Bangalore: A symposium attended by journalists, advocates, professors, political leaders and retired army officers here on Jan.3 at the Gandhi Bhavan called upon the peoples of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Lanka to think of forming a confederation of the Indian sub-continent with full autonomy for every nationality.
Since India’s social and economic situation has very much deteriorated after the partition, and the different nationalities are in revolt against the ‘Hindutva hegemony’, such a confederation would solve the problem of Kashmir, Punjab, Assam, Jharkhand, Nagaland etc. but also bring permanent peace with Pakistan.
Speakers included, A.K. Anantakrishna, MLA, secretary of the Karnataka Congress Legislature Party. and a Lohiaite, Col. M.S. Mehta, a retired Sikh army officer from Pakistan, V.T. Rajshekar, Editor, Dalit Voice, E.P. Menon of the Friends World College, Iqbal Ahmed Sheriff, Advocate. Prof. S.K. De, who hails from Bangladesh, presided.
All the speakers said the Muslims of India never wanted Pakistan and that M.A. Jinnah was not the architect of Pakistan. Neither India was a single nation nor Pakistan. It is a sub-continent comprising hundreds of nationalities. If a confederation was not forged assuring full autonomy to all the nationalities there was every chance of the sub-continent breaking into several warring countries. The RSS which had once popularized the “Akhand Bharat” slogan gave it up because it quickely realized that in a united India the upper caste population, now at 15%, would go down to 5%. Since “Akhand Bharat” was not advantageous to upper castes, it was given up. L.K. Advani, the former BJP chief who revived the idea during his recent Rathyatra, was snubbed by the RSS and was forced to deny his statement. This proved that even inside the BJP those coming from Pakistan like Advani and K.R. Malkani, both Sindhis, were in favour of such a confederation. Col. Mehta said as one born in Pakistan and a Sikh, he knew how close Sikhism was to Islam. He also knew how badly the Muslims were treated before independence and even today. Pakistani Muslims would welcome the confederation. Anantakrishna recalled Dr. Lchia’s pioneering efforts to have such a confederation, which was not a fond dream or an impractical proportion but an urgent need of the hour. E.P. Menon said only a confederation could bring peace to the sub-continent.
Dalit point of view: V.T. Rajshekar speaking from the Dalit point of view allayed fears that they were trying to revive the RSS idea of Akhand Bharat. Once the confederation was formed, the Muslim percentage now at 15% would go up to 30% and the SC/ST population would jump from 30% to 40%. Consequently, the percentage of “Hindutva heroes” now at 5% would be pushed down to mere 2%, or even less. Besides, India would become the world’s largest Muslim country. That was why the RSS no longer talked of Akhand Bharat (DV Dec.16, 1990 and Jan.16, 1991). When the concept of “nation states” is growing in the world and the Soviet Union broke up on this question and the two Germanys got united, it is time that the peoples of Pakistan and India who belong to a common ethnic stock should also get united. The Dalit movement would get strength because of such a unity and the “Hindutva heroes” would be reduced to a miniscule minority. Right now, the brahminical value system was governing the country and it was not allowing the full flowering of the genius of the country’s 65% indigenous peoples and the religious minorities forming another 20% of the population. In the “United States of India”, the brahminical values would be buried as Muslims and Dalits would be an overwhelming majority assuring full autonomy to every nationality.
Elam Issue: Even the Lankan problem of Sinhala- Tamil conflict would be solved as the Lankan Tamils along with Tamil Nadu would have their Elam leaving the Sinhala Buddhists alone. Hindu unity, he said, was intended to break India’s unity. Since SC/ST// BCs being India’s original inhabitants, they loved this country and its people much more than the Aryan invaders. They feel that if this Hindutva bulldozer is allowed to have its free play, this country would be torn to pieces with the cowbelt States of UP, Bihar, MP, Rajasthan and Delhi declaring itself as Hindustan. Hence to strengthen India’s unity and integrity and bring lasting peace to the different restive nationalities, confederation of the sub-continent, called the United States of India“, is an urgent necessity. The forward Bloc people led by Prof. Nirmal Bose, West Bengal Minister, had recently had a similar seminar in Bombay under the presidentship of S.B. Kolpe, a noted journalist and editor of Clarity. Many others are also thinking on these lines.
It was announced that a bigger conference could be held if the confederation idea were to catch up.
