You Say You Want A Revolution...

You say you want a revolution...
Well, you know
We all want to change the world...

India has never in its glorious and storied past had a people's revolution. It has never happened. The independence movement itself went on far too long and in several disparate avatars to be seriously considered a revolution in the traditional sense of the word. The notion of India coming together as a country is an absurd one to say the least in that it has no obvious precedent. Homogeneous solely by religion as the land of the "Hindus" and at times hardly even that, there has been a distinct lack of a common, uniting, societal factor almost throughout its history.

Even 60 years on from independence there is a glaring vacuum in most Indians' minds as to what such a uniting factor could be. It is not just that nobody would have an answer for such a question but that most people are yet to ask themselves this question. What is India's national interest? What are its collective aspirations? Why indeed does it exist under the rubric of a state? What, if any, are the factors that might unite an Assamese, a Malayali, a Gujjar and a Garhwali?
Jawaharlal Nehru in his oft quoted 'Tryst with Destiny' speech gave India a sense of purpose it badly needed after the centuries of foreign rule. But would not India need clearly stated ideals and principles, more elaborate than sovereignty and secularism, upon which these senses of purpose would have to be built? A distinct sense of collective aspiration has emanated from most, if not all great powers in the world, in history. India has been unique because of its extreme diversity and such collective ideals are hard to come by. And so India's diversity precludes any talk of a people's revolution. What kind of a revolution would we want if not a people's revolution? We must be careful what we wish for;

You say you want a revolution..
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out..

In light of recent events, impulse would have us believe that a concern for national security might fill this aspirational void we have on our hands as a country. But what does national security mean in relation to India? Is it an extension, in the form of a sum being greater than its parts, of individual and communal security? Or does it end with individual and communal security itself? When there is no clearly defined national interest what would national security entail exactly? If we were to consider national security as a collective aspiration, how would we go about it?

If India is to emerge as a strategically important power in the world as has been suggested and is becoming increasingly evident, these questions will have to be answered. This will have to be an individualistic movement as we strive to create a national interest, the lack of which presently, does not allow us to have a national revolution. To use a Gandhian cliche to make my point, " You must be the change you wish to see in the world". If Indians individually would become intolerant of violence, this is sure to lead to a slow, but steady societal revolution that we all desire. In this of course, the rich and the privileged will have to lead the way like in all other endeavors. A people's revolution in our country is unprecedented, but that is not to say it shall not be possible in the future. As we integrate more and more, a national interest will emerge. In this we ask for your help....

You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan
Don't you know it's gonna be all right...all right...