Aman ki Asha or Nirasha

On the eve of 1st Jan, 2010, a leading news paper in India (Times of India) and leading news paper in Pakistan (Jang Group) came together and launched a new concept "Aman ki Asha". I remember, 1st Jan's TOI had not any headline on the first page, and instead the big bold letter was showing "Love Pakistan". and then they explained this new concept. At first glance it was looking very weird but the narration was very nice and convincing. On that day, they came up with all kind of statistics, how much % of people in India and Pakistan want peace, how much % of people in India and Pakistan want to stop terrorism and all that. All the figure and graph were showing the green signal and seemed to create an impression that India and Pakistan are just either side of a coin. Sounds good !!!

Since 1st Jan, TOI has dedicated 1/2 pages specifically for Aman ki Asha by posting interviews of big stars, making a publicity of musical events being conducted in several cities by involving indo-pak singers/musicians, posting some historical news and many more. A concept is really good, innovative, convincing, very well executed so far. But my only question is - does it really work?

When all this is happening - different controversies are coming up.

1. On 22nd Jan, Pak PM Mr. Gilani said that "Cant' guarantee peace to India".. he added further... "Pakistan itself is facing Mumbai-like attacks almost on every other day and when we cannot protect our own citizens, how can we guarantee that there won't be any more terrorist hits in India".
2. In IPL 3 auction, all pakistan players have been ignored which created another controversy. And when SRK and Aamir quoted their statements in support of Pakistani players, Shiv Sena today declared them as "2 Idiots".
3. Since long, in Maharashtra, MNS is targeting on North Indians.
4. In Delhi, "If you don't speak Hindi, you are not Indian"
5. Since last couple of months, protesters in AP are demanding a separate state 'Telangana'. And when Manmohan government blinked, very next day, proposals for whopping 9 states have been emerged.

So the point is, we have enough problems within the country itself. We stay in India but we are not Indian from inside. "My State" and "My Caste" are the main root causes which create a big dent on Unity. How long we fight with each other under one roof? Why are we repeating the same mistake which we did a century ago? First of all we need to be a good Indian and then only we can be a good neighbour. This is equally applicable to each Pakistani as well. Once we get a feeling of 'United India', then becoming a good neighbour would be very easy.

According to me, 'Aman ki Asha' should divert their intention and try to make "One United India" first. Each single Indian should feel that the whole country is for every Indian, no matter which state he belongs to, no matter which caste he belongs to, no matter which language he speaks. Mile Sur Mera Tumhara could have been a good step but it was tainted with Bollywoodism.

So what do you think friends? Waiting for your replies.