Indira Gandhi; Mother India or Tyrant
Indira Gandhi leaves a divided legacy. To the poor she is a hero. She is Mother India, who helped the underprivileged with her social welfare programs and the mother of the Green Revolution, which helped make India self-sufficient in grain productions. For others she is the architect of the Emergency, a dark period in India’s history when democracy was suppressed and political enemies we put down or jailed. Under her rule India won a war against Pakistan freeing the east, and creating the country of Bangladesh in 1971. But, arguably, Indira Gandhi’s enduring legacy remains, her ability to connect with the poor. As Jawaharlal Nehru’s only child, Indira, …show more content…
No other country on earth combines religion and culture, with modernization, better than India. India is trying to maintain tradition in a rapidly transforming environment. Indians live with one foot in the past, and one in the present. India has experienced rapid change, especially in the seventy years since Independence and Partition. Mixtures of religions and cultures in diverse India, challenge traditional ideals. India has always been a diverse nation. Waves of invasions and regime changes contributed to this diverse socity. India, like America, remains a melting pot, with, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and other religions living in unity. India has at times struggled to maintain this unity in diversity, yet most of the time, India succeeds admirably. Unity, in the case of India, involves more than just unification based on tolerance of cultural, linguistic, social , religious and cultural discrepancies. It is a more complex issue, based upon the premise that understanding and accepting differences between peoples, enhance our interactions as human beings. During its long history, India prevailed as a diverse country, filled with disparate social and cultural elements. The country remains cohesive in character, despite foreign invasions and, amid both the Mughal and British …show more content…
India is tolerant, perhaps because of all of the foreign invasion, not despite them. India recognizes twenty distinct languages and the ten rupee bill has the term ”Ten Rupees” written on it in all fourteen of its officially recognized languages, clearly symbolizing India’s predilection towards embracing it’s differences. 11 Affirming these ideas in a speech given just a few months ago, Swayamsewak Sangh, the chief of Mohan Bhagwat stated that, ” India stands for unity in diversity. Inclusivity is the core of our culture, we stand for unity in diversity. Ethics should change with time but the inherent values should be kept in mind. On the basis of eternal values, social changes are to be made,". 12 These words accurately sum India’s diverse culture. Despite its varied religions and languages, there is only one India. India stands united in its differences, integrating the past and present in the lives of its
Indira Gandhi leaves a divided legacy. To the poor she is a hero. She is Mother India, who helped the underprivileged with her social welfare programs and the mother of the Green Revolution, which helped make India self-sufficient in grain productions. For others she is the architect of the Emergency, a dark period in India’s history when democracy was suppressed and political enemies we put down or jailed. Under her rule India won a war against Pakistan freeing the east, and creating the country of Bangladesh in 1971. But, arguably, Indira Gandhi’s enduring legacy remains, her ability to connect with the poor. As Jawaharlal Nehru’s only child, Indira, …show more content…
No other country on earth combines religion and culture, with modernization, better than India. India is trying to maintain tradition in a rapidly transforming environment. Indians live with one foot in the past, and one in the present. India has experienced rapid change, especially in the seventy years since Independence and Partition. Mixtures of religions and cultures in diverse India, challenge traditional ideals. India has always been a diverse nation. Waves of invasions and regime changes contributed to this diverse socity. India, like America, remains a melting pot, with, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and other religions living in unity. India has at times struggled to maintain this unity in diversity, yet most of the time, India succeeds admirably. Unity, in the case of India, involves more than just unification based on tolerance of cultural, linguistic, social , religious and cultural discrepancies. It is a more complex issue, based upon the premise that understanding and accepting differences between peoples, enhance our interactions as human beings. During its long history, India prevailed as a diverse country, filled with disparate social and cultural elements. The country remains cohesive in character, despite foreign invasions and, amid both the Mughal and British …show more content…
India is tolerant, perhaps because of all of the foreign invasion, not despite them. India recognizes twenty distinct languages and the ten rupee bill has the term ”Ten Rupees” written on it in all fourteen of its officially recognized languages, clearly symbolizing India’s predilection towards embracing it’s differences. 11 Affirming these ideas in a speech given just a few months ago, Swayamsewak Sangh, the chief of Mohan Bhagwat stated that, ” India stands for unity in diversity. Inclusivity is the core of our culture, we stand for unity in diversity. Ethics should change with time but the inherent values should be kept in mind. On the basis of eternal values, social changes are to be made,". 12 These words accurately sum India’s diverse culture. Despite its varied religions and languages, there is only one India. India stands united in its differences, integrating the past and present in the lives of its