28. National Integration
THE CONCEPT OF national integration is founded not upon the premise or apprehension of an imminent or eventual disintegration, but upon the recognition of the need of placing before the people the positive values that give quality and meaning to the rich cultural, religious and linguistic diversities that distinguish this country. These values derive from that part of our heritage which is marked by harmony and tolerance, our common citizendship, our secular ideals and principles and what I might call for want of a better word, the "Indianness" that acts as a unifying bond through the length and breadth of this subcontinent. By keeping the idea of national integration to the fore, we hope to give impetus to a psychological process that will see unity in diversity, that will harmonise differences and contribute towards the building of a modern and secular society on principles of equality and fraternity. Such a process will encompass a variety of spheres : efforts will be necessary in the fields of education, politics, administration, community living, and so on. Essentially what this process would amount to will be to prepare men's minds to receive and to adapt themselves to the elements of the new modern society, that is, rationality and science, combined with an awareness of the ethical and moral values of freedom, equality, a national conscience as well as consciousness, and to resist and combat the passions that are unleashed either by design or by ignorance in the name of the very diversity that should be properly taken as enriching and vitalising our national life.
The fundamental question before India today is the transformation of an old society marked by many cleavages into one where the disparate elements are welded into an organic whole, giving sustenance and strength to one another. In these 20 years of modernising process, we have had our share of these strains manifesting themselves in various undesirable forms — a proneness to take issues to the streets, a low flash-point of violence, group tensions, regional jealousies, etc. While I do not want to take a complacent view of what we see around us, I do not also subscribe to the view of some alarmists that the country is going to pieces and will not endure. Even in countries, more affluent and with more deeply rooted consciousness of civil and social responsibilities, lawlessness and violence — and generally the strains that occur in a fast-changing world — are not unknown. The violent race riots in England a few years ago and the summer violence and the continuing racial tension in the United States, and the recent wave of disturbances and strikes in France show how difficult are the problems posed by economic and political transition and by the challenges of modernism. A country such as ours which has to make up for the neglect and exploitation of centuries in a few short decades will certainly have its path paved with formidable challenges. These need not, and will not, frighten us. These will have to be seen in a historical perspective, and to be dealt with in the light of objectives and direction chosen by ourselves.