It is a Time for Patience and Action

India is a great country. Among its inhabitants are people belonging to different races, religious communities, sects and faiths. It is a responsible nation. It is the largest democracy of the world. Therefore, its role and contribution for world peace and prosperity is important.

For centuries, it has been the Jananaguru of the world. World’s mentors like Gautama Buddha, Tirthankara Mahavira, Guru Nanak Dev and Mahatma Gandhi were born on Indian soil. Not only this, but great thinkers and inventors like Aryabhat (the inventor of the zero), Sushruta (the father of surgery), Jagdish Chandra Bose (the pioneer of wireless communication) and Chandrashekhar Venkata Raman (known for the Raman Effect) were also born in India.

India is a country with one of the oldest and richest cultures in the world. Harmony and unity in diversity are the chief characteristics of its culture. Moreover, its culture is evolutionary in its character. Indian culture calls upon people to make ahimsa the basis of their day-to-day activities.

Ahimsa is the supreme human value. It is an active force. It has to do nothing with cowardice. Ahimsa never asks for a meek submission before a tyrant. It never asks for surrender before a wrongdoer. Rather, it is a weapon of the brave. It is fully capable of ending injustice, no matter if it is internal or external. The world’s abovementioned mentors, inventors and other great warriors, who had been defenders and retainers of the unique characteristics of India’s national culture in their respective eras, conveyed the message of unity, equality and endurance; simultaneously, they called upon people to remain active while going forward on their life journey.

Their message could fill Indians with enthusiasm from time to time. Whenever there emerged a serious situation facing India, from the inside or the outside, Indians showed their activeness and, through unity, they successfully countered challenges of a serious nature. Hence, they made India, their motherland, safe and secure from aggressors, invaders and those who tried to weaken it.

In the current series of events, once again it seems that continuous efforts are being made at national and international levels to weaken India from both the inside and the outside. Efforts are being made to destroy India’s economy, democratic structure and society, and its harmonious culture. Why, and how, the whole world knows. Therefore, there is no need to go into any detail in this regard.

The need of the hour is this: that Indians must show their activeness, courage and unity. With patience and steadfastness, they must come forward to save this great nation from both the inside and the outside, so that India can become strong and march forward on the pathway to prosperity.

They must bear in mind that only a strong and prosperous India can accord security, safety and happiness to its people, on the one hand, and can discharge its responsibilities toward the international community, on the other. It can play a vital role in making the world free from violence and uproar, which now burden civil society in these days of globalization that is incessantly increasing.

Dr. Ravindra Kumar is an eminent writer, Indologist, political scientist and a former vice chancellor of Meerut University, India, who authored and edited over 100 works on great personalities like Mahatma Gandhi and on various social-cultural issues.