|Lure
How India as a multicultural entity managed to form and survive for so many years indeed baffles historians, social scientists today as they did hundred years ago. While the idea of a nation in late 19th century and the beginning of the 20th essentially rested upon identifying oneself with a shared language, religion and territory and it was not unusual to believe that India was an unnatural nation to them and it was merely a level of convenience,"a name which we give to a great region including a multitude of different counties."(Sir John Strachey).
Now, just like Strachey and many other sceptics like Rudyard Kipling your fundamental idea of a nation too is built up on a similar sort of notion where language (or religion in specifically two cases) and ethnics primarily forms the basic structure of a nation state.
But how this unique idea of an unnatural nation got its shape and managed to survive? The answer lies in the events that brought a fresh air to breath in Indian politics when in 1885, Indian national congress was formed by a set of Irishmen and Indian intellectuals. Disputing the contemporary notion that India was a mere replica of Europe in the East, this body of politically conscious minds wished to unite Indians across the divisions of culture, language, region or religious faiths. Though this party, in the consequent years of Independence lost its vigour and appeal to the Indians, its national philosophy quickly became the binding principle of the country. Even though the British left in 1947, that binding principle still remains to a considerable extent among the people.
I am afraid your assertion that with growing literacy rate and urbanization it is necessary to find an enemy is plain wrong if not completely silly. No body or country has to play an antagonistic role to unite the urban elite or the rural proletariat.
The fear of an endangering external threat does not unite the diversified peoples of India, but its constitution does. The federal structure of Indian constitution with equal treatment of its subjects irrespective of its religion, language or ethnicity by far and large is the sole contributor to consolidate the country. While I agree that there are still debates if Muslims can really fit themselves into the idea of India where Hindus are of an overwhelming majority, your notion that Muslims will feel marginalized with every seed of anti-Pakistan hatred is completely unfounded. Though there are pockets of Muslim community who does not feel it necessary to identify themselves with the broader idea of Indianess, overall the community fared much better than any other minority community in South Asia in respect of coexistence in a pluralistic society. Freedom of press, a considerably skilled and unbiased election mechanism, strong independent judiciary and participative democracy that all have done the trick, not any kind of hatred or antagonism against any country.
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