Unity prevents oppression, and the nation which has unity will never ever be under the feet of oppressors. However, people keep judging each other based on creed, colour, caste, etc. There are diversities in the world and in every single nation. Diversities can be of different types, be they traditional, cultural, religious, and so on. Human beings belonging to whatever category are the same, though, which means no one is superior and no one is inferior. So, why should we create hostility with other people? We must accept each other and live together without any hesitation, without judging anyone. We have got five different fingers in our hand. If some fingers are short and some long, shall we cut off the fingers? No! These fingers help us to form a fist and rise against injustice, rise against oppression, and rise against every threat.
Unity in diversity spreads peace and harmony. It brings different people together and creates brotherhood. During my childhood I heard an interesting story, in which a despondent father was fed up with his seven adult sons because there was no harmony among them. They would fight with each other and wound each other. As the time passed by, the father came up with a plan to teach them a lesson. He called all of them under the same roof and gave each boy a stick and ordered them to break it. As expected, they broke the sticks into pieces easily. Subsequently, the father made seven group of sticks, with seven sticks in each group, tied them up and ordered his sons to break them. They were unable to break it because it was much harder than a single stick. He told his sons that if they keep fighting with each other then it will be easy for their enemies to knock them down. Similarly, if we keep enmity, everyone of us will lose, but if we keep unity, everyone will win.
Unity must prevail among diversities so that people can live without fear. Black, white, Hindu, Muslim, these are our differences and because of them, we suffer. I am not saying that it is because of religions that we suffer, but what I’m saying is we constantly try to annoy the people of other religions, which is utterly unacceptable. India has the most diversities but let me tell you, it was because of unity in diversity that India didn’t let Englishmen rule us forever. Citizens from every colour, every religion, and from every category formed a fist and rose against them and drove out the British Empire.
Instead of hating each other, we should live and let live. We are all brothers, all humans. How many boys and girls are not among us because they were forced to commit suicide because of the hostility they faced. They were defamed, their relationships broke because of caste or religion or other differences. In today’s society, these things must be eradicated, only then we can call ourselves civilised and modernised. Diversities add to the beauty of a society, like different vivid flowers decorate a garden, spread aroma. Our nation will shine and become like a garden full of peace thanks to unity in diversity.
There have been several massacres due to lack of unity. A massacre is the deliberate slaughter of a group of people. These massacres do not take place of a sudden but build up bit by bit. When there is massive outrage, riots break out. Such riots between Hindu and Muslim have been happening since the partition. We are in 2022 and still traumatising over the events of partition! But such riots were unimaginable before partition as both religions were living like brothers, there was unity! Nowadays, we see conflicts among religions, castes and communities. Unity is the most beautiful thing but we do not understand its worth. Without unity, it is impossible for humanity to exist. Recently I read a news report in which there were statistics such as:
In 2014, 644 incidents of religious violence took place and resulted in the death of 95 individuals.
In 2015, 751 incidents happened and caused the death of 97 innocent people.
In 2016, 703 incidents and 86 deaths.
In 2017, 822 incidents and 111 deaths.
The report was long, and I couldn’t read it all as it was heart-wrenching. I was unable to do anything, but now I have written something to convey my message.
Why do we fight? Isn’t it an embarrassment for us that we are judging each other. A nation is not a nation when its citizens carry enmity. Unity in diversity must prevail, is all I want to say.

[email protected]

Mahfooz Ahmad Bakshi