Observer Research Foundation chairman Sudheendra Kulkarni today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take the lead in bringing India, Pakistan and Bangladesh together in a "family reconciliation" for the better future of coming generations.
"The idea of an India-Pakistan confederation was also mooted by Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, the ideological guru of the BJP, and Dr Rammanohar Lohia, the great socialist leader, in 1964. In a recent speech, PM Modi has described Mahatma Gandhi, Deendayal Upadhyaya and Dr Lohia as three Great Indians of the 20th century," Kulkarni said.
"Since all three of them were in favour of a confederation, I urge PM Modi to take the lead in bringing India, Pakistan and Bangladesh together in a family reconciliation, leading ultimately to a family re-union," he said addressing a gathering here at the launch of his book 'August Voices: What they said on 14-15 August 1947'.
He said that the people and governments of our three countries must refuse to live as prisoners of the past.
"We must create a better future for our coming generations. A future of peace, shared progress, eradication of poverty, justice and dignity for every human being in our subcontinent. To do so is our moral responsibility towards humanity," Kulkarni said.
He added, that all three nations have the world's largest number of poor, deprived and divided people with common civilisational ancestry.
"Besides, neither India nor Pakistan nor Bangladesh can develop to their full potential without transitioning from discord to concord, from hostility to cooperation," he said.
Kulkarni said there is no lasting solution, acceptable to India and Pakistan, without some form of a confederal agreement between both nations.
He said that neither the solution to the Kashmir issue, nor the larger idea of a confederation, can move even an inch without Pakistan taking firm measures to eliminate terrorism from its soil.
"Pakistan must rid itself of terrorism and religious extremism for its own survival," he said, adding that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh today have an unprecedented opportunity to move towards economic and infrastructural integration in a big way.
"This can be done by India taking the lead in connecting the BCIM or Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Corridor with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and extending it further to Afghanistan and Iran," he said.
Kulkarni said new trade, business and people-to- people connectivities will create inter-dependence.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
