Tuesday, December 2, 2008

some day

the foreign and Indian media shouting about the racism and sparking violent reactions by screaming vitriolic comments about religion. The basic problem with our people is that we are always a Hindu, Muslim or a Christian first. We are also a Hindu, Muslim or a Christian last. In between we are sometimes a Tamil, a Bengali, a Malayali, a Punjabi or a Gujarati. And our actually being an Indian is very sporadic and far between. We have elevated religion to the level of God. I am sure no God would have wanted this. religion should not be used to fight wars, they were meant for peace.

One man commits a blunder 52 years ago and a Muslim nation was born. It was before Pakistan was born that India was secular. Everybody lived in peace and wanted the foreigner out. There was no such thing as a 'minority community' as you say. We were all Indians then. Today we are not Indians, none of us are. We are not even Hindus Muslims or Christians. We are Brahmans, dalits, chamars, scheduled castes etc. Hundreds of women are debased, abused, and treated badly, including Muslims.

Why is it an outrage only when nuns are raped? Why does the rape of 83-year old woman merit a page 5 news and the rape of a dalit woman is a screaming front-page whopper? Why is the rape of a community by some politically motivated terrorist, international news but the rape of a nation by some power hungry politicians' not even merit a mention or is even noticed?

If you are a Christian, you are a Christian. You are not a community. You are allowed to pray to whatever god you choose and live whatever life you wish to lead. When did you become a community? Religion is something we are all allowed, practising as a faith and it reaffirms our peace and helps us discover what we are within us. Why take it to grouping people, organising morchas, and turning it into a communal affair? This means someone out there with political interests, usually vested, is turning your religion as his ticket to moolah, and pitting you against thousands of others who until then were sitting at home and following their religion and were friends with you. You two fight and he walks away with praises, accolades, and even money and power. You have lost your home, your money, and your friends and in return, you have his sympathy and are international news. Is this really worth it?

US bombs Afghanistan, the entire world hails her as a messiah fighting terrorism. Only the Muslim nations call it jihad. Everything is being coloured and why is this not being a called a Muslim-Christian war? Or the Kurd struggle? Or in Israel and Palestine? Why do these battles not have a religious flavour? Why just what happens in India? Be it in Kashmir or in Gujarat? In Tamil Nadu or in Punjab or in mumbai?

We fight religious wars, other nations for their rights and liberties. Take the wretched drama of the happenings in Gujarat. or more recently in Mumbai. The entire squalid tale is of religions, with its crudities played out in the dark, confused by lies and compassion and ignorance, manipulated by self seekers in safety – of international cowardice of bureaucratic bumbledom, neighbourly opportunism and above all the irresponsible pretensions of the journalistic tribe! I am not saying what is happening is right. But why the hell are we not taking cudgels and shoving these guys to the prisons, instead of letting it be as a Hindu Muslim war or a terrorist strike? Will the Christians, Jains, Buddhists, dalits and everybody else be just by standees who will watch and say oh that is cruel, look what the Hindu tolerance has come to? Why, are they not Indians first and is it not their moral responsibility to help fight this war?

Why are they not an Indian first in this instance, and a Christian or a Sikh or a Parsi later? Why do they hide in the safety of their religion with a nothing to do with me attitude? When a man kills another, or rapes another human being, it is a question of human lives. Not whether the dead man is a Hindu or a Christian or a Muslim. But when the dead man is portrayed as a Christian or a Muslim, suddenly there is hue and cry, the whole episode gets torn out of proportion and then the "minority community" feels threatened. We may not move into nothingness with all this genocide, but we will become something only when we give God His place, and religion, its.

Only when we make our country our pride and our country deigns to choose us as its citizens. Only when see each other as fellow human beings and not as a fellow Christian or a fellow Hindu. They say little droplets make an ocean. Come let us try to be Indian first, and practise being one.

Leave our religion for the comfort of our homes and the sanctity of our hearts. Let no man sway you when he talks about atrocities towards a particular community. Look at it as atrocity towards a fellow human being and raise your hands for justice with all people. Someday, we may become all this I dream about, but for now, I am happy that I, for one, am able to think and dream so. There will be many in the years to come, and one day we will rise as a nation, a truly great nation and the world will stand in awe of us.

1 comment:

Jamuna said...

This is absolutely true. Still, it is only when each person looks at themselves first can wrongs be corrected. In fact, it is a tribute to our nation that we have been able to do that no matter what the hiccups on the way.

On the personal level, in the history of mankind, there have been ups and downs in each community but there have also been saints and seers who have withstood all of that and still persevered on the right path. And these are our benchmarks, our touchstones.

Today, although we may not have reached their level yet, we can always try and support what is right, discarding our external layers of identity, be it caste, creed or religion