Page 132 - Swatantrata to Atmanirbharta : Lokmanya Tilak’s legacy

cutting across caste and communities.

Today more than ever we need to re establish the spirit of
nationalism around a common National identity. A multi-
cultural, multilingual and multi religion idea of nation is a
rarity. There does not seem to be another example of such a
diverse demographic. Most nations have very common unifying
denominators – language, religion, ethnicity. We are a diverse
yet a composite nation. We should not collapse under the weight
of the diversity. For such a large, diverse, and populated nation,
you need very strong symbols of national identity and a very
vociferous narrative to actively evoke national consciousness.
We are a young, ambitious, and capable nation. But we are
also large and unwieldy, bogged down by poverty, illiteracy,
and years of bondage. There is an inherent dichotomy in our
idea of a nation. The only thing that can bring a diverse and
disparate populace together is a strong national identity where
we become a part of a homogenous entity and the differences
are obliterated. It is this homogenous entity that can move
forward as a monolith giving it a momentum.
A national identity is very sublime. Its symbols are equally
powerful: the flag, the national anthem, the passport, the
constitution. Who can understand it better than a soldier
who fights under the flag or the sportsman listening to the
national anthem being played after winning or the citizen who
is stranded being evacuated somewhere because he holds the
Indian passport?

Indians, as individuals, have conquered every sphere in
the world – technology, medicine, business. In a war of the
narratives, brand India needs strong ambassadors. You
need soldiers in this war to create a strong national identity.
Unification under common identity where you are greater than
the sum of its parts. We Indians, after all, are tied together by a
common destiny.

Today, in this information age, an anti-India agenda is almost
mainstream. There seems to be an invisible enemy, stealthily
creeping in and attacking us along the fissures that exist in the

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