. But it is not like that of 1885 when Indian National Congress was started and the question of Indian independence was far away in the clouds. Therefore, all who think themselves to be concerned about the future of India and the future of the world must pay immediate attention to this question.
To begin with, it seems obvious that the question of Indian greatness must be brought to the forefront. It will be there to the extent we can rightly answer the ‘Why’ of this case. Why it has not been achieved so far?
In spite of apparent and/or real diversity, history unites us. Therefore, let me come to what is understandable by the SAARC people, in particular in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh from within and Afghanistan from the side.
I have said in a video promoted in India and Pakistan saying that India-Pakistan talaq is not possible. I have written in my manifesto (Al-Manshoor 2009) that the Durand Line border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is irrelevant and that as if it does not exist: “We will consider as if the Durand Line has evaporated in the air, as if it never existed”. Moreover, the sub-title of my ‘Sarab Punjabi Manifesto 2015, reads: ‘Urdu is not a language, it is in fact Hindi written in Persian script’.
Whosoever initiated it, was not ‘akhandta’ of Hindustan, India or Bharat inherent in the concept of SAARC? Realities are far bigger and elusive and the absurdities of the smaller minds cannot hold them. If ‘akhandta’ is the bride, our history is waiting for her groom to emerge and come forward, not in the individual sense as is normally understood but as our collective wisdom. This time our history should be more caring and wiser, not letting happen another miscarriage.
That our history should be wiser cannot mean anything else except that we have already become or are assuredly in that process. How to judge? My own overall understanding of our collective situation, contrary to popular perceptions, tends to make me believe so. This is in spite of the fact that those who led Indian Muslims and Pakistan from, at least, the time of the founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885 through 1947 to the present time (Syed Ahmad Khan and associates and the All-India Muslim League before Partition and since then Pakistani leadership respectively) always played villainous and un-civilized role. The trend-setters of this villainous role were the U.P. Muslims or the ‘Urdu Party’ before and after 1947 in pre-Partition India and Pakistan respectively. Punjabis, Bengalis and others were worked up to become their camp followers.
It is too painful. It is a question of Himalayan proportion of our history, why there was never a Muslim awakening to take a turn in the right direction. Obviously, this burden of Muslim non-awakening fell on the rest. I believe, so far, nobody has paid attention to this aspect of the reality.
That was the British nurtured ‘separatist front’. In addition, for the ‘British front’ itself, mere two facts should suffice here. G.K. Gokhale (1866-1915) stated explicitly in 1913: “No Indian could have started the Indian National Congress … if an Indian had come forward to start such a movement embracing all Indians, the officials in India would not have allowed the movement to come into existence. If the founder of the Congress had not been an Englishman and a distinguished ex-official, such was the distrust of political agitation in those days that the authorities would have at once found some way or the other to suppress the movement.” And almost all Governors-General of India were anti-Congress and they made all possible efforts in preventing the Muslims from joining the Congress.
On the national front, the Congress accepted Partition and that too under the British. Why? Moreover, they did this in spite of Mahatma Gandhi. What else they could have done? Lacking vision as well as capabilities, the leadership tried to be great without being great. Moreover, to-date, this has not changed. In this race of remaining mediocre, the BJP can be seen to be some steps ahead of the Congress not behind. It is unfortunate.
The historical, unprecedented and great opportunity of becoming great, history had offered India in 1947, was missed. Obviously, there was no appetite or passion. If Maratha and Sikh powers were too two earlier opportunities, how not to go into deep thinking for the future? Perhaps, India’s bigness and diversity made unity of action humanly impossible. However, any thinking person would agree that India’s place in the world could not be of a camp follower of the West. That necessitates introspection.
India must have created a new civilizational place in history. Instead, it tried to adjust in the world dominated by the West. India without an independent and assertive position on peace in the world is a recurring loss to humanity. This colossal loss kept humanity comparatively poorer than what it would have been otherwise.
Is China competitor of Taiwan? No. With accepted borders, in not exactly similar case, Indian thinking about Pakistan as somebody ‘other’ is against reality and wrong. With India’s ‘leaving’ Mahatma Gandhi behind, that was inevitable. India went the wrong way.
Mahatma Gandhi’s passion for unity and Satyagraha commitment was the path. With a vision, if led by such a passion and commitment, Indian people would have responded for greatness in spite of disowning by Muslims. Had there been vision, passion and deep commitment to greatness; acceptance of Partition under compulsion would have injected an unprecedented new vigour in the national life. British engineered Muslim separatism transforming itself into India’s ‘Pakistan Problem’ would not have remained un-understood. Then 1947 would not have been ‘FINAL’ for India and Indian independence would have made a difference to humanity. Somewhere there was Indian path to greatness.
India retained Mountbatten, joined the so-called Commonwealth, and called itself non-aligned. The Indian stand on Tibet and Dalai Lama was indefensible from any point of view. It was more so when it had been in alignment with the American position. Apparently, as if absent-mindedly or like not knowing what was around in 1962, India found itself at war with China when America had not even recognised that country. Would it not be a mild statement to say India found itself in the American camp?
Lenin and Chairman Mao had objections to the Western domination and behaviour in the world. After 1947, India acquiesced practically to everything Western. America asked India to participate in the 1991 Gulf War. Why? Could America have asked China or Russia? When America was about to invade Afghanistan in 2001 after their so-called 9/11, Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee offered them bases in India and obviously everything else. Why? And it goes on and on and we find one day Modi sahib brings Netanyahu to the Sabarmati Ashram of Mahatma Gandhi! Where was Indian vision, if any?
In such a setting of things, I had a problem. What to do? Born in a village of Hoshiarpur district in a Gujjar peasant-proprietor family about 1945, I found that the Partition had wronged Punjab and expelled us from our homes, which we were not ready to leave. And that the same had happened on this side. I have not been able to reconcile to the forced expulsions to this day. Moreover, trapped in the situation created by liars and manipulators, I found myself in a predicament as I grew up. Incapable of following nonsense as I was, I sought many answers. Whether I found answers or not, at every encounter with falsehood, I was able to stand my ground and refused to surrender. Instead, always and at every step, I asked the falsehood to surrender.
I came to know later that in the larger scheme of things, Humanity never surrenders whatever the adversities. It tries to build repeatedly and somehow finds its way onward. Steadfastly on this path, I was eventually able to declare in my book ‘The Pakistan Problem’ 1993: “Internally Pakistan is in a state which cannot be termed ‘settled’; while externally thousands of kilometres of our eastern borders remain closed as if the world, on that side, ends there. We are very near to a dead-end. Those who built careers and made fortunes on ‘problems left by history’, while creating new in the process, have lost the mandate, if at all it was ever there.”
As I write this, I believe Pakistan has arrived at that dead-end. The totality of what Imran Khan represents and the way he was brought in have hastened the process. What they call ‘elections’ of 25th July 2018 brought into the open the critical stage in Pakistan. Within the overall abnormality, which was, part of Pakistan’s life since 1947, a sudden and a new big bulk of the same abnormality has entered the system. The life of what was going on since at least 1947 has drastically further shortened. In addition, the possibilities of our deliverance from the falsehood have increased manifold. That something unpredictable is bound to happen can be said to be a right statement about the present situation.
Anyhow, all I stood for collectively meant that Pakistan must change. In the present sort of emergency like situation, it has become more urgent. Pakistan must shed the baggage of lies it was carrying due to Urdu Party and the British since 1947 and even before. Beyond that lied, the worthy goal and a possibility of Pakistan’s greatness for which I worked earnestly. But as the way to Pakistan’s greatness passed through Indian greatness, perhaps, that had been why borders had failed to restrict my aspirations and thinking. How not to consider all those aspects and remain honest at the same time? Not perhaps but definitely on this path, patriotisms of all of us can meet together with the civilizational aspirations of humanity at large and so of Mahatma Gandhi. History never stops working and demanding. And I am struggling to come up to the demands of history. … (Last updated 4 Feb 2019)