INDEPENDENCE DAY SPECIAL

among the followers of different religions the understanding of ‘Live and Let Live’. Some people still advocate an experiment that has already proven to be a failure: what they call ‘Social Engineering’. Through this, they seek to respond to the fact of cultural diversity among different communities by calling for the restructuring of the communities’ cultures so that the wider society is free from cultural differences and all citizens of the state have one and the same culture. No matter what name it is called by, the result of the effort to manufacture and impose a single culture on people remains the same — utterly useless. It is tantamount to nothing less than what could be called ‘cultural bulldozing’. No matter what it is termed— ‘social engineering’ or ‘cultural nationalism’ or whatever—it remains thoroughly impractical and unrealistic. And to pursue anything impractical from the point of view of natural laws is simply a waste of time. In this regard, my difference with the ‘cultural nationalists’ or ‘social engineers’ is not on an ideological, but, rather, practical basis. I do not say that their aim is wrong, but, rather, that what they want to bring about is simply impractical and impossible to achieve. Supposing it becomes possible for everyone in the country to start speaking one language, to follow one culture and to have the same traditions and way of life, I would say, ‘Yes, it should certainly be so.’ But the fact remains that in line with the laws of nature and history, this sort of uniformity is simply impossible. It has never been possible in the past, and nor will it be possible in the future. Cultures develop according to their own logic. It is simply not possible to sit in a cabin and invent a culture of your liking and then go about imposing it on every community in the country. So, in this regard, we should do exactly what we generally do with regard to all other divisive issues, that is, to solve the problem on the basis of the principle of tolerance. One should deal with the matter with methods that accord with reality, rather than through confrontation. Using confrontation and violence in this matter will only further exacerbate the problem, rather than solve it. In this context, there is an important issue that needs to be clarified. Some people claim that India belongs to the Hindus, and that their loyalty is to this country. They claim that this is different with the Muslims of the country, whose centres of devotion—for instance, Makkah and Madinah—are located outside India. That is why, they allege, Muslims cannot be loyal to India.