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dated October 4, 1953: India Must be a United Whole

Editorial excerpts: At the inauguration of Andhra, the Prime Minister referred to the importance of the unity of India and the common citizenship that the peoples of India enjoy under the flag of an independent federal Republic. Mr. Nehru said this country lost its freedom because of internal divisions, and won it back only because it presented a united front to the British rulers. Separatist forces had revived after independence. "I have felt," said Mr. Nehru, "that we have to grow the heart of India much more, so that it may become a living, throbbing conception of unity for us in the relative values that we attach in our minds to our city, our district, our province, or State." The relative values no doubt remain and no man can be blamed for seeing things from the angle of the region where he was born and bred, but the nation comes first, because without the strength of the whole, the parts become helpless. In ancient times, there were many independent kingdoms in India which had long and glorious traditions and cultures of their own. But history also recounts the story of their rivalries and the cycle of internecine conflict that ruined India and made her an easy prey for the foreigner. It is up to us, as Mr. Nehru pointed out, to see that the spirit of our nationalism is not narrow or exclusive and that we welcome foreign influences and ideas that do not threaten our freedom. It would be wrong for us to seek to isolate ourselves from the world merely because we are a large country. Other large countries like America, Russia, and China, also composed of many different racial elements and minority groups, have developed their resources and increased their power and wealth, because they have maintained a central unity.

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