Neo-nationalism is an ideology that is built on the basic characteristics of classical Nationalism. In other words, l strongly recommend that Neo-nationalism is the successor to classical nationalism. Both ideologies see the nation as one family whose members are inextricably linked based on ethical, racial, genetic, religious or cultural homogeneity and historical association is the primary factor for granting membership to the national family. One constitution, One flag and One premier is the Motto of New Nationalistic INDIA. It’s a long path to build the foundation of this great Nation. Freedom was the zeitgeist of the country before the dawn of 1947. Freedom for India was the meta-narrative that bound the country, which was bubbling with multiple narratives. In those critical moments, Dr Bheem Rao Ramji Ambedkar was the pioneer of the policies of futuristic INDIA.
An iconoclastic, principal architect of the constitution of India, a realistic reformer, an economist, and ultimate Symbiocene thinker about the nation, Dr Bheem Rao Ramji Ambedkar started his career as a social activist but soon became a leader of national stature. At that time, the whole country from Kashmir to Kanyakumari was fighting against British rule, but Ambedkar’s path was different from other freedom fighters. The single agenda of his struggle was to herald a new epoch in trying to educate the masses and make them emerge as the powerful section of the people to fight for their rightful place in the country. Ambedkar’s thoughts were based on only two points: nation and nationals. These two words are the central points of the hypothesis of Ambedkar’s nationalism.
There must be no blaze in anger and anguish. He strongly believed that it’s deplorable to build any nation at the cost of a nation’s self-esteem. The regalia of any child is that he automatically becomes a citizen of a free nation when he opens his eyes. “We, the people of India,” these words are the heart and soul of our Sanatan country, Bhartiyam.
The intellectual work of Dr Ambedkar had been the real voice of the common people, besides the well real intellectual group beyond certain heresies and anecdotes. It is only the consistent and constant struggles of the people of the Indian subcontinent that made them wage a fierce battle against the same. According to Dr Ambedkar’s ideology, “I shall strive for a Constitution which will release India from all thralldom and patronage…. I shall work for an India in which the poorest shall feel that it’s their country in whose making they have an effective voice, an India in which there shall be no high and low class of people, an India in which all communities shall live in perfect harmony.”
Ambedkar elaborated on the idea of nationality and nationalism in his book ‘Pakistan or the Partition of India’. He describes nationality as a “consciousness of kind, awareness of the existence of that tie of kinship” and nationalism as “the desire for a separate national existence for those who are bound by this tie of kinship.”
This is the primary hypothesis of Ambedkar’s nationalism, where harmony and classical diversity of the Indian subcontinent are the heart of the Preamble of the Constitution, which lays stress on equality and fraternity among citizens. This nation is formed by its traditions, cultures, religions and languages. That’s why there’s no place for parochialism.
Three words from the French Revolution — liberty, equality and fraternity greatly influenced Ambedkar. He dreamt of building a new India in which Equality, Liberty must be established at all levels of society. In other words, we can say that it will be a classless society.
Neoclassical poet Rabindranath Tagore also shared the same thoughts about new India: “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, where knowledge is and the where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls, where the world comes from the depth of truth, where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection, where the clear stream of reason has into that heaven of freedom, my father let my country awake.”
He strongly recommended that it was wrong to only concentrate all the attention on political independence and not to talk about significant issues such as social and economic independence. Building a nation has been a positive phenomenon, and it must cover the nation’s overall development. It is true that the ideas of Machiavelli and Hobbs influenced the approach to nation-building in the late 20th century. That was the first time Babasaheb Ambedkar strongly established the state building for direct participation and role in formulating certain development policies and planning. After independence, one organisation in India that has embraced Dr Ambedkar’s nationalism ideology consistently since the 1930s till date is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The basis of RSS is the same, Indians first; their other identities came later.
Bhimrao Ambedkar’s “tireless efforts” towards ensuring excluded groups were politically and socially empowered made him a “pioneer” in the world, and his vision of equality and social justice echoes the ambitions of the UN’s 2030 development agenda in the keynote address at a special event organised at the UN headquarters by India’s
Permanent Mission to the UN on the occasion of Ambedkar’s 127th Birth Anniversary, UN Development Programme Administrator Achim Steiner said sustainable development was at the core of Ambedkar’s “egalitarian ethos”. He understood that rising and persistent inequalities pose fundamental challenges to the economic and social well-being of nations and people. His tireless efforts to ensure that excluded groups were politically and socially empowered, that workers were fairly treated and that every person had access to education made him a pioneer in India and in other countries.
Dr Ambedkar’s vision underpins the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. “Equality of opportunity is at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” said India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin. As a crusader against all forms of prejudicial treatment of people based on their identity, Ambedkar ensured that “India’s Constitution acknowledges the longstanding social injustices of the past and provides for measures of affirmative action to facilitate access to opportunities for disadvantaged sections of Indian society.”
India as a nation is proudly celebrating Babasaheb Ambedkar as a heroic individual, an apostle of great virtues and one of the leading nationalists. The basic approach of today’s Neo Nationalist government of India is the same. All Indian nationals who belong to India and worldwide are the true followers of Ambedkar’s vision. Their sincere and collective efforts in the direction of nation formation would be a true honour and commemoration for Dr B. R. Ambedkar.
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