By Divesh Ranjan
From honour killings to political manipulation, rigid identities divide society. Embracing inclusiveness and broader identities can ensure peace, unity, and progress.
An individual carries several identities, such as their name, birthplace, family, state, citizenship, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, caste, education, and job. These identities help us feel connected. They motivate us to feel proud, celebrate achievements, and aspire for progress. However, these identities can spark clashes, group conflicts, societal unrest, ethnic violence, and even religious wars. The bloodshed caused by identity-based conflicts has existed for centuries, perhaps since the inception of Homo sapiens.
As humanity became wiser, our identity expanded as well. We began to feel a sense of shared belonging, an attraction to inclusivity, and societies based on these principles began to evolve ahead in the world. Through various religious and spiritual traditions, it appears that various paths ultimately point towards the same truth: “We are One.” Though we possess different identities, biologically we are built on the same pattern. With a broader mindset, unity in diversity, and inclusiveness, we can transform into a prosperous society. However, history also shows that society can be divided, and people can be ruled by encouraging differences in identity. From ancient rulers to the British to contemporary politics, divisive strategies of “divide and rule” have often been based on this approach.
The role of diversity in shaping personality is exemplified by astronaut Sunita Williams. When asked what shaped her personality and helped her achieve success, she replied that she was raised in a multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-linguistic, and diverse environment from childhood. This shaped her broad outlook. Scientists think broadly and shape the future because they recognize a universal identity beyond individual differences. As Indians, we must feel proud of our vast diversity, especially in Meghalaya, which has multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious, multi linguistic, food traditions, flora, and fauna. This richness makes the state uniquely cosmopolitan and attractive to the world. Unfortunately, many still cling so tightly to identity that they fail to see how it becomes a root cause of many crimes, especially honour killings, and how it is often exploited by power players to suppress and divide people.
We keep our identities so rigid in our minds that anyone cunning can easily manipulate and divide us further into sub-identities. This is evident in the voting pattern found all over India, where it often determined by caste, sub-caste, and religious affiliations. Even in a state like Meghalaya, where the religious majority is dominant, voting patterns can tilt towards sub-religious lines. We become so vulnerable through these identities that politics can easily divide society by raising issues around them.
In one instance from another state, I witnessed a riot-like tension erupt from what was originally just a minor clash between two individuals, one riding a motorbike and another driving an auto. The auto hit the bike, leading to a verbal dispute and then a fight. This was simply a conflict between two individuals. It could have remained an individual matter. But because they belonged to different religions, the incident quickly escalated. Gossip carried their religious identities into the dispute, and soon tension spread across communities. Such situations could have been handled by limiting the matter to the individuals involved, with police and courts doing their duty. Yet, someone always seems to fan the flames, allowing an individual dispute to disturb societal peace.
There are often vested interests that introduce identity into such conflicts to gain political advantage. Fear leads to polarization, and polarization benefits only those who profit from division. Meanwhile, common people struggle simply to live peacefully with their families. Until we move beyond these misleading concepts of identity, our society cannot evolve like a truly developed one. This is where the role of social reformers and statesmen becomes critical, yet such leadership is rare.
The recent Garo Hills incident could also have been limited to an individual dispute. Instead, it risks being turned into ethnic tension. This is, in essence, a problem for the police, the judiciary, and the government. People must keep patience and trust the administration to do its duty. The West Garo Hills Superintendent of Police was quick to act, taking suo-moto cognizance, referring the poster to forensic analysis, and pointing out the possibility of a planned effort to create a disturbance in the maintenance of law and order. A public notice was also put out, calling for peace and harmony. If any groups or individuals begin taking the law into their own hands out of fear, it only worsens the situation. Pressure groups have public trust, and therefore, it is also their responsibility to support peace and social cohesion, not spread fear.
The recent ISIS poster may have been placed with vested interests, possibly to disturb social tranquility before the GHADC election. It could also be an attempt to create panic or blame the government for any future unrest. At first sight, the poster appears to be a rough draft using an ISIS logo. This leads to one very important question: why would ISIS, with its international agenda, all of a sudden take notice of a small, economically poor region? Such naming and propaganda through posters has become a global phenomenon and is not entirely new. The police and the administration are on the job, but the larger question is: are we so vulnerable that a poster in one place is enough to disturb our peace and harmony? Is our social fabric so easily disturbed? Even if there is a threat, the people must trust the police and the administration. This should not become a cause for public panic, but for investigation and legal action.Election time is always a tense period in India. It may be propaganda, but who benefits from it? It does not help the ruling party politically. In fact, extreme polarization may weaken the government, making it responsible for any deficiency in law and order. Therefore, the situation has to be controlled, and that should happen immediately and effectively. The government must make sure that the perpetrators are caught and that justice is served. Leaders and social workers must come forward to maintain harmony. Until forensic results are out assuming a genuine ISIS threat may itself become a delusion driven by identity-based fear. Until we adopt broader identities and inclusive thinking, society will continue to suffer from such deep divisions. Individuals and communities must think beyond the illusion and delusion of identity for a prosperous, peaceful, cohesive, and progressive society.
(The Author is a Scholar, Thinker and Columnist at The Shillong Times).
