A clarion call to the nation

Mahatma Gandhi said, 'Unity to be real must stand the severest strain without breaking'. Mahatma Gandhi exhorted the people of India on the importance of unity during the movement for the independence and uniting them and leading them to freedom. Today our country is facing yet another unprecedented calamity of great proportion on account of the devastating impact of the diabolic pandemic COVID-19 and its dangerous variant causing unbearable misery and overwhelming human loss and affecting the economy of our nation.  At this hour of persisting agony what is required of our nation is the unqualified support and unquenching solidarity of the citizens particularly the political class to unitedly fight the challenges in unison faced by our motherland because of the unparalleled effect of the variant Covid-19.  

Our heads should hang in shame to see how we are separated in our interest and divided in our purpose instead of standing together until the end of achieving our objective of winning the war against the draconian viral attack. 'Unity without verity is no better than conspiracy' and that is precisely happening in India. In this connection what Winston Churchill, the then Prime Minister of Great Britain who resisted the onslaught of the mighty German war machinery during II world war and led the British Empire of that time to victory is worth recalling in the present catastrophic situation prevailing in our country now when he said, 'When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you'.  Can we say the same about our country now?

Is it not true that 'We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided'? Let us remind ourselves what an unknown author said, 'When spiders unite, they can tie down a lion' and remember that upon the conduct of each citizen of our country depends the fate of all and the nation. Don't we remember the fable that we studied during our school days about an old man and his quarrelling sons and how he taught his sons the value and moral of 'united we stand and divided we fall' when after he experimented with the bundle of sticks told his sons, 'Dear sons, See! You could easily break the single sticks into pieces, but you were not able to break the bundle! So, if you stay united, nobody can do any harm to you. If you quarrel every time with your brothers, anyone can easily defeat you. I request you to stay united.' Is not our nation's history also teach us?

'Unity is strength.....when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved'. Let us all introspect ourselves and ask our conscience particularly the political class, if any conscience is left in them, about our own actions and how it is affecting our nation because unity will elude us if we ignore the realities that have to be faced by us. Only the TEAM WORK can save this heritage nation and what is the A to Z of the TEAM WORK as stated by an unknown author?

• 'Acting as one.
• Believing in each other
• Committing to excellence.
• Doing whatever it takes.
• Embracing a common vision.
• Fostering group intelligence.
• Giving the benefit of doubt.
• Harnessing the power of many.
• Inspiring cooperation, not competition.
• Juggling skills and talents.
• Kindling collaborative genius.
• Looking out for each other.
• More 'we' and less ‘me' thinking.
• Not minding who gets the credit.
• Overcoming obstacles together.
• Putting principles before personalities.
• Quickly resolving differences.
• Recognizing each other's strengths.
• Sharing the work load.
• Treating each other with respect.
• Utilizing everyone's skills.
• Valuing everybody's input.
• Working side by side.
• Xepting exceptional results.
• Yearning to succeed together.
• Zestfully making a difference'.

Friends, Indians and Countrymen, let us all stop the blame game and work unitedly and in unison throwing away our differences to fight the powerful onslaught of the diabolic pandemic Covid variant with the clarion call of Swami Vivekananda, 'Arise, Awake and Stop Not till The Goal is reached.'

JAI HIND.