Mumbai
Vice President M. Haid Ansari has said that the practical approach to the possibility of a South Asian Union would be to make haste slowly, to be accommodative rather than exclusionary so that negative perceptions are allowed to fade away.
He was addressing the gathering after releasing the book ‘August Voices: What they said on 14-15 August 1947’ authored by Shri Sudheendra Kulkarni, in Mumbai today. The Minister of Education, Government of Maharashtra, Shri Vinod S. Tawde and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.
The happening of 1947 has rightly been describes as a ‘tragedy’ to which the Two Nation theory contributed. The British role, and their anxiety to leave India on terms most advantageous to them, is well known.
Was this sufficient to bring about the division of the country?
Some of the iconic personalities cited in the book, and others not mentioned, played a role in articulating and shaping perceptions for over two decades. Their ‘final’ statements, if such a term can be used for what they said on August 14-15, have therefore to be seen in a wider context of their role in the developments that led to the final decisions.
Even more glaring was the apparent absence, on all sides, of reflection and articulation of the economic implications of the division of what had hitherto been one economic unit for over a century with its own imperatives and socio-economic consequences.
The theme of the book (‘August Voices’ authored by Shri Sudheendra Kulkarni ) before us is to project a scenario of the possibility of a South Asian Union with the India-Pakistan-Bangladesh Confederation at the core. Its underlying assumption is the possibility and desirability of an India-Pakistan Rapprochement.
Our focus is on three nation-states of recent origin, of different sizes and capacities, differing versions of the past, conflicting ideologies and national security perceptions, but sharing geography, ecology and wider human security challenges.
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