‘Akhand Bharat’

THE BROAD PICTURE

“For ‘Akhand Bharat’ to come into being it has to be conceived as a multicultural, multiracial, multiethnic, multi religious entity centered on the landmass of the Indian subcontinent and the adjoining seas, exercising global influence.” – Col RS Sidhu

Misconceptions & Misapprehensions

There are currently considerable misconceptions and misapprehensions on the concept, feasibility, and way forward on realisation of an Akhand Bharat. Hopefully, as we broach the subject without prejudice or personal bias, most or some of these aspects shall get clearer.

It is indeed unique that an idea which envisions a united India, is derided as an impractical dream, fails most scholastic parameters to bear serious scrutiny, gets berated as a divisive force out to wreck the very nation that it proposes to amalgamate as one entity, should set the alarm bells ringing amongst its internal as well as external detractors.

‘Akhand Bharat’ is not a call to consolidate India as a ‘Hindu Rashtra’. There is no way that India can wish away the presence of thirty million of its citizen not of the ‘Sanatan Dharm’. The strength of India has always been anchored to its ‘diversity of populace with a unity of purpose’.

Nor can ‘Akhand Bharat’ arise through force of arms. India just does not have the strategic might and the geopolitical influence to enforce its sway on the adjacent lands, or the economic wherewithal to stay the course to keep the forcefully incorporated territories chained to it.

Therefore, the idea of ‘Akhand Bharat’ does have daunting proportions. The present has no comparable dimensions with the past. The then geography of the Indian landmass was different, the culture was different, the science was different, even the way of life and the thought process of the people of those times was different.

An Opaque Prism

There are varied intangible and quantifiable elements that shall play a role in the outcome of the journey to realisation of the idea. While the latter can be rationally assessed, more often it is the intangibles that dictate the outcome in volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous (VUCA) geopolitical environment that the world has entered.

The rapid rise and equally swift collapse of Napoleon's France; Nazi Germany; Communist USSR; are catalyst geopolitical events that went unforeseen by geopolitical think tanks. Closer to India, the recent dramatic regime collapse in Bangladesh and Nepal caught the Indian strategic community off balance. The volatility and instability induced by policy flux and transactional approach adopted by POTUS Donald Trump within the US, and globally amongst its friends and foes alike, have made extrapolating geopolitical outcome highly unpredictable.  

In the current potpourri of the Indian polity, it shall be realistic to assume that there shall be millions of dissenting voices within, to the idea of ‘Akhand Bharat’. But if the vision is for the greater good, and pulsates in the beat of a billion hearts, then a democratic polity does proffer ways and means to construct a consensus around it, or at the very least, craft acquiescence to its implementation. 

Yes, we come across as a seriously divided polity, and there are critical quantifiable lacunae which inhibit our resurgence on the global stage. But then India’s adversaries too do not have the luxury of operating at their peak strength.

Our major adversaries, and ‘frenemies’, are currently in a state of geopolitical and geoeconomic overreach, and afflicted with internal divides of a greater magnitude than what India is facing. China’s apex military leadership is in disarray, a silent power struggle in the ruling political elite is in full steam, their energy security is under threat. The US internal polity is deeply fissured with people out in the streets in major cities, their economy is under stress of 123% Debt to GDP ratio, and their external alliances are fractured. In the minor league, Pakistan as a nation is reduced to the status of a supplicant to foreign aid donors, with open rebellion in the outlying provinces. What and who breaks first is the most engaging question?

In such turbulent times the intangible factors, and leadership quotient shall play a defining role. For India, handling the three tangibles of Economy, Military Potential, and China; and the two intangibles of resolute leadership quotient, and change from a pacifist to an assertive mindset, shall be critical in its rise to an ‘Akhand Bharat’.

The Journey Ahead

It shall be a long journey and certainly beyond a generational timeline. History calculates a generational timeline as two decades.  Wholistically speaking, a generation and half to two generations, that is three to four decades, is sensed to be a viable timeframe for fruition of the envisioned ‘Akhand Bharat’. Here, it would be dependent more on how the journey is undertaken by the nationalist leadership.

Power of Narrative

Building a ‘Power of Narrative’ around the vision of ‘Akhand Bharat’ shall be an essential prerequisite to its realisation. The narrative shall progress from the soft zone of ‘Vishwaguru’ (Global Spiritual Leader) and ‘Vasudeva Kutumbakam’ (world is one) and crossover to the realm of hard power of an assertive ‘Akhand Bharat’.

Pax Britannica, White Man’s Burden, Lebensraum, ideological struggle between Communism and Democracy, alongside US Monroe Doctrine, Brezhnev/Primakov Doctrine of USSR/Russia, and the Eleven (erstwhile Nine) Dash Line of China, are relevant examples of ideological narratives floated to establish the global spheres of influence of the dominant global powers.

Pacifism to Assertive Mindset

The first and foremost step towards realising an ‘Akhand Bharat’, shall be overcoming the pacifist mindset that permeates the body politic of India. This frame of mind was fostered by design, by the foreign regimes that ruled over India for centuries.  

It shall involve an intense and sustained national effort to bring about a civil society temperamental change from ‘ahimsa parmo dharam’ to ‘Vir bhogya Vasundhara’. That the current national leadership is seized of the criticality to contrive this change can be sensed from policy measures already being undertaken to speed up the process…

Giving fillip to ‘Nari Shakti’ (Women empowerment) through entry into the armed forces and women gender specific entrepreneurial schemes…

Introducing ‘Agniveer’ (short military service) scheme to permeate civil society with military trained manpower…

Opening up the private sector for ‘Sainya Atamnirbharta’ (military self-reliance) …

Reorienting the national defence architecture through Theatre Command reforms and absorption of new age war fighting technologies…

The success of ‘Operation Sindoor’ highlights the efficacy of the reforms being instituted. There have been shortfalls too, as visible from some of these transformative policies being mired in controversial pitfalls. This fault has to be squarely assigned to lack of vigorous political oversight, and undue haste in bureaucratic policy formulation and execution; a right path in the wrong direction, that shall necessitate an inevitable mid-course correction!

Identifying the Contours of ‘Akhand Bharat’

This is the most contentious space in envisioning an ‘Akhand Bharat’, given the geopolitical realities.

Exploring an innovative hybrid union of geographical sovereignty, economic entity, and cultural fusion shall need to be developed under the overarching umbrella of ‘Akhand Bharat’ security.

However, the aversion of East Asian countries to this idea shall need to be factored, as they were at the receiving end of the enforced participation in the Japan foisted ‘Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere’ during the Second World War period!

Moving Beyond Terrestrial Boundaries

Going beyond the earth to colonise extraterrestrial space, shall have to be integral to the resolve of ‘Akhand Bharat’, for that is where the future boundaries of the powerful nations shall expand. Orchestrating the technological shift to dominate extraterrestrial space shall involve…

Investing in new age technologies to explore and dominate extraterrestrial space… 

Supporting the creation and rise of India’s own supra-national corporations for the race to colonise space…

Legislative intervention to facilitate the creation of Private Military Contractors (PMC)…

Incorporating the Armed Forces in the Journey to ‘Akhand Bharat’

The idea of promoting an ‘Akhand Bharat’ is too precious to be left to political and/or religious ideologues. Such a course is bound to raise infructuous ideological conflicts within the body politic, leading to delay or probable deviations that may dilute the achievement of the desired end state.

The Indian armed forces today are the most effective bastion of a homogenous India; with a pan India, multicultural, multi religious, multiethnic, multilingual profile. 

Even more critical is the trust factor, wherein, they top the trust scale in public thought. Supporting the vision of an ‘Akhand Bharat’ would come naturally to its leadership. Incorporating the armed forces into this movement shall also beget them their lost prominence in the politico-bureaucratic inter-relationship.

Synthesising the Approach

Cross debating the idea in open forums is the best way to broaden the alignment of the citizenry to the vision of an ‘Akhand Bharat’, smoothening   the path for evolving consensus, and identifying measures to overcome infirmities encountered enroute.

“The ‘third rising’ is not fully predicated on the outcome of quantifiable parameters that make or break ‘Great Powers’. While these parameters do matter, the intangible play of the ‘Shaktis’ (Energies) has a powerful role in orchestrating favourable global dynamics!”