India, one of the oldest civilisations in the world, a civilisation that is at least 8,000 years old as per recorded evidence, has faced many attacks on it throughout its history. While military attacks have reduced in recent times, ideological attacks trying to deny India’s history continue to the present day. One of the frequent attacks on Indian history in recent times is that India didn’t even exist before 1947 when the Britishers left India after partitioning it.
At the time of independence, Home Minister Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel integrated 562 princely states into India, forming the current political boundaries of the country. However, that was just the political integration into a modern nation-state. India as a civilisation is not defined by that, it is defined by its history of thousands of years.
Recently, Amritpal Singh, the new leader of ‘Waris Punjab De’ after the death of Deep Sandhu, said in an interview that Britishers forcibly brought Punjab into India. He also said that India didn’t exist before 1947, and the Britishers created this country. Amritpal, who is a follower of terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, also said that Sikhs lost their empire to the British in 1849 and they want their separate empire back.
Open call for separate Sikh Empire being made in Khalsa Wahir led by Amritpal Sandhu. This march has been launched from the Golden Temple premises. pic.twitter.com/B880YTyW8U
— Divya Kumar Soti (@DivyaSoti) November 28, 2022
Just like his spiritual guru Bhindranwale, Amritpal Singh has been advocating for separate Sikh rule for Punjab, saying that Sikhs earlier stayed slaves to the British, and now are slaves to the Hindu government, as he attempts to instigate Sikhs against the Indian government.
Amritpal, who didn’t even follow the Guru’s command of 5 Ks earlier and cut his hair, spent a decade in Dubai, but has suddenly reappeared in Punjab this year as an Amritdhaari Sikh trying to promote the separatist ideas through the ‘Waris Punjab De’ group. Notably, the previous head of the group Deep Sandhu, who was accused in the 26 January violence at Red Fort, died in a road accident on GT road last year.
Amritpal, who is currently on a ‘Khalsa vaheer’ march across Punjab right now to spread his message, is not the first one to say that India didn’t exist before 1947. In fact, India’s main opposition party Congress scion Rahul Gandhi has been saying similar things for a while. Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly asserted that India is not a nation, but a union of states. A thought that denies India’s civilisational roots, and makes it an artificial country created by the British out of thin air.
“India is described in the Indian Constitution as a union of states and not a nation. One cannot rule over the people of a state in India. Different languages and cultures cannot be suppressed. It is a partnership, not a kingdom,” claimed Rahul Gandhi in the parliament during the last winter session.
In his speech, Rahul Gandhi insisted that the power arrangement between the states and the centre is of a “negotiation” and insinuated that India did not have a single national identity, instead, the idea of India rose from an agreement or a negotiation between the provincial units.
We will be giving too much credit to Rahul Gandhi if we say that this idea of branding India as a union of states and not as a nation is his own, the idea has been promoted vigorously for years by Congress ally in Tamil Nadu, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam (DMK).
Ever since DMK returned to power in Tamil Nadu in 2021, they have been actively pushing the idea that India is not a nation, but a loose union of states. The proponents of this theory use the constitution’s preamble as a crutch to support their argument while forgetting that the states at the time referred to princely states absorbed into India. The current states are not relevant to that statement at all.
DMK’s support for this union of states idea which promotes that every state is independent to make its own rules is supporting secessionist elements in Tamil Nadu, and helps DMK get the votes of these elements. With Rahul Gandhi now promoting this idea nationally, we will see more states along with Punjab and Tamil Nadu where secessionist elements may develop support.
This thought strikes at the very root of the Indian civilisation. 8,000 years of civilisational history is being denied under this idea, and India is portrayed as a loose amalgamation of states, from which, states can step out and become independent countries whenever they want.
This idea was pushed by DMK, brought into the national narrative by Rahul Gandhi, and is now being exploited by the likes of Amritpal to push for separatism in Punjab.
