Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | The Speaking Tree | May 3, 2015

On April 25, 2015, Nepal was jolted by a severe earthquake that shook almost the whole Himalayan nation. Nepal alone was not able to cope with this massive natural calamity and its government had to appeal to the world community for help. A natural calamity of this scale is not controllable by humans. However, there are ways to manage it, albeit partially.

I was reminded of one of my old visions in the wake of this calamity. Before Partition, I used to often look at the map of India with great pride and would think: 'My country is like a geographical tiger.' If you see the map of the Indian subcontinent of the pre-Partition period, you will certify my vision. But the Partition shattered my dream. Jinnah was the champion of the cause of Pakistan, but the actual Pakistan he got was not in accordance with his wishes. That is why after Partition, he openly denounced it, saying that it was a truncated Pakistan.

My feeling is the same, although with a difference. Before the Partition, India was larger in size than it is at present. Apart from the Indian mainland, it included Bangladesh, Pakistan and others.

Now it is impossible to turn back the clock, but one thing is still possible, that is, different parts of the Indian subcontinent may politically join with each other as a federation, and again form a great country, at least in some sense.

The United States of America provides one such example. At present the US is not a single state like India; it is a unification of 50 states, which was founded in 1776. This kind of loose federation is also possible for the Indian subcontinent. This unification may be called USI, the United States of India.

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There is a well-known saying, Das lathi ek ka bojh. It means that if 10 lathis are separate, then they are each only one lathi, but when they unite, they have the strength of 10 lathis together.

This saying is also applicable to other fields of life. It is used extensively in business. When many companies join together they become a corporation. In this way, each company performs business at a far greater level. Each company becomes a part of a multinational.

If this is possible in business, then why not in the political field? Problems like natural calamities are certainly unavoidable. It is beyond our capacity to change the course of nature. But, by unification, we can greatly minimise its harmful effects. A federation is a win-win policy, in which no member loses, rather every member gains.

Some people have said that the Nepal earthquake was a Himalayan tragedy. But it is better to give it another title, that is, Himalayan warning. It is a warning in the sense that people of this area should jointly think about this problem and together find a solution to it. The solution in the matter of such natural calamities is not to make such occurrences nonrepeatable. This kind of solution is not possible in case of natural calamities. The only option for us is to try to find out a response that may minimise the loss, rather than eliminate the calamity itself.

A general formula of life: if you cannot avoid greater evil, try to minimise its ill-effects. This formula is also applicable to the Nepal tragedy.