Does India need a new brand image to succeed in the global market?

Yes, says Paul Temporal, a senior academic in the University of Oxford. He recently wrote that India has to develop a strategy to present “a uniform national identity along side its internal diversity.”

Temporal must have made this suggestion because of his sincere interest in seeing India on top of the new global market.

His goodwill is welcome, but what he does not realize is that any talk of uniformity rankles most Indians.

Such a talk resonates with the ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (national volunteers’ corps). The umbrella organization of Hindu radicals wants all Indians to adopt one religion, one language and one culture.

They could have had their way, given the fact that Hindus account for more than 80 percent of the country’s population. However, they were rejected consistently by Indian voters, as shown by recent general elections.

‘India as a nation is a paradox’

The world’s interest in India grew after it weathered a recession that flattened many economies.

Many now want to do business with India, but find it hard to understand its complexities. They would want India to be like China where apparent uniformity exists.

However, China has the advantage of a still dominant and authoritarian central government whose pattern of social and political control is consistent with that country’s 2,500 years of imperial rule.

As well, the dominant tribe – the Han Chinese – has been the overwhelmingly dominant group for a millennium.

No so India. In its current form, it is a British creation of just over 60 years. It is a grouping of hundreds of kingdoms. India as a nation is a paradox, a modern Babel. It is divided into states based mainly on language.

Despite all this, India has not only survived, but also grown steadily when other nations created on uniform identities have broken down.

So, it would be hard for us to adopt uniformity for the sake of doing business. Our nation has reached where it is today precisely because of our diversities.

What we require is not uniformity but unity in diversity.

‘It cares for its religious minorities’

Diversity is India’s strength. Its president is a Hindu woman, vice president is a Muslim male, the prime minister is a turbaned Sikh and the defense minister is a Christian. Buddhists, Jains and Zoroastrians all hold important positions in the country.

This healthy blend of sharing of leadership would not have happened if India had opted for a uniform identity.

Hindus could have easily opted for a Hindu nation in 1947 when the British partitioned the Indian subcontinent along religious lines.

Our leaders deliberately chose secularism as the country’s basic character. Indian secularism accepts, respects and nurtures all religions and diversities.

It cares for its religious minorities unlike China that seems to suppress its minorities. The Indian Constitution has special provisions to safeguard the interests of religious and linguistic minorities.

India has more Muslims than Pakistan and they have flourished here.

The other significant minority is Christianity that claims to have existed here from apostolic times.

A good example of unity in diversity is the Catholic Church. Its members are divided into three distinct ritual Churches – Latin, Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara.

The Latin rite follows the Roman liturgy introduced by European missioners in the 15th century, while the two Oriental rites follow Syrian Church traditions and trace their origins to Saint Thomas the Apostle.

However, their bishops take turns to lead their national conference. Hundreds of Syro-Malabar priests and nuns work in Latin-rite dioceses.

‘Hindus have saved more Muslims than the police’

Catholics also differ from one region to the other. A tribal from Nagaland has few similarities with a dalit in Tamil Nadu.

However, Indian Christians all unite to help one another when a group faces problems as seen during the anti-Christian violence in Orissa last year.

It is true Indians kill each other in the name of religion, caste, region and various other reasons. But they are aberrations.

Hindus have saved more Muslims than the police did when Hindu radical groups killed Muslims in Gujarat in 2002. Similarly, hundreds of Christians found shelter in Hindu homes when Hindu radicals targeted Christians in Orissa last year.

We also do not stick to our religion when others need help, as shown by a Catholic priest in Kerala who donated one of his kidneys to a Hindu daily wager last year.

Only those interested in breaking this fine mosaic would want uniformity in India, because that is the best way to undo India.

Source: Who wants uniformity in India? (UCAN)

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