Seldom did we hear voices of congeniality and cohesion from the warring political parties of India about its civilizational uniqueness. Electoral politics had conveniently concealed its civilizational ambiance to a dangerous extent and parties that ruled India for decades soon after its Independence executed their power to press it harder than how the colonial interventions did it. Mostly, the ideological differences between the ruling parties and those who stayed in the opposition have been about their intense commitment registering their disregard for India’s civilizational glory. Their quarrel was about who represented the most servile approach to a privileged religious section, especially the Muslims. Both sides had the same goal. Maintain the sentiments of the collective vote bank of the minorities to the brim and reap immense electoral benefits. They remained persistently tenacious and ambitious throughout India’s political chronology while they enthusiastically registered their refusal about its cultural eminence. The best thing for them to do was to erase maximum documentary evidence of India’s civilizational history and create a parallel narrative that would receive accolades from academia across the globe. And they succeeded in nullifying everything that India’s future generations would have celebrated. Its spiritual ethos, cultural inclusivity, diverse and all encompassing moral values, everything got systematically removed or misinterpreted. Their parallel narratives were to systematically replace an ancient India of cultural distinction and spiritual treasure with one that they projected to have always conceded and surrendered to external aggression and invasion. Therefore, the consistent conflict was between the real history and their version of the history.
Should we shrink back from calling India a civilizational state? While its status of being a constitutional state is not challenged, its political geography is understood to have been governed by its constitution. But the parties opposing Narendra Modi at the centre, especially the Congress, have been compulsively registering their disregard for India’s ancientphilosophical heritage. To them, India is a piece of land sharing a political geography among its states with every state equally sharing its own unique cultural identity and thus making it a Union of States. India’s cultural landscape has been known for its civilizational ethos and spiritual diversity and globally this remains an attraction even today. Pulling millions of pilgrims from all over the world to the Maha Kumbh at Prayagraj, India showcased its spiritual distinction once again. The controversial debate on India being a civilizational state or constitutional state began after the emergence of a new political ideology that had immense respect for the nation as a civilizational unity in 2014. This surge of a nationalistic thought that has willingly amplified India’s civilizational status for a decade under Narendra Modi brought serious ramifications to the existential tactics of parties, while their electoral bases crumbled and collapsed.
India is one of the oldest continuous civilizations that preserved its traditions and traditional values with its history being traced back to the days of the Vedic era. Its essence lies in its ability to embrace the multiplicity of linguistic and cultural supplies brilliantly cementing its edifice of pluralism. This has been identified as its strength and there have also been differing views about it. Pluralism has not been its accidental foundation. India evolved into a huge land mass of spirituality flourishing through its principle of inclusiveness. Multiple religions successively stemmed from its basic philosophy of Sanatana Dharma. Sanatana Dharma proclaimed the power of pluralism, literally a transformative one, which taught the world “Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha Vadanti” (Truth is one; the wise call it by different names). Therefore, beyond its internally scatteredpolitical borders, ideally, India remained a single cultural unity and a great space of spiritual identity. This inclusive approach was instrumental while we extended a holistic reception to Abrahamic religions that landed here on the pretext of trade and exploration. Its influence as a progressive philosophy stretched across borders and successfully connected the world through trade, culture and spirituality. Remnants of India’s spiritual awakening could be seen across continents in the form of temples and monuments and huge stone carvings. So, except for political ambitions, the parties, the naysayers, have no reason to deny India’s civilizational base.
From the days of Bhagavad Gita to the days of the seers of the modern period, India was deeply rooted on the principle of Dharma. It remained an ideal landscape of collective existence based on ethical living and societal harmony. The Gita extensively discusses Dharma in its multiple angles. Governance by rulers had unbending principles of Dharma being executed for the welfare of the societies. Therefore, it is not an airdropped fantasy while the present government takes aspirational steps to regain India’s glory as a Vishwa Guru. This has been the truth for centuries. Adi Shankaracharya was a great proponent of Advaita Vedanta. He did it to strengthen the essential humanness across societies. India remained a land of spiritual seekers and leaders. Shankaracharya’s initiative to spiritually unify the land through monastic centers was another major milestone of India’s cultural revival. Its identity as a spiritual landscape gained great relevance in the 21st century. Its ancient wellness practices such as Yoga, Ayurveda, Meditation and its variety of rituals invited the world to its complex geographical terrains. Huge assemblage of seekers from unknown lands seek spiritual asylum here. The Modi Government’s cultural diplomacy was another milestone. Bringing the global community closer to India’s spiritual ambiance through Yoga, Meditation and Ayurveda was its focus and to get them realize the deeper meanings of religious festivities was the other. The Maha Kumbh under the administrative acumen of Yogi Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh could translate this spiritual confluence into a golden opportunity of diplomatic outreach.
Uninterrupted controversies have been gaining attention since the Modi regime’s inauguration. His government, with a decade of administrative shrewdness, had been sharply evocative on the need for India's cultural revival. As we culminate a year of festivities on the Ram Temple consecration, there have also been versions of intellectual animosity raining on its grand completion. Appeasement politics and vote-bank tactics threateningly pulled multiple parties from attending the consecration. We could barely hear any celebrated intellectual speak for the correction of the historical wrongs committed on the Hindu civilizational symbols. As outcries for the revival of our Dharmic ancestry began, there has also been persistent demand for maintaining the status quo. An unquenchable thirst to demand justice for our ancestors by reviving our cultural symbols and centers is our responsibility. For, civilization is a continuity of ideas, ideologies, rituals, visions and spiritual exuberance; attempts to erase its imprints from the face of the world are reprehensible. While nefariously diluting the spiritual imprints of India, throughout its history, appeasement politics treated Hindu unity as an absolute impossibility. They had conflicting theories to delay the resurrection of temples like Somnath, a denial that was well planned. As 76th Republic Day celebrations once again reinforce the power of our constitution, a sea of human gathering is reviving India’s civilizational ancestry at the Maha Kumbh while the Ram Temple sanctification completes its first year. This confluence of events is a reality, where a constitutional state is enlivening its civilizational ambiance.