These are all reminders to newly resurgent Hindus of India’s diversity. It is unfortunate that such reminders are required, and that we must be made aware of a soldier’s religion. But there appears little choice when India’s nuances are rapidly being forgotten in a swelling tide of nationalism that seeks to define itself in narrow, you-must-be-like-us-and-like-what-we-like terms.

Protecting secularism

Over the past week alone, we saw the Madras high court make it mandatory for private and government offices and schools to sing Vande Mataram, the national song. We learned that school children in Rajasthan will be taught majoritarian fantasy—that the medieval Hindu chieftan Rana Pratap defeated Mughal emperor Akbar’s army—and that the government in Goa would provide farmers financial aid to look after old cows.

But India’s diversity is too complex, and dangerous, to change by government or majoritarian diktat. In Bengaluru, Delhi’s drive to lend primacy to Hindi generated much passion this week as Hindi signboards on a new metro line were blackened, protestors took to the streets and social media, and the metro authority was warned by a local government authority against insisting on Hindi signage. A few days later, India’s aviation authority “advised” airlines to stock Hindi newspapers and magazines on all flights.

To me, India’s multi-layered realities were embodied in the story that emerged the same week of Thangarasu Natarajan, a Tamilian, Hindu fast-bowler who knows no Hindi, and communicates in sign language and English with his Punjabi teammates, and whose mother sells beef and chicken fry to get by. The idea of India lives on in the small stories of unknown people, who lend a hand and quietly get along with those unlike themselves, even in areas of strife.

This is a time to recall the old slogan of “unity in diversity,” which, like secularism, is fading from popular discourse. Few politicians now call for “national integration”, a favourite—if, often, hollow—appeal made frequently during the Congress era. I am no fan of the authoritarian Indira Gandhi, but she recognised that “national integration is the internal defence of the country”. She said, “We should not imagine that merely because we are free and have a Constitution, social cohesion will remain on its own. It has to be guarded, just as the nation’s frontiers are guarded.” It is another matter that she ignored her own advice, and, followed later by her son Rajiv, was responsible for first prying open the lid that kept sectarianism imprisoned.

This is also a time to recall the unused, forgotten second stanza of the national anthem, written by India’s poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore (the mention of whom Hindu ideologue Dina Nath Batra wants scrubbed from text books):

“Ohoroho Tobo Aahbaano Prachaarito, Shuni Tabo Udaaro Baani
Hindu Bauddho Shikho Jaino, Parashiko Musholmaano Christaani
Purabo Pashchimo Aashey, Tabo Singhaasano Paashey
Premohaaro Hawye Gaanthaa

Jano Gano Oikyo Bidhaayako Jayo Hey, Bhaarato Bhaagyo Bidhaataa
Jayo Hey, Jayo Hey, Jayo Hey, Jayo Jayo Jayo, Jayo Hey.”

(Your call is announced continuously, we heed your gracious call
The Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Muslims and Christians,
The east and the west come, to your throne
And weave the garland of love…

Oh! You who bring in the unity of the people!
Victory be to you, dispenser of the destiny of India!)

This post first appeared on Scroll.in. We welcome your comments at ideas.india@qz.com.

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