Hind Desh Ke Nivasi Sabhi Jan Ek Hain: A Song That Teaches India the Power of Unity
- The Song That Shaped My Belief in India’s Unity
- 1967: A Village School, Barefoot Children, and a Patriotic Morning
- Without Unity, India Cannot Defeat Poverty and Unemployment
- How Politics Thrives on Caste and Religious Polarisation
- What India Must Learn from China and the United States
Justice Katju reflects on the song Hind Desh Ke Nivasi Sabhi Jan Ek Hain and explains why India’s future depends on unity and collective struggle.
Hind desh ke niwasi sabhi jan ek hain
By Justice Markandey Katju
The song 'Hind desh ke niwasi sabhi jan ek hain' is so dear to me, and so close to me heart that I often hear and sing it, and have often used it in articles I have written, emphasising the importance of unity among all Indians if we wish to become a prosperous country.
It portrays in music a core belief of mine: India can never rise as a mighty industrial giant, like China, become a prosperous country, like America, and abolish the great socio-economic evils which have plagued us for centuries-- abject and widespread poverty, massive unemployment, appalling level of child malnutrition ( every second child in India is malnourished, according to Global Hunger Index ), almost total lack of proper healthcare and good education for our masses, skyrocketing prices of essential commodities, etc unless we are united.
My association with this song has its own history
The first time I heard it was in a school in the village Jamunipur, district Allahabad, where I had gone as a school teacher, after getting an LL.B. degree from Allahabad University in 1967.
My father was keen that after getting my law degree, I appear in the IAS examination or join the bar in Allahabad High Court, where he, his brothers and father ( Dr KN Katju, Union Home Minister in Nehru's Cabinet, Governor of West Bengal and Odisha, and Chief Minister of MP ) had practised. But I had different ideas. I had lived in Allahabad city only, and had no idea about the rural areas, where maybe 80% Indians lived. So I decided to go to a village and live there as a school teacher.
The school was then run in 'kuccha' huts, with no electricity or water connection. There was no 'pucca' road leading upto the school, and I came there from the Hanumanganj railway station, 3 miles away, on an ecca.
Every morning when the teachers and schoolboys assembled ( there were no girls in the school then ) we sang the above song.
I had never heard it before, but it so thrilled me instinctively that it has since then become sacred to me, and is part of my core philosophy.
Our national aim must be to make India into a prosperous country by transforming it from a backward country into a modern industrial giant, like China or the USA. Without such transformation, we will never be able to abolish our massive poverty, unemployment, hunger, etc
But that is possible only if we unite and launch a powerful united people's struggle, which will be protracted, and in which great sacrifices will have to be made, led by patriotic, selfless, modern minded leaders, culminating in a historical people's revolution, after which a political and social order will be set up under which there will be rapid industrialization, and steady rise in the standard of living of the people.
India has tremendous diversity--numerous religions, castes, languages, ethnic groups, etc. The enemies of our country, internal and external, seek to divide us by polarising our society on the basis of caste, religion, language, race, etc., to get votes
It is the duty of all patriots to combat this sinister and nefarious design, and keep our people united, despite their diversity.
The spirit of the above song, which I first heard in an obscure village school, sung enthusiastically by poor village boys, many wearing shabby, ragged clothes and barefeet, shows the correct path to the whole nation.
(Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman of the Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own.)
