BACK TO THE FUTURE BACK TO THE FUTURE
Just about twenty years ago, a fantasy film called “Back to the future” made quite an unexpected hit. Unexpected, because it was what was described as a light-hearted twilight zone fantasy which had nothing to it but seemed to interest audiences world-wide. I did not see it but the title always intrigued me. What could “going back to the future” mean?
Now I am beginning to see some meaning to the tile though not to the theme of the film. And it means something very relevant and very upsetting to our country and people. Anyone who stops to think will realise with horror that we seem to be heading to the future what we had rejected very firmly and resolutely back long ago – in the very first years of our hard-fought and hard-sought freedom.
Against all odds after the partition of our country and its further feared break-up our visionary leaders of that theme resolutely decided that the unity in our diversity would be supreme and the country would be welded as one. The Chief Engineer of this welding assignment was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and he made a grand job of it, with patience, dedication, diplomacy and tremendous drive. There were forces then which were restless and wanted to divide and go their own way but were finally dissuaded and the question of secession from the Indian Union and forming sovereign states was firmly and decisively ruled out. One had thought that that was the end of the matter. The idea of east, west, north and south was dismissed though it seemed to lurk in minds. But such parochial thoughts were laughed away.
And yet today we are faced with the looming dangers of narrow-minded discrimination by region, community, caste and state which are gaining ground. I need not go into details. But can you imagine each state wanting its own national and international identity and representation? Shall we split up like the Soviet Union into warring states and factions?
Shall we in the future instead of pressing forward to new glories and enterprise to a resplendent envied power return to a divided, broken, turbulent land of turmoil? Back to the future? This kind of future?