Guwahati: The chief minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Thursday that India is a “civilization democracy” rather than a “constitutional democracy.”
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of Lokmanthan 2022, CM Sarma said, “Bharatvarsha is not just a nation-state that came into being in the 19th century, but a living entity. India nurtures one of the oldest civilizations in the world. The sense of Indian identity is not a 19th-century phenomenon when India began to imagine itself as a nation-state. The sense of India is a civilizational continuity of the past several millennia.”
“It is true that the European colonial powers could not succeed in destroying the ancient beliefs and traditions of the indigenous population of India. It was because of the inherent power of Sanatan civilization that remained unbeatable in the face of European powers,” he added.
He stated at the programme for the third biannual colloquium that a key aspect of Indian civilization is that it does not view the nation solely as an inactive political entity.
CM Sarma said, “For us, our nation is akin to our Mother, a vibrant goddess whose every geographical appearance – the landscape-rivers-hills and mountains find a place in the verses and hymns of the Indian scriptures. North East had deeply enriched the great ancient Indian civilisation. Eminent 15th-century Vaishnavite saint Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardev was the first to associate Bharatvarsha with Assam and referred to it as its motherland.”
Sankardeva who lived five centuries ago is credited with the idea of India as our motherland, the Assam CM remarked, quoting prominent literary figure Birinchi Kumar Baruah. Because India offers so many opportunities for the growth of men’s moral and spiritual capabilities, Sankardeva wants the people to be proud of being born there.
Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Assam Governor Prof. Jagdish Mukhi, and CM Sarma were in attendance at the Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra in Guwahati yesterday for the third edition of Lokmanthan.
The Assam CM stated that the drive for punarnirmaan of Bharatvasrha, based on the power acquired from the ancient ethos of India, was led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He said, “This movement is for the resurgence of our country’s 5000-year-old culture and civilization. This movement is for the attainment of rights and dignity for the underprivileged, the fulfilment of dreams of crores of Indians. This movement is also for the establishment of a powerful image of India in the global landscape and emergence of the country as the Biswaguru.”
The Assam CM also upheld the cultural heritage of Northeast India saying that it continues to enrich the great Indian civilization since ancient times.
“Northeast India is blessed with nature’s bounty in abundance. The mystic nature, the legends, the wildlife and varied flora and fauna make it one of the most diverse regions in the world. This region is home to numerous ethnic groups having distinct cultures, languages, traditions, heritage, food habits and lifestyles. This makes the region incredibly vibrant and colourful. Though the people in the region practice different customs, traditions and beliefs, one thing that binds the people together is their common identity as Indian,” he said.
Speaking of the state’s folk culture, he noted that the Assamese people have recently developed a fresh awareness of their folk heritage. Folk culture research is now an established academic field in the state thanks to the foresight and devoted efforts of pioneers like Suryya Kumar Bhuyan, Birinchi Kumar Baruah, Hem Chandra Baruah, and many more.
CM Sarma thanked the organisers for choosing Assam to host the colloquium and wished the event great success.
Meanwhile, Governor of Assam Prof Jagdish Mukhi said, “Our country Bharat has a unique heritage of knowledge sharing, public discourse and intellectual brainstorming. Lok Manthan is the churn of the nation which encourages intellectual discourse to rediscover the cultural and traditional treasures hidden in different parts of our country.”
“The country has been credited to have developed Philosophy and Mathematics, Science and Technology of a very high order. This great nation’s contribution to the march of civilization goes back to several thousand years even before the Christian era. From Vedas to Upanishad down to several institutions and eras, Bharat was respected for its flourishing economy, trade, commerce and culture,” he added.
Prof Mukhi also said, “The Indian freedom struggle, which was inspired by Tilak, Gandhi, Aurobindo, Patel, Bose and others, had a clear vision of the civilization consciousness of our past. These leaders had directed the freedom movement, keeping the Indian ways and thoughts at the centre of their actions. They had the vision to reconstruct the political and economic institutions of India as an outcome of civilizational consciousness, which made India one country one people and one Nation.”
“After achieving independence, the leaders at the helm of affairs seemed to have lost the spirit and the vision, which the freedom movement had evoked. They discarded the vision and adopted the institutional framework of administration created by the British which was quite alien to India’s worldview. It is unfortunate that these leaders could not comprehend India’s inner vitality, which was the main force responsible for India’s survival despite several attacks and prolonged foreign rule. This parasitic view of the leaders during the country’s independence from the British failed to rekindle the spirit of India,” said the Governor.
Lauding the efforts of the present government, he said that efforts have been put to reorient the polity and social system in consonance with those strong points of the Indian psyche to realize the future glory by the CM Sarma led government.
“We have kept the doors and windows open to have a clear understanding of the global scenario and how without destroying our uniqueness we can assimilate the best to regain our lost glory for our mission of Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat,” said Prof Mukhi.