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What precisely would an Indian circa 1914 mean by "hindustani."?

Would Bangladesh and Pakistan be included in this term . More specifically, the person (JC Bose) I am studying said, "Be an Indian first...Make that part of your religion. Outgrow provincialism. Try to think in terms of the vast continent of India. It is stupid to imagine that one province is better than another; it is worse than folly to think that a man of one province is naturally superior to that of another. In the New India, there will be no Panjabis, no Marhattis, no Bengalis. We are all going to be Hindustanis. Do you understand me clearly?" Would you interpret this to mean that Bose envisaged a single India with both Muslims and Hindus? Thank you.

Update:

Bose was both a physicist and a plant physiologist. He was also a nationalist who performed some Gandhi-like acts of protest. He was an East Bengali Hindu. He died in the late 1930s, I'm an American. I'm just trying to get a feel as to whether Bose would have been pro-partition or anti-partition. Thanks.

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  • dd
    Lv 4
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    i m an indian and i m assuming u r not.. bose was a physicist and i m assuming these words were written around 1947 wen india got independence. he is asking indians to be ONE. india was divided in different provinces(states) and some states were considered better than others ..for example punjab included entire pakistan, and indian state of himachal and current punjab state .. so in other words it was a pretty huge area..with very rich land.. generating a lot of income for the country..obviously people were rich here and considered better than others.. so bose in his journal asks all indians to unite and be a hindustani (hindi term for the word "indian").. india has been called a "continent" coz it was huge at that time...(later parts were given to china, afghanistan..2 new countries emerged out of india- bangladesh and pakistan)

    hope i helped

  • 1 decade ago

    He was right.

    I am from canada and there are provinces. People don't even talk about it. Like ontarians and manitobians. It doesnt make sense. And india should do the same. They are first indians because thats where they live. Then next they are Sikh, Muslims , Hindus or Christians.

    This is my opinion

    Thanks

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