Evolution of India's national unity
India’s national unity evolved through political and social movements and legal and constitutional designs.
The national identity thus constituted developed along three dimensions.
The first dimension is the search for harmony and justice among castes.
The second is harmony of religious communities.
Third is a common ground among various regional identities.
A milestone in this journey was the making of the Constitution.
Evolution of India's national unity
B.R. Ambedkar argued that emancipation of the depressed classes can be achieved only through their separation from the entrenched cultural universe called Hinduism.
The biggest challenge in Gandhi’s Hindu unity platform was the proposed separate electorate for the depressed classes.
Ambedkar and colonial ruler were in the same side of debate for communal award , 1932.
The Poona Pact between the two leaders agreed on assuring representation for the depressed classes, but without a separate electorate.
Evolution of India's national unity
There is a long prelude and an ongoing postlude in the journey of the constitution.
M.K. Gandhi was the primary spokesperson of — Hindu unity and Hindu-Muslim unity.
Gandhi attempted to interpret Hinduism in an increasingly inclusive manner.
Gandhi assumed that loyalty to religion was the dominant loyalty in India.
Gandhi recognized that caste-based discrimination would hinder Hindu unity , obstructs national unity.
Evolution of India's national unity
The depressed classes would get more representation than they would have got under the proposal for a separate electorate.
Reservation remains part of state policy and politics.
Also envisaged largely as an instrument to mitigate caste-based disadvantages within Hindu.
For Gandhi Hindu-Muslim unity was an equally important as national unity.
He joined with Khilafat Movement, which was driven by a transnational Muslim agenda but united with Hindus in its anti-imperialist edge.
Evolution of India's national unity
The question of a national language was delayed initially for 15 years and then indefinitely.
Article 370 gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
The Sixth Schedule gave autonomy to the tribal populations in the Northeast.
In 1976, considering the diverging population trends in the south and the north, inter-State redistribution of Lok Sabha representation was suspended for 25 years, extended in 2002 for another 25 years.
Coalition politics that brought together separate interest groups was the outcome.
Evolution of India's national unity
After 30 years of experiments, it was replaced by a new form of national consolidation that the BJP came to represent.
This also entails privileging harmony and hierarchy over justice in inter-caste relationships.
The proponents of Hindutva suggest that the nation has been weakened, not strengthened, by the accommodations accorded to peripheral communities and regions, which they label ‘appeasement.
This political consolidation in the heartland got the BJP 55% of the Lok Sabha seats with 37% share of the votes in 2019.
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