As India sets to celebrate her 70th anniversary of the transfer of power, many contradictions are arising after seven decades. Babasaheb Ambedkar tried to force the national attention to the glaring contradictions in the Indian society when the Constitution came into force in 26th November 1949.

The contradictions are visible and they threaten the existence of India as a democratic republic. Indian republic truly belong to all the citizens, it is not the monopoly of one caste, one class, or one region, but as a republic, it belongs to people irrespective of their class, caste, gender, belief, and place of birth.

Nationalism is the benign love for one’s country that does not spring from malign hatred for other’s country. Nationalism is value in itself when it promotes liberal values of liberty, equality, and fraternity. This is what Babasaheb Ambedkar meant when he said, “I am Indian first and Indian last.”

The narrow interpretation of nationalism based on religion and language is threatening India’s hard earned democracy and this concept of nationalism bring in many unnecessary things to forge the “fundamentalist” and “jingoist” nationalism.

This is what is reflected in the Brahminical Hindutva’s push for “Vande Mataram” song as a national song. The history of the song lies in its use by the Brahmin fundamentalist to enforce anti-Muslim sentiments in the Bengali Novel, Anandamath, it is a literary composition. This song existed before and it sings of the Hindu Gods and Goddesses.

Similarly, the great poet of the east, Muhammad Iqbal, composed “Sare Jahan Se Accha” when he sang “Tarana-e-Hind” (The song of Hind). It is also sung in India. When the Brahminical nationalists sang the Vande Mataram, the nationalist nationalists sung Sare Jahan se Accha.

But soon, the Muslims, Dalits, and the backward classes got disillusioned with the Brahminical nationalism that only served the interests of a handful of “Brahmins”.

The elite Muslims in India started smelling the Brahminical machinations when they found that the Brahmin elites are set to declare all the population of India as the “Hindus” when they were actually divided into thousands of caste without any social interaction or social intercourse.

Their disillusion reflected in their moving away from the Brahminical nationalism, when the great poets like Iqbal, started talking about the caste system in India. His poem or Kalam on the Buddha reflects the changing views of Iqbal:

Qoum Ne Pegham-e-Gautam Ki Zara Parwa Na Ki

Qadar Na Pehchani Na Apne Gohar-e-Yak Dana Ki

(The nation could not care less about Gautama’s message—

It did not know the price of its unique pearl!)

Ah! Bad-Qismat Rahe Azwaz-e-Haq Se Be Khabar

Ghafil Apne Phal Ki Sheerini Se Hota Hai Shajar

(Poor wretches! They never heard the voice of truth:

A tree does not know how sweet its fruit is.)

Ashakara Uss Ne Kiya Jo Zindagi Ka Raaz Tha

Hind Ko Lekin Khayali Falsafe Par Naaz Tha

(What he revealed was the secret of existence,

But India was proud of its philosophical fancies)

Shama-e-Haq Se Jo Munawwar Ho Ye Woh Mehfil Na Thi

Barish-e-Rehmat Huwi Lekin Zameen Qabil Na Thi

(It was not an assembly‐hall to be lit up by the lamp of truth;

The rain of mercy fell, but the land was barren.)

Aah! Shudar Ke Liye Hindustan Ghum Khana Hai

Dard-e-Insani Se Iss Basti Dil Begana Gai

(Alas, for the shudra, India is a house of sorrow,

This land is blind to the sufferings of man. )

Brahman Sarshar Hai Ab Tak Mai-e-Pindar Mein

Shama-e-Gautam Jal Rahi Hai Mehfil-e-Aghyar Mein

(The Brahmin is still drunk with the wine of pride,

In the assembly‐halls of foreigners burns Gautama’s lamp.)

The Brahmin nationalists always spoke of “pitrubhoomi” and “Punyabhoomi”, basing their nationalism on “Bhoomi”: the land.

But the real nationalists like Phule, Shahu, and Ambedkar based their nationalism on “Manus” and “Manuski”: the human being at the centre of their love for their nation.

Therefore in the scheme of “Brahmin-Bania-Thakur” nationalists, the Varna system must stay, even if the nation perishes, and in the scheme of “Shudra-Atishudra” nationalists, the Varna/caste must be annihilated as the precondition for the nation to survive.

That is why the “Brahmin” nationalists impose their “national songs” on the other citizens. The national songs are not a nation and they do not require to be sung for the genuine feeling of nationalism to be expressed and cultivated.

The southern Indian states, particularly, the non-Hindi speaking states in South have all come up with their “state songs” formally and some of the states like Maharashtra have informal “state song” as “Garja Maharashtra Desh Majha.”

The Karnataka state has its own state song and Tamil Nadu has its own state song.

India is entering into a battle of national songs and song-based nationalism.

The trend must be stopped and any attempts to use the “poems” and “songs” for the dominance of one community over another must be stalled. In seven decades, we have not learnt that the human beings are more important than the songs they sung.

Author – Mangesh Dahiwale, Human Rights Activist