EkDeshEkHum: Campaign Urges Indians to Put Nation and Unity First

This apolitical campaign aims to put unity back into the national discourse.

Campaign aims to put ‘Unity in Diversity’ back into the national discourse.

(Photo; Youtube/Ek Desh Ek Hum)

Indians are tweeting out #EkDeshEkHum with their message for unity.

‘Ek Desh, Ek Hum’, a campaign initiated in public service, has put out a video that urges Indians from all walks of life, irrespective of their state, religion, caste or creed, to take to social media to share their message of unity.

The video starts with the message: ‘A message of togetherness from 1.3 billion Indians for all our respected leaders.’

With Dhruv Ghanekar’s music and Ishita Arun’s lyrics, the video goes on to showcase Indians holding up placards that call for unity.

As soon as the video surfaced, several took to Twitter, including celebrities, to share their message for unity in India. Over 3000 people tweeted the hashtag, #EkDehEKHum.

In case you are wondering, this is an independent campaign started by adman Praveen Kenneth 'in public service’ as the campaign’s website claims. It is an apolitical initiative that aims to put ‘strength in unity’ as a conversation on centrestage.

“Unity in diversity is an old concept. But sometimes we need a reminder of it. If we don’t bring it to the centre of the conversation, we often tend to forget it and digress. Sometimes we need a voice of reason to bring some sanity amid all hashtag wars. And it can come from an unknown place.”

Praveen Kenneth, Ex chairman and Founder, Law & Kenneth

The song couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time.

A week from the deadly attack on Indian CRPF jawans, #EkDeshEkHum is top trend on Twitter.

On 14 February, a suicide bomb attack killed 40 jawans from India’s Central Reserve Police Force in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir and left the country is a state of mourning.

The terror outfit Jaish-E-Mohammed has claimed to have carried out the attack, and released a prerecorded video of the attacker that further sparked outrage among Indians.

Shortly after the attack, news of harassment, persecution and violence against several Kashmiri Muslims studying and working in different Indian states flooded everyone’s timeline.

Posts claiming that some Kashmiri Muslims were celebrating the attack on Indian jawans also surfaced.

Amid this atmosphere of rage, tension, distrust, fear, hate and war-mongering, the hashtag #EkDeshEkHum comes as a breath of fresh air that peace loving citizens of this country are in dire need of.

The music video is conceptualised by Praveen Kenneth and directed by Pradeep Sarkar.