Will India Become a Superpower?

“I am well aware, that I speak of a country containing congeries of races, religions and languages, and I know well the difficulties thereby created but these difficulties can only be overcome by the Indians. We are mindful of the rights of the minority. On the other hand, we cannot allow a minority to place a veto on the advance of majority”

Throughout the years, the colonized inhabitants of a conquered nation have responded to the threat of imperialism by encouraging violence and rebelling against their captors. This behavior is shown when Moulavy Syad Kutb Shah Sahib writes about the Sepoy Mutiny in India and when he states in Document 2 that, “We must unite in their slaughter for by this alone will the lives and faith of us both be saved.” [..] Perhaps the English may try to assure the Hindus that they have consented to give up killing cows from respect for the Hindu religion. But no sensible man will be gulled by such deceit, for the promises of the English are deceitful.” This passage demonstrates how Sahib promotes violence through a letter and encourages the Muslims and

Throughout the years many historians have compilated and examined why Indian people were so desperate to gain back their independence from the British Empire during their rule over India, from 1612 to 1947. The reasoning can most definitely be found as the British discriminated against Indian people as they believe that they were inferior; it is no surprise that Indian people fought so hard for their independence. Throughout the British Raj, they placed and put forward unbelievably racist acts and laws which discriminated against Indian people. Which of course led to Indians to rebel against the British rule and which the British reacted with causing massacres. Explaining the nationalistic many India’s felt during the British Raj.

On the other hand the two-nation ideology stated that Muslims and Hindus in the Indian

Gandhi once said “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” As a civil rights leader, Gandhi understood the true meaning of prejudice and even though he lived decades ago, his words remain true to this day. Starting with events hundreds of years ago, races have been segregated, even though the people here today never experienced those actual events the division between races is still prevalent. Sherman Alexie illustrates a four-century old conflict between whites and Native Americans through both sides. The theme “even after hundreds of years, grudges can be held through generations” is present in the novel Indian Killer by Sherman Alexie, as seen through 1990s Seattle and the conflict of John Smith's thoughts.

Afzal’s death further infuriated the Kashmiri people. Yet again not only were curfews put in place by the police, but violators executed. At this point, the Kasmiri people have been subjected to 20 years of military occupation. Strides had been made – in 2014 India was going to give Kashmir and Jammu back some of their rights by allowing elections. Executing Afzal Guru seemed to reverse all of their efforts.

The ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan has been the subject of speculation and study by political scientists and historians for a number of years. The ethnic conflict seems to have been sparked at the very beginning in 1947, when the British used Muslim and Hindu mercenaries against each other before the area finally split into today’s countries of India and Pakistan (Spiegel et al. 2015, 185). The timeline since then has been full of conflicts, both major and minor. Brutal tactics used by security forces and a high rate of unemployment have added to the issue (BBC News 2016).

This French article discusses the current cultural and religious conflict in India. The author cites various individuals who argue that Muslims are purposely blamed for violence that affects both communities. As well, it stresses that the government is lacking actions in order to resolve the conflict. This article applies to psychology.

Unbeknownst to the masses, information had been controlled by the oligarchy for the sake of “national security” or economic and social cooperation. Although this had been a theme throughout hundreds of dystopian novels, such overarching influence is lamentably applied in societies throughout the world. Historically, nation/states across the globe have manipulated information regarding controversial events to maintain the national identity, of which had facilitated cooperation by creating a common enemy. Throughout history, the majority have made minorities the scapegoats during times of crises and socioeconomic turmoil, validating the injustices performed against them. This strategy of garnering cooperation throughout the masses through prejudice allowed them to survive events such as the Great Depression, World Wars and insidious campaigns all while maintaining morale, but there has been overwhelming evidence that any type of nationalism, despite the intention, is detrimental. Unfortunately, in constituting love for one’s nation through hate, one would need to constantly find a demographic minority to do so. Such has been the case not only throughout the United States’ history but is also present in India’s history where true events have been convoluted and objectivity is nonexistent.

India is no different, the Sepoy Rebellion was one of the main stands the Indians took to defend their beliefs. With the British's complete disregard of Hindu and Muslim practices, Indians broke into outrage when asked to bite off the ammunition cartridge greased with pork and beef fat. How could they not? Their entire belief system itself was being threatened. Although out of this gruesome cultural war Gandhi emerged with a new way of thinking, without violence. With Gandhi’s defiance, a salt taxation was released which gave even more control to the British Raj. Although stopping Gandhi’s way of thinking was helpless and the Indians took yet another stand with the 1930’s Salt March. Though there were some laws that Gandhi could not take a stand too. Some of the government released laws were careless and did not seem to have any purpose but to irk the Indian people. Being treated as second class citizens in their own home is what the people came to know, racist attitude also dominated around the country of India.

On the other hand, India has spent a majority of its history as a colony of England. It was not until 1947 that India became an independent nation state, after a grassroots nationalist movement started by Gandhi, and even then they were a one party congress. They are also an interesting case of democracy because of how many unfavorable aspects towards it they had, such as high inequality, many peasants, and many different languages and religions (Lecture). In 1956, India was broken up into states by the States Reorganization Act, that made state lines based on linguistic group. India’s founding leaders mirrored the ideas of America, in balancing states rights with a central government (Sil, 2014). They have also more recently gone through a liberalization of their economy. India is unique in the way that their social hierarchy is constructed because of the fact that they have a caste system. The caste system is a combination of religious practice and community organization that is a part of Hinduism (Sil, 2014). This system was officially demolished in the country, but in the country it is still very prevalent, and the focus on helping those who were in lower castes succeed has made people more aware of the way they institute social policies.

By 1921, India began a series of cultural, social, and political movements in order to achieve independence from oppressive British rule. During this time, the Indian Nationalist Movement rose to extreme prominence, which demanded non-discriminatory laws, equality, peaceful religious relations, and Indian independence. The most notable leader of the Indian Nationalist Movement was Mahatma Gandhi, who was renowned for his ability to lead peaceful civil protests and enact change among the classes. Gandhi denounced the excessive taxation and social discrimination that was taking place. He led various campaigns that resulted in citizens boycotting British products, schools, offices, and government establishments and formulated a constitution that promoted India's development as an independent nation. By the mid-twentieth century, India was able to gain freedom through a nonviolent exchange of power. According to Worlds Together, World Apart, "India achieved political independence involved without an insurrection....Anti-colonial elites in the Indian National Congress party negotiated a peaceful transfer of power from British rule..." (Tignor 756) However, as the development of a national identity continued, religious and cultural conflicts and divides were drastically intensified between Hindus and Muslims. Disputes over which culture, language, religion, and classes would be

Disputes over land seem to be a catalyst for almost every hostility and war since the dawn of time. The addition of politics and religion into the matter only serves to aggravate an already tense situation. Kashmir knows this all too well. The conflict between Hindus and Muslims seems to be an ever reoccurring battle. This is also evidenced in population battles. Hindus make up the social majority of the population of India by almost eighty percent. Feelings of tension and uneasiness are a natural reaction to being dominated by a majority and are a problem unto itself.

The Partition of India in August, 1947 was a significant event in history that accounted for the separation of one of the world’s oldest civilization into two, independent nations – Pakistan and India. Like many other wars in history, The Partition of India was instigated by religious, political and social conflict. This resulted in violence, discrimination and the largest human displacement in contemporary history. While the Partition was well-studied, much of our understanding was focused on the political side of history, not the human side of it. This was why oral history played an important role in manifesting the complexity of a historical event. Our focus here is Maya Rani’s testimony from Butalia’s book, The Other Side of Silence: