"And yet the latest, and most insidious, threat to India's territorial integrity comes not from the north but from the south. To be precise, Tamil Nadu, a region of some 60 million Tamils, who ostensibly have little in common with their Hindi-speaking northern neighbours." - "The Guardian" (London, England), November 27, 2000.
Excerpts from the Congressman's Speech
Here are relevant excerpts from U.S. Congressman Honorable Edolphus Towns' speech at the United States Congress on October 2, 1998 [Reference: Congressional Record, Page: E1878].
"India is a country made of many nations. It has 18 official languages. While it maintains a democratic form of government, the principles of democracy do not seem to apply where the minority nations are concerned. Tens of thousands of Sikhs, Christian Nagas, Kashmiri Muslims, Dalits, Tamils, Assamese, Manipuris, and others have been murdered by the government, with no apparent difference no matter which party is in power. Currently, there are 17 freedom movements within India's borders.
India's breakup is inevitable. I think I speak for most of us here when I say that I hope it happens in the peaceful way that the Soviet breakup did. Otherwise, there is the risk of another Yugoslavia in South Asia.
It has been American policy to preserve the current artificial stability in South Asia, but let us remember that we pursued a similar policy with regard to the Soviet empire and it collapsed anyway. The best way to preserve stability, democracy, prosperity, freedom, and peace in South Asia is to get on the side of the peaceful, democratic, nonviolent freedom movements in Khalistan, Kashmir, Nagaland, and the other nations living under Indian rule."
What a great, rational speech it is!
DEFINITIONS
Hindian: People whose mother tongue is Hindi; much of Bihar, Chhattisgarh (Chattisgarh), Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, and some surrounding areas in northern India is their homeland. Hindian politicians control and dominate the Indian government because they form the single largest linguistic block in the Indian parliament. See the article "Who Rules India?"
- Introduction
No one needs to explain to the French why France should be an independent nation (independent country), and not part of Germany or Britain or some other country. No one needs to explain to the Germans why Germany should be an independent nation, and not part of France or Poland or some other country. No one needs to explain to the Cambodians why Cambodia should be an independent nation, and not part of Vietnam or Laos or some other country. But, alas, it has become necessary to write in magazine articles and speak in public meetings explaining why Tamil Nadu should be an independent nation (independent country), and not part of India. This is the result of two centuries of history.
- The Myth of India and Indian Unity
The British conquered the various kingdoms in the Indian subcontinent one by one. Then, for ease of administering (ruling) the conquered territories, the British set up an administrative unit called India. A country or administrative unit called India (or by any other name), comprising of the current territories of India, never existed in all known history, before the British conquest and consolidation.
During the British colonial rule, people of the Indian subcontinent (including those areas now in Pakistan and Bangladesh) had a common purpose and agenda, namely, freedom from British colonial rule. Such a one-ness of purpose never before existed amongst the various peoples of the Indian subcontinent. It brought them together. Finally, in the middle of the 20th century (in the middle 1940s), the British decided to end their rule over the subcontinent. The one-ness of purpose that evolved during the freedom struggle against the British held, with the one exception that most of the Muslim-majority regions in the north became a separate nation called Pakistan at the insistence of the Muslims. Much of the rest of the subcontinent became a country called "India".
India, as a country, by any name, never existed before the British colonial rule in all history, in spite of the oft-repeated false propaganda of the long history, one-ness and unity of India.
- Hindian rule Over India
Once the British left in 1947, politicians from the Hindi heartland (Hindian politicians) dominated the Indian Parliament and thus control the Indian Government [Reference 1]. This resulted in not only the imposition of Hindi as the official language on the non-Hindi speaking peoples of the Indian Union but also in the steady draining of economic resources from much of the rest of India into the Hindi heartland by allocating un-proportionately large amounts of central government funds for infrastructure and industrial development in the Hindi heartland. Other indirect means were also used by the Indian Government to benefit the Hindi heartland economically, at the expense of many non-Hindi states [Reference 2].
- Choking the Voices of Freedom
Though the Indian constitution guarantees freedom of speech, political parties are not allowed to speak about freedom from Indian rule. Any party, group or individual who speak in support of freedom from India is not allowed to contest elections. This law was enacted by the Indian parliament (which is dominated by Hindi politicians) soon after electoral gains made in Tamil Nadu by a political party seeking independence from India. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's (DMK's) dramatic success of winning 50 state legislature seats in the 1962 general election on the platform of independence from India scared Hindi politicians. The then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru quickly passed a law banning any party or individual voicing "secession from India" (that is, independence from India) from contesting in elections. Immediately, the DMK dropped its independence demand.
In India, political parties are the prime organizations that have the financial and human resources to raise such issues in public forums, and the 1962 law choked that voice of freedom. For example, until 1962, DMK leaders and cadres thundered from city to city, from town to town and from village to village all through Tamil Nadu the need for independence from Indian rule, and garnered considerable support. The 1962 Indian law put an end to that.
- False Propaganda
While the voices of freedom are thus choked off, the Indian government (controlled and dominated by Hindi politicians irrespective of which party is in power and who the Prime Minister is) uses all its power and resources to tell the people that India is an ancient country with an ancient culture and heritage. Schools books, movies, television, radio and every public forum is used to brainwash the public with this idea. Having thus constantly exposed to the government propaganda, and with the voices of freedom for Tamil Nadu choked off, the majority of Tamil public have bought the Indian government propaganda of "India is an ancient country! We are Indians!" The fact is, as we explained earlier, India was never a country before the British consolidated their conquests in the subcontinent into a single administrative unit called India.
Most Tamils know that they are culturally dominated by Hindians through television and radio. Virtually all Tamils resent and hate Hindi imposition. Some Tamils (not too many) know that Tamil Nadu is economically discriminated in favor of the Hindi heartland. Yet many Tamils do not yet think in terms of an independent Tamil Nadu because the constant Indian government propaganda has embedded in their minds that India is an ancient country; a totally false notion!
Had the fore-mentioned 1962 law been not passed and had the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) continued to use its vast resources and skills in its campaign for freedom for Tamilnadu from India, today most Tamils would be clamoring for an independent Tamil Nadu free from Indian rule.