We emerged from the long shadows of a thousand years of ravaging, savaging, ruin and rule by ideologies that were neither native nor accommodative nor respectful of Bharat and its civilizational core, to gain Independence in 1947.

Our motherland was partitioned as a large part of our population, indoctrinated and converted during this long, dark millennium associated themselves with some of these alien ideologies and wanted to live wholly under these paradigms.

In 1950, the Constituent Assembly gave the modern Indian State a Constitution.  Article 1(1) is the first para of the first Article of the Constitution. This is what is stated in its entirety: India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.  

The promise of equivalence, convergence of India with Bharat is made explicitly at the very outset. However, in over 70 years, the Constitution of India, its Amendments, its Executive operations, and its judicial pronouncements have worked to erode the foundations of Bharat. And ideologies that colonized Bharat over the last millennium have advanced far more insidiously than ever before, as these changes were being effected on behalf of us, by people and institutions empowered by the Republic to act on our behalf.

The State apparatus of India (Laws, Executive, Judiciary, Enforcement, Education, Economic policies etc.) have placed it in conflict with Bharat in virtually every area. The Ram Mandir case, delayed yet again since the “the court has its own priorities” is the proverbial tip of an iceberg: over 40,000 similarly appropriated temples await their tryst with an unfulfilled destiny. Approximately 500 temples have been destroyed in J&K State alone in Independent India in 70 years. This rate of temple destruction is greater than the devastations that happened from 1000 CE to 1947 when Bharat was in conflict with explicitly external forces and their internal collaborators. Add to this, the temples that have been appropriated by the Government of our Republic. But this not about temples alone.

The spontaneous rising of Bharat to support Jallikattu, and the oppression of devotees and the near desecration of the Sabarimala tradition exemplifies the ongoing schizoid battle of India versus Bharat.

Post-independence, the Bharatiya education system – once the undisputed leader of education for the entire Human race was shackled and an Indian model installed. The Bharat model was vilified, suppressed and demolished with greater effect than the combined efforts of destruction of Nalanda by Khiljee’s general Bakhtiyar and the systemic goals of Lord Macaulay, by the Indian State. Consider one metric to see the effect: 1650 languages were spoken in Bharat in the 1951 census, today only 600 survive. This will itself reveal how much of Bharat’s knowledge base has become extinct in just these last 70 years.

The Intent, Actions, Decisions, Collaborations, Resourcing and Priorities of all endeavors of the state apparatus in the Republic of India is for an India which is NOT Bharat. And it is not just the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary that have acted so. It is also the fourth pillar of our democracy – the Media which has betrayed its role.

The people of our Motherland must recognize today that India is NOT Bharat as stated in Article 1(1) of our Constitution. Until this recognition and realization dawns upon a critical mass of people in our Motherland, India and Bharat will be separate, disconnected and in conflict. The people of Bharat have to ensure that the Republic of India is run truly in the spirit of the equivalence of India being one with Bharat as stated in Article 1(1).

The Hindu Charter of Demands is a good interim step in the transformation of India into Bharat. However, even more needs to be done to realize the real vision of Bharat. It is a long path that will demand that the inhabitants of our Motherland become more aware, knowledgeable and realized about the true scale, impact and vision of what the wise call Bharat.

The individual engagements of Ram Janma Bhoomi, Sabarimala, the various court cases against blasphemy, honor killings on account of Apostasy, or the vilification of self-defense groups protecting rural assets like cows, or the appropriation or temple wealth, or the eviction of Kashmiri Hindus from their homes, or the imposition of destructive theories of consumption on Economic policy are problems created when we are hijacked by a non-Bharatiya framework. These rigid frameworks compel even a Bharatiya oriented leadership to comply and work at cross-purposes to the wisdom of Bharat.

The citizen of Bharat and the broader Hindu movement will need to examine these individual problems and relate all these to the underlying reality that we are governed by a framework that is Indian and not Bharatiya, Article 1(1) notwithstanding.  This may even mean exploring options to overhaul the Constitution in the not so distant future.

In the Ramayan, Ram Rajya happened only because there was a Bharat waiting on Diwali Day to welcome Ram after his fourteen years of exile and his victory over Ravana. In the same way, only Bharat can resolve the Ayodhya row, restore the yogic practice of Ayappa in Sabarimala, will the cows to safely graze in their pastures, our temples freed, our education systems restored to their tryst with greatness, our sacred rivers cleaned, our people wise and in a state of blissful abundance. These are the real priorities of Bharat.

India is not Bharat. Yet. May the Diwali, Festival of Light, a commemoration of the return of Ram, bring to all Peace, Prosperity Love and Enlightenment!

By – Prashant Singh, Twitter: @ps_009

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