Actually our identity is quite secure. Our identity is based on the hymns of the Rig Veda, and stems from the common heritage shared with the Iranians before the people split. This is a heritage which we protected through 3,500 years, with no breaks. Our heritage is the efflorescent literature and culture of the Sangam era, which encapsulated hundreds of years of previous cultured existence, as famed traders and merchants. Our heritage is of the rich literature and profound philosophy of the Upanishads, which rocked the western world, not indirectly, but directly. Our heritage is the sublime thought of the Buddha, and of Mahavira, who within a short span of each other, outlined religious directions that are followed by millions today. Our heritage is the Mauryan Empire, and the architecture of Sanchi and Bharhut, the sculpture of Gandharva and of Mathura. Our heritage is of a glittering galaxy of authors, poets and playwrights, kings and the nobility among them, as well as those humble of station who were raised for their talent, who still delight the world in translation, and of collections of stories and fables which between them formed the cultural background of the western world.
It goes on and on, an unbroken chain, with each link intelligible to the next, a heritage that is ours in the original high languages and in literally dozens arising from them, so that a Tamilian today can delight in the Silappadikaram as much as contemporaries of its princely author could. The landscape is profusely endowed with the temples and public buildings that this heritage built, all but the landscape now occupied by your unfortunate state, that has spent its time in destroying, not preserving. We have our heritage, since we embraced it. When the Turks came in, their monuments were built not by other Turks, but by Indians, and it is therefore ours: our sweat, blood and toil went into the Adhai Din Ka Jhopra, the Qutb Minar, into Tughlaqabad, into Agra, into Jaunpur, into Allahabad, into Lucknow, into Ahmedabad, into Bijapur, Golconda, Berar, Hyderabad, Ahmadnagar...where should I stop?
The answer is that I need not. We inherited it, proudly, including all, excluding none, and we continue to build. No quest for identity for us, for we know, and move ahead secure.
Have you ever seen among Indians the heated controversies about 'our' identity that we see among you?