An idea whose time has come

When a black man frees himself from the yoke, we get to see a Mohammad Ali, a Neil

Degrass Tyson, a Michael Jordon. When a woman frees herself from the yoke we get to see a Marie Curie, an Indira Nui and a woman ISRO scientist, clad in Saree, putting India on the Moon, literally and metaphorically. When a nation frees itself from the yoke we get to see a United States of America. When you see a Civilization freeing itself from the yoke we see a Bharat emerging. Consider the following data points about India/Bharat.

1. GDP passing four trillion dollar mark on it’s inevitable march to five trillion, making Bharat the third largest economy in the world in next five years
2. Integration of one of the finest states of India, Jammu and Kashmir, from which have sprung some of the giants of Bhartiya culture, like Patanjali, Bharitrihari and others; into mainstream India, after removal of article 370
3. 145,000 kilometers, (about 90,000 miles) of new roads built since 2014. Staggering number ports, bridges, being built, at a rate never seen before in India or the world. For example 452 Railway projects of total length 49,323 Km, (approx 40,000 miles)are in different stages of planning/sanction/execution in 2023.
4. Hardworking, honest and capable Indian diaspora in US, UK, Australia and around the world asserting it’s influence and extending India/Bharat’s soft power. Majority of  fortune 500 companies have Indians in leadership positions like as a CEO, CIO, or as part of the Board of Directors. Now along with UK, many other nations have people of Indian origin as Heads of State also. 
5. The highest use of electronic payment system (UPI) in the world with 11 Billion transactions happening in October 2023 alone
6. Lowest per unit cost of broadband anywhere in the world, with staggering implications on Internet use and information distribution and access
7. Over $600 Billion Foriegn exchange reserves
8. Armed sufficiently to deal with it’s expansionist and belligerent neighbors of China and Pakistan
9. Staggering million and a half new engineering graduates and 67,000 doctors every year.
10. 100 plus Unicorn startups with a billion dollar or more valuation and those numbers are accelerating upwards very fast
11. Excellent international relations across the board with US and West, Russia, Middle East and Israel
12. Strongest leader of the Global South which represents 85 percent of the world's population and nearly 39 percent of global GDP.
13. Space program establishing itself amongst the top four elite ones in the world, including US, China, Russia and India after Moon landing.
14. Largest democratic exercise ever to happen on the planet about to happen again in few months covering 1.4 Billion people.(this is 3.5 times the population of US which also goes to polls in 2024. 
15. Ram Temple being consecrated after 500 years of it’s destruction and desecration. Movements on to release other key temples from the mosques that were built on those lands after destroying the temples and killing hundreds of thousands of devotees and priests, looting the temples, converting and raping the women of the killed men.

(The last point is a key Civilizational matter and I have dealt with at length towards the end of this article about why it is an important marker)

Two questions arise:

1. Are all these disparate datapoints or is there a larger picture emerging here?
2. Is it good for mankind and for the planet?

Let’s talk about it. The fact is that this is happening in the most populous nation in the world, with the youngest demographic with almost half it’s 1.4 billion people below the age of 25 and 65 percent below 35. All this is also happening in a nation where it’s majority population, of over a billion people, follows Hindu religion as understood in the West. Actually they follow a way of life, a philosophy called Sanatan Dharma. (Hindu was a name given to these people who lived on the Eastern side of river Sindhu by those who came from the other side)

This much strength in the hands of a people who have demonstrably been non-expansionist for centuries, have spawned the most tolerant and non-exclusivist belief systems in the world of namely Sanatan Dharma, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism and others, who follow democracy in a form that is the most vibrant, the world has ever seen. They also and view all faith and religious persuasions as just a an alternate path to the mountain top. These people for whom spirituality lies in seeking and not in ironclad, exclusivist, religious doctrines. This has never happened before in the history of the world.

West has prospered and evolved on many metrics over the last few hundred years, that are powerful influencers of human wellbeing. I will call out a few and make a case on how they align so beautifully with Sanatan Dharma, the way of life of these billion plus people who are now flexing themselves. 

1. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” pronounces the US constitution. To their credit, there has been an honest effort in the West to bring the society closer and closer to the ideal pronounced in that statement. Slavery was abolished, racism is outlawed, men, women and people treated equal in eyes of law. These are huge advances in society. Yes challenges still exist but by and large they are not state sponsored and institutional. They are also continually being addressed. All religions are also treated equal under law. This on a general basis can also be said about most of the developed western nations. This however cannot be said about the 56 Muslim countries. This cannot be asserted about China and other communist countries, where there is only one state sponsored ideology allowed. Period.

This however can absolutely and certifiably be said about Sanatan Dharma. These ideals of people being equal in the eyes of the “creator” has been a forever held and cherished ideal and treats people as seekers, not souls to be harvested for this God or that, which is the Abrahamic religion’s point of view. 

So these people’s ideals from the millennia have been similar to the now evolved ideals of the western societies. Hence there is affinity, hence there is and should be less concern about India/Bharat rising than a authoritarian society such as China

2. Second reason for the world to celebrate India/Bharat’s coming into it’s own, is that this civilization has not been expansionist. West has understood after the second world war that peace brings prosperity and the way the world’s economies work today, pushing the borders do not necessarily mean more economic benefit. If anything it depletes treasure and causes lass of life. There are better ways to draw upon the other countries resources of human capital and goods, mostly through trade and partnerships. Interestingly people of India/Bharat have demonstrated the same for thousands of years. They have not had to conquer lands for glorifying their Gods or for looting. This is unlike the entire western Europe which upon getting hold of military power went on a looting and murder rampage across the world, also called colonization which lasted several hundred years.  Bharat and this oldest of old civilization’s has not displayed that instinct. Hence in Bharat’s prosperity, the world will prosper would not be threatened. 

Civilizational memory is something that all lasting civilizations posses. It must be preserved because it connects us with our ancestors. It is what gives rise to our culture, food, music, clothing, values, language. It is the sweetest of music that a human being can carry in their heart.

Civilizational memory is also of turbulent times. Take an example of Jewish people during the second world war. Those horrific memories also must be preserved so they are never allowed to get repeated again.

Now a couple of generations later, clearly the Jewish people cannot be angry at German people of today, except if the Germans were making  a Shrine in Auschwitz concentration camp and praying for victory over non-Germans and Jews every time they went there. That would be very bothersome, wouldn’t it?. 

Take the example of China and the Opium wars, where millions of Chinese were forced into Opium trade and addiction by the British so the empire could make a few more bucks. The loot around the world wasn’t enough. Imagine the scale of that tragedy, of families and generations destroyed, that unfolded over a long period of time. The Chinese cannot and should not forget it nor forgive it. But they cannot be upset at British people of today, unless a few thousand of them were to make a Shrine out of a Ship where that Opium was was carried, park it at Chinese shores and celebrate and pray over victory of British Empire over Chinese then and in future. 

India has had the tragedy of Islamic invasions, of invaders destroying, desecrating thousands of temples, building mosques on top of them and some of muslim brethren of today seem to find joy in going and praying in the same mosques about “Victory over Infidels” every time they go there. Babri Masjid, which was built by destroying the temple where Bhagwaan Ram was born was one such example. Similar mosques were built over temples where Krishna was born or thousands of others.

These destructions that were committed on holy sites were also accompanied by tremendous human suffering of priests being murdered, thousands of devotees who tried to protect these shrines being murdered, their women being raped and converted to Islam, even traded, properties looted. However, we cannot be upset at our muslim brothers and sisters today, because they did not do any of it. The invaders and Islamic crusaders of those times did. But reclaiming those holy sites, putting a stop to those victory laps that were happening on a daily basis in the prayers of “victory over infidels” on these holy places is what India must do. It is a Civilizational matter. It tells everyone and tells us that we will fight back.

Hence the coming together of all the 15 points listed above matters. It seems like that for the first time all Indians are taking pride in their history, culture and looking at the future with hope. Indeed what is happening to these 1.4 Billion people is a harbinger of phenomenal prosperity, peace and hope in the world, except for those who mean this Civilization harm.

Bharat/India is indeed an idea whose time has come.

Atul Singh