Abraham Lincoln’s “Presidential Timeline” was parallel to American Civil War. From 1861 to 1865, almost all of Lincoln’s tenure was wrought with war.
What was this Civil War? It was a conflict between American Mainland and Negroes of South. Mississippi, Texas, Tenesse, Virginia, these and more Southern states wanted an autonomous confederate for themselves. It wasn’t without a reason. Blacks were being exploited and how. Racism was raging. Slave trade was in full swing. Minorities were manipulated and humiliated by Majority, while the majoritiy people themselves were not native American. They were offspring of Colonial powers, who had reduced the native Indians to the margin.
The Negroes wanted separation but Lincoln was defiant.
He led America through the Civil War and kept the American Union intact. The Appeasement of Blacks was done through 13th amendment which abolished slavery. The legacy of Lincon as an astute statesman and a humanitarian legend was thus secured.
Though historians are not sure if Lincoln’s 13th amendment was driven by humanitarian spirit. They argue that Lincoln was more keen to break the financial spine of Confederates by abolishing slavery. Just like, back in India, historians have been debating whether Asoka’s policy of Dhamma was a result of his compassion or was it politically motivated since Buddhists had grown in large numbers in then India.
However, Lincon never allowed America to break apart, despite the fact that historically White Americans were guilty in front of separatist Blacks.
Now, this was absolutely mirror image situation to what was happening in India. Jawaharlal Nehru had the same “tryst with destiny” moment, when the fate of India and Indian subcontinent was in his hands. To be fair, India didn’t even had any such historical beggage of historical guilt. Contrary, those who were asking for a separate state in 1947, they themselves were the aggresser and attacker, not the other way round.
If Lincoln could find a way in Civil War to keep the American Union intact, then Nehru too could easily have found a way to keep Indian Union intact. And yet, he not only failed to save India from a dreadful partition on religious grounds, he even allowed the geo-political narratives go out of his hands in Kashmir and could not manage to get a common civil code for secular India. This infuriated Hindus beyond limits and gave way to radical Hindu nationalism.
Lincoln had proved to be an astute politician while Nehru was a spectacular failure by all means. Its not without a reason that many contemporary problems of India find their advent in the life and times of Jawaharlal Nehru.
