Communal Harmony
On April 16, 1994, at the invitation of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, I was in Nagpur. There was a meeting held at Reshimbagh (Nagpur), where I gave the inaugural address. In my speech, I said that after independence, India could not become the developed nation that it ought to have become. The biggest reason for this is the lack of unity in the country. Therefore, I have made communal harmony my mission for the nation.
One point I mentioned in this context was that the root of the problem lies in unnecessary misunderstandings developing on both sides. If interaction between the two communities increases, these misunderstandings will naturally fade away, and normal relations will be restablished among people.
I shared various incidents and, through real-life examples, explained that every person is a human being. If someone appears to you as an opponent, it is only a temporary condition.
I mentioned that the way some Muslims react so strongly to Vande Mataram or similar issues is not due to any real conflict, but rather because of unnecessary sensitivity. Before 1947, such sensitivity was not present among Muslims. As a result, Muslims themselves used to make such remarks, and no reaction followed. I recited a few verses of Muhammad Iqbal, for example:
Sare jahan se achha Hindustan hamara
Hum bulbulen is ki, yeh gulistan hamara
Better than the entire world is our Hindustan,
We are its nightingales, and it is our garden.
Mir-e-Arab ko aayi thandi hawa jahan se
Mera watan wahi hai, mera watan wahi hai
From where came the cool breeze to the Chief of Arabia (Prophet of Islam), That is my homeland, that is my homeland.
Hai Ram ke wujood pe Hindustan ko naaz
Ahl-e-watan samajhte hain us ko Imam-e-Hind
India is proud of the existence of Ram,
The people of the nation consider him the Imam of India.
Before 1947, no Muslim would be offended by such verses of Muhammad Iqbal. Today, if a Hindu or a Muslim compares something similar, it immediately triggers a flurry of statements and letters in newspapers. The reason is that incompetent leaders have unnecessarily made Muslims sensitive to such issues. (Nagpur ka Safar, 1994)
