Republic of Bharat

Shiban Khaibri
Thinking about choosing a theme befitting the occasion of celebrating 70th anniversary of our Republic – motivated , galvanised , persuaded and provoked protests against the Citizen’s Amendment Act (CAA) not stopping, decidedly under a deep rooted and orchestrated conspiracy aimed at destabilising this country, needs to be continuously analysed hence a bit about that becomes necessary herein to deal with . As more and more inputs to that end keep pouring in from non-designer media circles even though their number is very little as also from social media, it is mandatory to keep on opposing the very basis of these protests till they stop altogether. If the present scenario in the country , the deriding role played by some opposition parties and some select leaders who , as a habit , have their foot in the mouth , is analysed , I feel that it is the duty of each and every writer, reporter, journalist etc who cares for and loves this country, to give preference to writing lucidly about the said burning issue , expose the elements behind opposing an Act passed by the Parliament and unveil the shoddy and inglorious role of those behind these protests . It is high time they are described in their true colours.
Article 1 in the constitution of India states that “India that is Bharat ….”which in other words means that “India is in fact Bharat ” and it becomes extremely important to clarify as the very origin of India is now disputed by some overzealous but motivated ‘secularists’ and ‘progressive liberals’ and traced only to the period post Muslim invasion of Sindh and Multan in 8th century when invader Mohammed Bin Qasim invaded Sindh. The word Bharat is a Sanskrit word with reference to Hindu religious scriptures like Puranas, Mahabharta and the Rigveda. Rigveda is the oldest Hindu Holy scripture and perhaps the oldest in the world. So, ‘Bharat’ has a religious significance for Hindus and the architects of our constitution could not afford to not recognise it hence made a mention of and duly recorded it at the very start of the constitution itself.
On the other hand, the word “India” is derived from the word Sindhu which flows in the north west of the country . Greeks and others, later started calling us ‘Indoi” meaning the people of the Indus. Let History be not cut to such a size by the monopolists of its writing in India that Bharat is given no importance , let alone due preference in speech , writings and in official communications. When China has no other name, Japan, Iran, America, Australia, France, Germany or any other country in the world, why should our country be unique in this respect and continued to be called India when in fact, it should be called by its original name Bharat only ? Is not the very basis of the country , its basic original name disregarded and its total wilful neglect a quagmire of mysteries and denial of historical facts? Perpetual neglect and that too knowingly functions as a double edged knife cutting on both the sides. One, that people tend to forget the history and make with what is fed to them . Two, the same people later serve as antidotes to those few who would raise certain questions and shout them down. The results are horrifying to the extent that cheeks are gathered in saying that Shree Ram is a myth and no historical fact , that Ram Setu is not (divine) man made but natural and affidavits are presented in the courts. But why are such mischievous goofsknowingly made and for what purpose ? Who are being appeased by such distortions to the extent of being blasphemous ?
Our original constitutionmanuscript was penned by hand by PremBehariNarainRaizada in flowing italic style at the specific request of JawaharLal Nehru and it took PremBehari , a Graduate from St. Stephen’s College , Delhi and a Master in calligraphic art , more than six months to handwrite it besides decorating and beautifying its pages . When asked by Nehru as to how much would he charge for that , he replied “not a penny , I have all to be happy in my life”. At the specific request , he was asked to have Holy images of Hindu Devi Devtas and Gurus made on the pages of the first handwritten copy of the constitution and very few know that our constitution is adorned with the images of Lord Shree Krishna , Shree Ram, Lord Krishna propounding the Holy Gita to Arjuna at the Kurukheshtra, images of Budha , Vivekananda, images from courts of Ashoka, Vikrmadatya etc. The drafting committee of the constitution comprising AlladiKrishnaswamiAyyar, N. Gopalaswami, Dr. B .R. Ambedkar, K M .Munshi, Mohammed Saadullah, B L . Mitter and D .P.Khaitan were all in agreement in one voice about the manner and the form of the first ever manuscript to be handwritten . Imagined can be a situation if , any important document of national importance was to be written today with such Holy images of Hindu gods and deities that being the ancient basic culture of Bharat , all hell would break loose , thousands of ‘ShaheenBaghs’ and ‘JNUs’ would be “arranged” by pseudo secularists against that move which would be termed as “Constitution taartaarhogaya” because anything even in the remote, connected to ancient religo-culture of this country, is never ever tried to be even mentioned let alone recorded officially, all under peculiar type of secularism. The established convention of distorting facts and history for the last nearly six decades is tried to be cemented and strengthened but for what reasons is very crucial.
This trend of playing with history and distorting it , twisting it and manipulating it has assumed alarming proportions in this country not only in respect of ancient history but even in respect of an event well recorded in our Parliament just 16 years back . We all know how much violence took place and loss of property caused in the garb of opposing the CAA . It is not those who at once take the refuge under religion, manufactured and illusive discrimination, feigning victimhood at the hands of the RSS and other so called Hindu organisations , assumed notions of some policies “dictated” from Nagpur but the oldest political party Congress giving a clarion call to “people” to come on roads and offer sacrifices for repealing of CAA forgetting that they were the architects of this Act themselves and they oppose this Act just to find an opportunity , being fully frustrated and exasperated , for coming to power. That is the main issue.
It is pertinent to note that Parliamentary Committee on Home affairs constituted by the Congress led UPA government submitted its 107th Report which was presented to RajyaSabha on December 12, 2003 and tabled too on the same day. This Committee had Pranab Mukherjee as its Chairman and other members on it comprised KapilSibbal, HansrajBhardwaj, MotiLalVohra, AmbikaSoni , Janeshwar Mishra and other Congress stalwarts . It had Lallu Prasad Yadavtoo as its member. The Committee recommended to the Parliament and the government as under specifically that
* Indian citizenship should be granted to Bangladeshi and Pakistani minority refugees. Not only that, National Identity Cards (NIC) should also be issued to these refugees.
* Granting of Indian citizenship to migrants who entered India in the wake of 1971 war should be considered.
* Citizenship should be granted only to Bangladeshi minority refugees and not to refugees belonging to majority community.
* Every citizen should be given a National Identity Card (NIC) .
These are the major and important recommendations given not for consigning the same to official records but for implementation because Parliamentary Committees are carrying utmost weightage and importance in our Parliamentary democracy system. Just mark Congress stalwarts stressing on “Only Minorities” and not “from majority communities” from those countries. How can the Congress change its colours now like a chameleon is not difficult to comprehend but is most unfortunate when a senior member having remained a Union Cabinet Minister returns from Lahore sojourn read ‘yatra’ and goes direct to ShaheenBagh to incite and spread misinformation simply because nursing hatred for Modi. Why not have gumptions to declare that Modi Government was doing it now practically backed by the full strength of the Parliament what Congress Government proposed 16 years back ?
The time has come to forcefully resist lies, misinformation , misleading and twisting of historical facts . Do not keep people of this country bereft of its glorious past , culture and its true history . It is well known fact that a people without the knowledge of their past historical origin and culture is a tree without roots . Those who watch turbulences and conspiracies hatched against the soul of this country silently whether in media or in intellectual arenas are equally culpable. We , the people of Republic of Bharat are passing through a transition for betterment where tough decisions , innovations , reforms and changes have to be taken and we all must cooperate.
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