It is again the responsibility of our leaders to mobilise the appropriate resources in this direction. This includes helping people gain better awareness of their responsibilities and utilising the established arms of the government to achieve the desired end. But what is lacking is political will on the part of our leaders. Although holding responsible positions, they show no interest in integrating the people irrespective of caste, creed or sect.

Gandhi always wanted universal brotherhood is to be practised by his followers. He saw people as ‘world citizens’. Though our political leaders mostly quote Gandhi’s way of life, they do not hesitate to fragment the society on the basis of caste, creed, sect, religion, region, etc. Now it is openly stated that such and such a person will bag such and such a percentage of the votes from a particular caste or community. We don’t even take these statements as anti-national, although they tend to disintegrate the very fabric of our society. Additionally, even the leaders who participated in the independence movement are categorised along caste lines.

Our society is so strongly woven around the fine threads of caste, community, religion, traditions, customs, that it took a long time to tone down the presence of the said factors. The British policy of ‘divide and rule’ is being continued by most of our political parties. They may not do so explicitly but their aim mostly is to divide the society and create dedicated vote banks. The demand for a separate Bodoland in the northeast, the Maoist activity in Bihar, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh, the anti-Bihari movement in Maharashtra, similar movement in Karnataka and terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir are outcomes typical of such politics.

After a long struggle of this type on the part of separatist forces active in Bihar, the state of Bihar was divided into two, viz, Bihar and Jharkhand. Post-bifurcation, are the people living there happier? Did the common man living there seek such a change? Again the question that arises is if those in power still behave so irresponsibly towards our motherland where will it lead to ultimately? If we discourage disintegration of the country, how will they get to divide the country along the lines sought by the different separatist outfits? It is high time the people of India got rid of these anti-national elements and started integrating the fragmented country and its society.

Now the question is how this is to be done? There are many ways. It varies from individual to individual, according to the capabilities and interest of the individual concerned. The basic problem behind it all is illiteracy, poverty, backwardness and many other evils. Inspite of these drawbacks, different parts of India have progressed in various degrees because of state-specific problems and the varying vision of the political leaders. The states, which are behind, are trying to join the mainstream, motivated by the vision of their leaders. Many of our representatives should realise that if issues like poverty, illiteracy and backwardness are backburnered then the people who elect them will assert their rights and get down to doing things, which are good for them and the society they live in. The individual may or may not vote for the same leader. This is a blot on the political system prevalent in our country.

But the political leaders are part of the same society. In the past few years, values have taken a heavy beating maybe because of aping the western style of living. Now, mutual respect, forbearance, forgiving, kindness, love and affection for others seem like qualities that belonged to the past. So to regain these god-gifted qualities we should refrain from doing things that we don’t like. As they say, do unto others as you would have others do unto you.