From time immemorial, India has been blessed with personalities who have not only left an indelible mark on its culture but also shaped its character. India is known to the world through the eyes of great pathfinders, and their wisdom in building up the modern nation is unanimously accepted. On the critical analysis of their views, one can find certain divergences, which in true sense, might be logical in the preceding circumstances. Although conflicting, the views are genuine and expressed with great solemnity.
The path of freedom, since the colonial days,
encountered successive seismic waves before reaching the
final destination in 1947. Controversies prevailed in the national
politics during that time, and the nation was put to occasional strains of
contradictions. As lines were drawn to delineate political controversies,
positions became more polarised. The trailblazers strived to build up more
rhetoric ideologies to put forth their rationale. The dichotomy that prevailed
at that time can tell how the nation reached its destiny. Nitpickers might
quibble that if the great men of yore were so great, why did they fail to build
a great nation? How could the evils of religious bigotry occupy an enduring
place in the heart of the nation when the great men decided to bisect the
country on communal lines only to build India as a secular republic where
religiosity would have no place in the statecraft? No wonder the great men
fought a tough battle to break the shackles of subservience. They were great
thinkers too. Traditionally India is hallowed by great thinkers, known not only
for their sagacity but also their relevance in today’s world. The depth and
diversity of their thoughts and the spectrum of issues they debated on, earned
them a unique distinction worldwide.
About half a century before independence, in the era of
nationalism and struggle against the colonial hegemony, Indian politics was
flooded with ideas of great visionaries on subjects elucidating what India was
and what she could or should be in the days ahead. Some of them were attracted
to the Western models, while others relied upon the traditional culture and
religion. Few expressed confidence on the British administration. The
divergence of opinion owing to political ideologies of the political class was
not new, rather expected. India is a land of diversity where lived seven times
more people than those in His Majesty’s own country at the turn of the last
century. There have been divisions on the grounds of religion, caste, creed,
faith, custom, gender, colour and language. There was a time when leaders were
indecisive and there were divergences of opinion on democracy, secularism,
freedom of speech, solidarity, justice, stand on the princely states and,
lastly, the inevitable partition of the country. Directions were many,
including swaraj, ahimsa, satyagraha, terrorism, non-cooperation, poorna-swaraj
and even declaration of war against the Crown. Despite their dissimilitude, the
propounders had the same goal, which was to achieve freedom. But the conflicts
of thoughts and egotism did not disappear; in fact, they multiplied, which
further led to the fraction of the leading parties like the Indian National
Congress and the Muslim League and that too many a time on the verge of
attaining freedom.
(will continue)
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