Being Indian

I don’t know much about politics, but someone suggested this to me the other day and I’d like to get other opinions.

You know how the history books say, and most intellectuals agree that modern India wouldn’t have come about had it not been for the British. That it was their contributions in terms of introducing a universal language and the railways that united people of different tongues from the North to the South. That if it hadn’t been for the British then India would still be small warring kingdoms. Of course they did so for their own ends, but that isn’t relevant to this argument.

Well, with the heritage that each part of India possesses in equal measure, wouldn’t it be just a matter of time before the kingdoms signed treaties, political and economic, realizing that their good lay in peace. And if we were left alone by imperialistic forces for this to have happened, we would probably have something akin to the European Union now.

Would this not have been a better situation? Not just economically, but in the sense that each state then would truly have a cultural identity, a true identity, not one imposed like the national identity that was imposed (I know this is a hard word, but I can’t think of a better one) on the populace after independence, which was of course essential to build the Indian Republic.

And the question then arises of our national identity. Do we really have one? Are we Indian? Or are we Maharashtrian / Tamilian / Sikkimese / Bihari first and then Indian?

Would love considered opinions, no kneejerk reactions please.