When Napoleon’s French army inflicted a crushing defeat on the Prussian army in the battle of Jena in 1806 and occupied and subjugated most of German territories, making Germany lie prostrate before the invader and the German people totally bewildered not knowing what to do, the German philosopher Fichte (1762-1814) wondered what could be the cause of such an astonishing calamity.
He discovered that the cause was lack of patriotism in the German people, which in turn was due to ignorance among the Germans about who they were, their culture, their history, etc. and the means of their revival as a great nation.
In a series of ‘Addresses to the German Nation’ delivered in Berlin from December 1807 to March 1808 Fichte explained all this to the German people, thus reviving German patriotic feeling and self confidence, and contributing to the liberation of Germany from foreign occupation and ultimately the unification of Germany which was achieved by Bismarck in 1871.
The Indian Reunification Association (IRA) has the same objective. We do not merely want to undo that historical British swindle called Partition of 1947 and reunite India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, which were one nation since Mughal times sharing the same culture; we also aim at creating a new, prosperous India with its people enjoying a high standard of living and decent lives.
Towards this end, I, as Patron of the IRA, intend to write a series of articles, which I will call ‘Addresses to the Indian Nation’. In these, I will explain what India is, its history, culture, etc and the means of reviving it as a great nation, so that it has an honorable place in the comity of nations, and its people enjoying prosperous lives.
I make it clear that we are advocating a peaceful and voluntary reunification, not a violent one. We intend to spread the idea of reunification, and when it has spread widely in the 3 countries, people will themselves find out ways and means of peacefully implementing it, the way West and East Germany were peacefully reunited in 1990.
This will no doubt take time, maybe 10-15 years, but we are confident of our success. As the great French writer Victor Hugo said ” There is one thing more powerful than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come “.
The idea of Indian reunification is an idea whose time has come. No doubt it will not be implemented immediately or soon. But we are planting a seed which will grow up and bear fruit in 10-15 years.
Some people say that there is too much hatred, so how can we reunite ? My answer is that this hatred is artificially created by certain vested interests. In fact when Indians go to Pakistan they are overwhelmed by the love and affection they receive, and the same happens when Pakistanis come to India. In fact we feel no different from each other.
Others say that much time has elapsed since 1947, and so we cannot reunite now. But West and East Germany were partitioned in 1945, but were reunited peacefully in 1990. So time is immaterial.
When we reunite under a secular government with modern minded leaders we will begin our journey of rapid industrialisation and making India a prosperous developed nation with all its citizens enjoying a high standard of living.