Unity In Diversity Must Continue To Bloom In Bharat

While dealing with the enemies of humanity, India should engage itself with the real politics, instead of relying on soft power. Even Lord Krishna taught us that one has to do adharma to save the dharma, should the need arise. We need to cultivate unity, solidarity and mutual respect amongst different communities for ensuring safety of the citizens and territorial integrity of India and also for realising the Vision for Viksit Bharat@2047.

- RAGHAVENDRA P. TIWARI

Human civilizational discourse is privy to multiple instances signifying unity and togetherness of not only humans but of other creatures as well. A well-known English idiom 'birds of a feather flock together' signifies this. The phrase has been originally attributed to the ancient Greek storyteller Aesop, both directly in his fable "The Four Oxen and the Lion" and indirectly in "The Bundle of Sticks". Plato's Republic mentions that "Men of my age flock together". Many other cultures, namely, Russian, Japanese, Swedish, German and Chinese have proverbs having similar intent. The implication of these idioms may mean that people befriend those with whom they can serve common purpose or cherish common values of life. Unity amongst tiny ants and fishes, depicted during their movement, are also excellent examples for humans to emulate.

Similarly, the phrase 'United we stand and divided we fall' finds its reference in the biblical phrase from New Testament translated into English from the historic Greek as "And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand". This implies that every kingdom or house divided against itself cannot withstand the complexities of the prevailing world order. This phrase is extensively used by many politicians in many different contexts, most often to promote unity, collaboration and cooperation. The proverb was also commonly used in India to garner support during freedom struggle, especially by A.C. Majumdar at the 1916 Lucknow session of Congress. The core concept of this proverb lies in the collective notion that if individual members of a certain group with common life values become selfish and work at the cross purposes at the cost of national interest, they are bound to fail as a civilization and will liable to be doomed.