WHY THIS UNDUE HASTE
TO VIVISECT?
The Group of Ministers set up by the vile,
minority UPA government at the centre, surviving on the mercy of two outside
parties – BSP and SP, the latter openly opposed to the division of Andhra
Pradesh, is running in all speed to somehow achieve its despicable goal of
vivisecting a vibrant nationality and à la Radcliffe. I am reminded of this exquisite poem
by Auden lampooning the unholy exercise of that British law lord who never
visited India but yet vivisected it drawing his line literally even across the
middle of remote human habitations: “Shut
up in a lonely mansion/ with police night and day / patrolling the gardens to
keep / assassins away, He got down to work, to the task / of settling the fate of
millions. The maps at his disposal /
were out of date / And the Census returns
almost certainly incorrect, But there was no time to check / them, no time to
inspect / Contested areas. The weather was frightfully hot, And a bout of
dysentery kept him constantly on the trot, / BUT IN SEVEN WEEKS IT WAS DONE,
the frontiers decided, A CONTINENT FOR BETTER OR WORSE DIVIDED…” Does this sound very familiar in our context? The
British imperialists certainly had their stakes in such a hasty ‘divide and
rule’ policy to which both Nehru and Patel unashamedly acquiesced thus defying
and shaming their leader, Gandhi, who had declared the partition could happen
only on his corpse; and he too would compromise later to sail with his
disciples. But what need there is for any independent and patriotic rulers of
sovereign India
to thus divide and rule over a vibrant nationality which has sailed united
amidst all troubles and calamities for about six decades? Have they forgotten
that India is in essence a multi-national country though its constitution
proclaims it a nation-state and any undue impetuous interference with the unity
in diversity of the country and the identity and self-respect of its component
units, especially of linguistic nationalities, could do utmost damage to the
unity and integrity of the entire country itself. Don’t they know that by such
post-haste they are only opening up a Pandora’s Box of more complex problems
all over the country and striking at the very roots of territorial integrity of
the country? No, knowing fully well, they are still moving – for nothing but
nefarious electoral benefits – an acute case of open electoral corruption with
the next general elections just round the corner. §§§