Sanjose A Thomas

The term ‘Inclusion’ refer to the very conception of taking everyone along with an idea or thought process or including everyone irrespective of their caste, creed, gender, race, ethnicity and socio- economic background so as to build an atmosphere of equity and fraternity. This means developing and harnessing a feeling of oneness and co-habitation setting aside all differences and distinctions. The Constitution of India is built around the finest principles of unity, fraternity and equality which have become our bedrock ideas in the making of a nation. The very idea of ‘Unity in diversity’ is built around this conception that broke the shackles of caste, religion, creed and created a feeling of oneness despite aspects of differences. India prioritized the notion of ‘Social inclusion’ which traversed across all boundaries whether regional or religious and ensured that people should feel that this is their homeland and governance as a process is above any parochial considerations. It took a long time for us to dent the impact of caste and communal overtones and to usher in an era of ‘Antyodaya’ that envisages the well-being of all both the affluent sections of society as well as the poorest of the poor.
But when we look at the India of the 21st century, we feel that there are many attempts to revoke and reinvigorate the old culture and feeling of ‘we’ and ‘them’ and to ignite the feelings of separatism and division. A recent survey conducted by an NGO amongst voters in a poll bound state reveals the fact that some political outfits approached them purely on religious and casteist grounds and they were often forced to think ‘ill’ of their fellow communities with whom they enjoyed a very healthy and robust relationship for past several centuries. We remember those good old times when we celebrated Onam, Vishu, Eid and Christmas together and when we never even thought that this festival belongs to him and that belongs to my religion. This fraternity and oneness truly exemplified the idea of India cherished by our founding fathers who constantly attempted and reminded us the need to maintain undiluted harmony and fellow being amongst the people of India. Nowadays we read many posts circulating in social media speaking inappropriately about different communities and spreading disharmony and hatred. This includes posts portraying people from some specific communities as terror mongers and even youngsters as having dubious aims of engaging in girl snatching and religious conversion. We also hear of constant and continuous issuance of threats asking people belonging to some minority communities to leave a place forever or to stop their socio-cultural engagements. Such incidents often seriously upset our inclusionary ideas and create an imbalance in our social sphere which involves doubt, mistrust and unprecedented fear.
This is where corrective steps are badly required so as to protect and safeguard the dignity and integrity of India and to preserve its cultural plurality. If not, India will wither away and will be replaced by a bunch of religious or regional republics that serve and promote their own interests. In his work ‘Mistaken Modernity’,Dipankar Gupta the renowned Indian sociologist warns about the misconceived idea of a modern nation in the new millennium which is even now plagued with moribund and backward looking practices and habits which hamper its growth and development. This is often accelerated by the hate propaganda and hate crimes committed against various segments of the society especially the minorities, dalits and women. Let us remember that old quote “The civility of any nation lies in two things, how they treat their minorities and how they treat their womenfolk”. Let India live as a model for world nations, not in running high speed trains and big highways but in how we respect, trust and include everyone in our public life.