In the summer of 1993 the journal Foreign Affairs published an article by Harvard Professor Samuel P. Huntington titled” The Clash of Civilizations”. That article, according to the Foreign Affairs editors, stirred up more discussion in the three years than any other article they had published since the 1940s.

The article successfully shifts the discussion of the post-cold-war world from ideology, ethnicity, politics, and economics to culture–and especially to the religious basis of culture, a subject generally ignored in contemporary political science.

Huntington talked about the increasing threat of violence arising from renewed conflicts between countries and cultures that base their traditions on religious faith and dogma.

This theory has enormous implication for India.

Partition was a grim reality. The two nation theory was successful and geographical borders of India were decided on the basis of religious bias.

Even after decades of partition local politics in India is easily swayed on the basis of religious differences. Politicians have successfully developed vote banks along religious lines.

Unable to implement the uniform civil code is our single biggest failure. Also continuation of policy of special status for the J&K state prevents the state from integrating into the country.

India is unable to take strong measures on Pakistan just because it will affect the local Muslims. Inspite of repeated provocations from Pakistan we are unable to come up with a single strategy. Even simple steps such as cutting off trade relations & stopping of issuing of visas are not being implemented.

The UPA government is pulling all stops to consolidate the minority votes before the next general election. It is crossing all limits in minority appeasement and is disregarding the constitution feature that ensures equality to all citizens.

Professor Huntington, who passed away in the US on Dec 24, must have gone to his grave a contented man. His theory has survived the test of time and is very relevant to the peace & stability of Indian subcontinent. Fundamentalist Islam will be the primary source of conflict in most parts of the sub continent.

In India, we seem determined to prove him right since as a nation we are more divided on religious basis now than ever before. And it will only end up weakening India as a nation state.