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NOT SEPARATED IN INTEREST OR DIVIDED IN PURPOSE – <\/u>Seizing the Fevicol Moment: Building a Harmonious New India<\/strong><\/p>\n The first Home Minister of independent India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, on whose birth anniversary the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas or the National Unity Day is celebrated, had aptly remarked that, \u2018by common endeavour,\u00a0 we can raise the country to a new greatness, while a lack of unity will expose us to fresh calamities\u2019. The \u00a0\u00a0sense of national unison post Pahalgam and the ensuing Operation SINDOOR aka \u2018limited reprisal operation\u2019 by India, may have gladdened the heart of the \u2018Iron Man\u2019!<\/p>\n The\u00a0 aim of terrorist action at Baisaran was not just to massacre 26 tourists, but to spread communal animus amongst the Indian populace. In every weakness lies an opportunity\u2026\u2026.evidently, the perpetrators sought to exploit the\u00a0\u00a0 noticeable chinks in the Indian \u2018fabric\u2019\u2026often times conveniently disregarded at the altar of an inexplicable stirring!\u00a0 It is indeed paradoxical that the \u2018H Card\u2019 was harnessed by the enemy, unscrupulously disregarding the sentiments of its own 2.17 percent minority population\u2026the second largest in Pakistan. Be that as it would, it is equally ironic that the black and white lesson had to be driven home by a vile neighbour, reinforcing the truism that, \u2018when there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you\u2019. As events unfolded, it became painfully evident, that the lesson had not been learnt!<\/p>\n The ghastly event of 22 April expectedly upped the patriotic and nationalistic fervor of the Indian masses. However, while the Armed Forces responded in a resolute and fine tuned manner across the borders, a domestically constructed second front opened up within, along with its imperious foot soldiers! \u00a0The media, which had a bull run during the conflict, played a high pitched role to enflame passions, embracing an almost theatrical hyper nationalism, where the line between informing and inciting became dangerously blurred\u2026.a weaponised echo chamber! \u00a0This seemingly made it difficult to discern whether a narrative is driving events or events are being exploited to create a narrative!<\/p>\n Dr B.R. Ambedkar had stated that \u2018nationalism is an irrational instinct\u2019. At its tipping point, it can lead to negative consequences\u2026\u2026reason trumped by emotion!\u00a0\u00a0 The swift change from sympathy to hateful trolling of the spouse of the slain naval officer, for urging fellow countrymen not to target a particular community, underlines the fragile facade of emotions and a gross insensitivity to the raw wounds of a young widow. \u00a0The sordid fact is that her calls for peace were at odds with the jingoistic demands of \u00a0revenge for the sindoor\u2026\u2026the same vermillion which merely a week earlier had rallied the country together. That the Foreign Secretary and the Army Lady Officer, who were presenting India\u2019s response to the world, were also not spared the \u00a0bullying, is reflective of a \u2018nano mindset\u2019 which has gained traction over some years! Much like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, some elected representatives led the way, playing their flute to \u2018everlasting infamy\u2019! Surely this isn\u2019t patriotism!<\/p>\n It is an apt reflection that. \u2018peace and concord within is a courageous aspiration; it is neither cowardice nor treachery. Pushing all proponents of harmony and sanity into the enemy camp\u2019 and profiled targeting is a progressively growing fault line. However, regrettably like several such manifestations in the past, obnoxious behavior is merely \u2018noted\u2019 and the persons \u2018warned\u2019! No wonder, such episodes continue unabashedly both inside and outside of Parliament. \u00a0Sometimes the silence is too loud!<\/p>\n The worldwide media hasn\u2019t been really gung-ho about the Indian story of Operation SINDOOR. In the cold hard reality of geo-politics, the success of India may not exactly excite many, however, it is equally true that any incident in the diversity of the country becomes news worthy. \u00a0In that sense, both the media and the ultra-nationalists seem to have secured more bytes, somewhat blurring the remarkable performance of the Indian Armed Forces. \u00a0Amidst the \u2018kinetic and non kinetic\u2019 vocalisations of every Timothy, Danish and Harish, terrorism seemed to be taken off the shelf\u2026the centre stage dominated by an \u2018anti-ism\u2019 which has done the country more harm than good! \u00a0The road to Viksit Bharat demands that Bharat rises above creed,\u00a0 caste, colour and politics. Oddly enough, some people don\u2019t seem to learn from history and continue to spin their tyres in the sand, digging the country deeper into a rut!<\/p>\n There is a need to consolidate the unity arising out of the recent incident, ephemeral as it may seem! Pahalgam is our \u2018fevicol moment\u2019 and must not become a site of renewed siege, to \u2018derail the possibility of transformation, both in the mainland of India as well as Kashmir\u2019. Eight decades back, we united for self rule, today we must stay united for Viksit Bharat. With \u2018concord as our strength and compassion as our guide, we need to script a story of Bharat that shines as a beacon of progress, prosperity and forbearance\u2019. Ceasefire must prevail in the hearts and minds of the diversity of the country. \u00a0As true patriots of the motherland, we cannot simply reinforce the perceptions of the enemy and give it hope!<\/p>\n \u2018The destiny of man is to unite, not to divide. If you keep on dividing, you end up as a collection of monkeys throwing nuts at each other out of separate trees\u2019. It is hoped that the sense of \u2018we\u2019 displayed amongst the rank and file of the country during \u2018Pahalgam\u2019, will be the \u2018new normal\u2019 in the \u2018new India\u2019! The Prime Minister\u2019s statement that \u2018we remain committed to taking strong steps to safeguard India and its people\u2026..\u2019, should also hold good for those within, who seek to disturb and destroy internal peace and harmony!<\/p>\n (Major General Rajiv Edwards, VSM** (retd) is a historical researcher and commentator on societal issues.\u00a0 He is apolitical. Views expressed are personal)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NOT SEPARATED IN INTEREST OR DIVIDED IN PURPOSE – Seizing the Fevicol Moment: Building a Harmonious New India The first Home Minister of independent India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, on whose birth anniversary the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas or the National Unity Day is celebrated, had aptly remarked that, \u2018by common endeavour,\u00a0 we can raise the country …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45213"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45215,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45213\/revisions\/45215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}