Akhand Bharat / Undivided India
Akhand Bharat is an irredentist word actually meaning Undivided Indi. Akhand Bharat is a decades-old, right-wing fantasy that imagines an ethnic Hindu nation in the subcontinent snf beyond. The RSS chief (RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat) said that according to astrology from the side of the saints, in 20 to 25 years, India will again become a united India. If we all together increase the speed of this work, then in 10 to 15 years India will become Akhand Bharat... There is no one to stop it, whoever comes in its way will be destroyed. The statement of the Sangh chief is not the statement of any isolated leader. He is the head of the ideologue of the ruling party of India (BJP). The institution whose campaigner has been Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself. In such a situation, it is important to know that what is Akhand Bharat of the Sangh chief.
The idea of Akhand Bharat was challenged by the partition of India in 1947, which led to the creation of two separate nations, India and Pakistan. The partition was marked by widespread violence and displacement, with millions of people forced to leave their homes and communities. The trauma of partition continues to affect the region to this day, and many argue that the idea of Akhand Bharat is no longer feasible or desirable in the face of the complex geopolitical realities of the region.
The India that is today used to be much bigger in ancient times, that is, the boundaries of India which are there today, used to be something else in ancient times, the area of India used to be much more than today. But with the passage of time, due to many reasons, India got divided and today Bharat Mata has become divided.
The concept of Akhand Bharat remains popular among some sections of Indian society, particularly among Hindu nationalists. Advocates of Akhand Bharat argue that a unified subcontinent would be able to better promote Hindu cultural and religious values, and that the partition of India was a historical injustice that needs to be rectified. However, opponents argue that such a vision is exclusionary and ignores the diverse cultures and identities that exist within the region, and that it would be impossible to achieve without further violence and bloodshed.
Akhand Bharat simply means that whatever countries used to be a part of India in ancient times and which have become separate countries today, if they are included in India again, then India will become unbroken again. Hinduist organizations like RSS, Hindu Vahini, Vishwa Hindu Parishad etc. have always organized events to create a united India and to make the public aware of it. So that people can know that ancient India used to be much bigger than today's India and efforts to divide the country in future may not be successful; Is. Earlier the entire Hindu religion used to rule on Jambu Island (ancient India).
Akhand Bharat of RSS is not only Pakistan, Bangladesh but also Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam. It is based on Hindu culture.
- Afghanistan: Buddhism in Afghanistan came before Islam in this country and before Buddhism there was Hinduism here.
- Sindh, Pakistan: After the end of the rule of Hindu Ruler Dahir (679 AD), Islamic rule was born here
- Punjab and Multan: King Jaipal lost to Mehmood Ghaznavi in ??1001 and Anandpal in 1009.
- Balochistan: Balochistan has been a part of Gandhar Janapada, one of the 16 Maha-Janpadas of India. In 321 BC it came under the empire of Chandragupta Maurya.
- Nepal: Apart from India, Nepal is also a country where Hindu population is in majority... This is the birthplace of Mother Sita...
- Bhutan: Bhutan (Bhutan) has also been a part of Videhi Janapada under Indian Mahajanapadas.
- Tibet : First Hindu, then later Buddhism was propagated in Tibet.
- Myanmar : Myanmar used to be Brahmadesh once. In ancient times it was a colony of India.
- Sri Lanka: Till 2350 years ago, the population of Sri Lanka used to follow Vedic religion.
- Malaysia: Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia used to be districts of the Malay Peninsula of ancient India.
- Singapore: The presence of Hinduism (Hinduism History of Singapore) is still visible in the roots of Singapore. Till 1930, the words of Sanskrit were included in the language here. It is said that it became Singapore by corruption of the city of Singh.
- Thailand: The ancient name of Thailand is Shyamdesh. Ancient rare idols of Hindu deities are still present here.
- Philippines
- Indonesia: Hinduism existed in Indonesia till 7th, 8th century.
- Cambodia: The world's largest Hindu temple is right here in Angkor Wat... It was first a Hindu nation, then became Buddhist...
- Vietnam: History of Vietnam is more than 2700 years old. The old name of Vietnam was Champa. The great Hindu kingdom of Champa came to an end in 1825.
RSS was born in 1925 but the first voice of the principle of Akhand Bharat was heard after independence. In a press conference in Delhi on 24 August 1949, MS Golwalkar said – Pakistan is an uncertain state. As far as possible we should try to unite both the countries. No one is happy with the split. On 17 August 1965, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (today's BJP) passed a resolution in Delhi in which it was said.
The tradition and nationalism of India is not against any religion. Modern Islam is not an obstacle in the way of the Indian nation. The real obstacle is separatist politics. Muslims will associate themselves with the national life and Akhand Bharat will be a reality one day. As soon as we remove (separatist politics), we will integrate India-Pakistan.
Suruchi Prakashan, associated with the Sangh, published a map named Punyabhumi Bharat. In this map, Afghanistan was described as "Upganathan", Kabul as Kumbh Nagar, Peshawar as Purushapur Multan as Mulasthan, Tibet as Trivishthap and Sri Lanka as Singhal Island, Myanmar as Brahmadesh.
Sangh leader himself and former BJP in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir, Ram Madhav had said in an interview to Aljazeera channel that "RSS still believes that one day all these parts which have been separated for the last 60 years due to historical reasons will unite with the popular sentiment and a united India will be formed.
"In the principle of union, it has been generally talked about the creation of a united India by joining 8 countries, while in many places this number appears up to 13 countries. What is in the mind of the mother organization of BJP, it is well known, but how will the background of Mann Ki Baat be prepared, this is also a big question...
"The map shown by RSS for Akhand Bharat is of ancient times, and now we are in 21st century, when boundaries have changed, new nations have emerged, erasing thousands of years old lines and drawing new lines does not seem practical Is. Yes... It can definitely be beneficial in politics.""
A major controversy broke out in June 2023 in Nepal over the mural of the Indian subcontinental landmass in the newly inaugurated Parliament building. The mural has been interpreted as a map of Akhand Bharat or undivided India, which has drawn angry responses from Nepali political leaders across party lines. The mural depicts Nepal’s ancient sites such as Lumbini – the birthplace of Lord Buddha – and Kapilvastu as part of the “Greater India” map. The mural shows Lumbini, the birthplace of Gautama Buddha, suggesting India’s claims over the region. Nepal considers Lumbini as one of the major cultural centres on the Nepalese map.
“The controversial mural of ‘Akhand Bharat’ in the recently inaugurated new Parliament building of India may stoke unnecessary and harmful diplomatic row in the neighborhood including Nepal. It has the potential of further aggravating the trust deficit already vitiating the bilateral relations between most of the immediate neighbours of India,” former Nepali Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai said in a statement.
“If a country like India that sees itself as an ancient and strong country and as a model of democracy puts Nepali territories in its map and hangs the map in parliament, it cannot be called fair,” Nepal’s former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was quoted as saying in The Kathmandu Post newspaper. Oli asked the Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who visited India last week, to “ask [the Indian government] to remove the mural” and “correct that mistake.”
Pakistan also expressed ” grave” concerns over the idea of Akhand Bharat being increasingly peddled by India’s ruling dispensation. At a weekly news briefing in Islamabad, Pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said the assertion in the map was “a manifestation of an expansionist mindset that seeks to subjugate the ideology and culture not only of India’s neighbours but also its religious minorities”.
The Bangladeshi embassy in the Indian capital has been instructed to contact India’s foreign ministry to get India’s official explanation on the matter, Bangladesh’s junior minister for foreign affairs, Shahriar Alam, told reporters in Dhaka. “Anger is being expressed from various quarters over the map. There is no reason to doubt … the installation of the map. However, we have asked our mission in New Delhi to speak to the Indian ministry of external affairs to find out what their official interpretation is,” Alam said.
India’s foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a media briefing the mural depicts the spread of the ancient Mauryan Empire and “the idea of responsible and people-oriented governance that [King Ashoka] adopted and propagated”.
The idea of Akhand Bharat remains a highly contested and complex issue, with supporters and opponents both presenting compelling arguments. While the concept of a unified subcontinent has deep roots in Indian history and mythology, the trauma of partition and the realities of contemporary geopolitics make it a challenging proposition.
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