THIS is apropos the letter ‘A state sponsoring terrorism (Nov 14). While I agree with the writer, I would add that India has never been one country except during Ashoka and Aurangzeb’s times, and that too was artificial, for the semblance of unity disappeared soon after them.

Even at the time of independence in 1947, India was distinctly divided into two parts; one was British India and the other was a large group of 562 princely states scattered across the land.

As regards today’s India, it is an unnatural and artificial union of heterogeneous segments. North India looks down upon south Indians as ‘Dravidians’, while south India (Hyderabad, Chennai, Mysore and Kerala) hates the superiority complex of north India (Uttar Pradesh) being ‘Aryans’.

East Punjab has nothing in common with west Bengal, while Gujarat and Central Province are not on good terms. Bihar has its own unique way of thinking and a dialect separate from other parts of India. Seven northeastern Indian states and New Delhi are at draggers drawn, and there are more than 10 separatist movements in India.

To add fuel to the fire, India is a divided society from within due to its caste system where Dalits, with a population of about 350 million or about 25 per cent of the Indian population, are considered fourth-class citizens of India.

The ethnic and religious divides have further eroded the so-called unity of India. RSS extremism and the Hindutva ideology have overwhelmed the liberals and saner elements of Indian society.

Minorities, like Muslims, Sikhs and Christians, who are about 20pc of the Indian population, are already under severe threat and are struggling for their existence, while religious intolerance is rampant owing to strong-arm tactics of right-wing extremists who are out to subjugate the minorities.

Notwithstanding the above, poverty is another factor which India has been trying to cover up with slogans, such as ‘shining India’. In fact, it is a country where almost 40pc population does not get two square meals a day, or have enough clothing to cover their bodies, or to have basic facilities, like toilets.

Cracks in the Indian society are already visible due to overpopulation and poverty as well as the caste system and the persecution of minorities.

Syed Iftikhar Ahmed
Karachi

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2020