I would firstly like to say, blogging is not the same fun
anymore. Firstly, because, it’s so much fun tweeting – you have to agree
putting across your point of view in 140 characters is a lot less taxing than
building a blog post; however, it’s not as satisfying as posting a blog. I
realized tweeting about this topic was fun but not satisfying, and hence the
post. I have been meaning to write extensively about this and more of such
things that I feel is wrong about us – because - God as witness, there are a
lot of things we saw were wrong about us in the last couple of months. In this
post, I would like to focus on misplaced beliefs of secularism.
Chattrapati Shivaji Raje Bhonsle (Shivaji) had a great
description about secularism – it was basically treating the subjects on merits
of their petition and not on the basis of their religious beliefs. It was the
hallmark of the great ruler (who ruled people’s hearts as much as the lands he
controlled). He prided himself as a ‘Maratha’ and not as much as a ‘Hindu’ emperor.
To contextualize - that was the
national identity then, there was no entity as India –which came into being later
- on August 15 1947. Shehanshah Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar (Akbar) - the Mughal
emperor who ruled Delhi in the 15th century had the same concept
about secularism and one might see a lot of similarities how these two supreme
emperors ruled the realm – given the hostilities between the two Kingdoms. The
point I was laboriously driving at was – a Government does not become popular
by giving special status to a section of people – thereby making a distinction
for a group from the rest; but by providing assistance to all irrespective of
their backgrounds – keeping religion /caste / region out of the question.
India, in 2013 and in the last decade or so is failing spectacularly at this –
and how!
India celebrated the new millennium with the new economic
liberalization and we had the entire world vouching that the 21st
century would the golden age for India. In 2013, I still feel this will be the
millennium of India but that’s not why I am writing this – self-praise. No
sooner, we were a couple of years into the new millennium; we had the horrific
riots of Gujarat that scarred the conscience of a lot of us – young impressionable
minds then. The generation before us had seen Delhi riots of 1984 – where the
state conspired with rioters and let them run amok killing thousands of
civilian in the process. We had even heard of the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition
and the Bombay riots soon after or even the Bombay bomb blasts of March 13th
1993; but we were too young to understand the full impact of these events. 2002
riots was a watershed event for most of us. Firstly, we had 24 hours news television
coverage by then and the images travelling to us in the comforts of our living
room (with all the graphic details) made an indelible mark on our collective
conscience. Personally, the most severe impact that was made on my mind was one
simple fact – the burning of train bogie was gruesome – I mean, imagine 60 people
burned alive or suffocated to death in a train bogie locked from outside to
ensure they did not escape. This detail was horrifying enough – someone was
coldblooded to a point that they ensured that they all the 60 passengers died.
The more horrifying fact was the Chief Minister and the state did not see the
event as I did, 60 innocent civilian death that cried for justice – they
went a step ahead and made news for declaring 60 ‘Hindu deaths’ by
‘Muslim mob’. This take by the CM and his men ensured riots for next 4 days at
various locations – killing thousands of civilian (pregnant women and little
children included). Riots, so strategically planned to inflict damage on
‘Muslims’ to avenge the earlier deaths of ‘Hindus’. Details of the gruesome massacre
and rapes notwithstanding – I remember asking my father “Didn’t the Government
in a secular country owe same responsibility towards Muslims as they do towards
Hindus?” My problem was not the riots; it was the state allowing more civilian
deaths to compensate for its mistake of not being able to protect one set of
civilian deaths – distinction made on the religion. I admit I felt cheated by
the idea of India – the one taught to me at school. A lot of people – my
generation have not believed the “secular- state” bit again. 2002 riots ensured
that everyone realized that, your protection by state is a qualified
proposition – based on the religion you belong vis-a-vis the religion the state
wants to pander to. I am forced to ask myself, are we secular like Shivaji or
Akbar? Or do we like to call our self, secular?
I have seen all my fundamental rights; supposedly guaranteed
by my constitution to me; as an individual born in and residing in India, being
qualified. Nothing is certain anymore. My religion is the only important
identification of me as an individual. Everything I do is governed by one
factor – RELIGION. It was a time when social networking was booming word wide
and India was not left far behind. Terrorist organizations were recruiting
online by posting gruesome videos of riots and asking people to avenge hurt
caused to their brethren – again qualified by religion. I would gloss over this
online ‘garbage’ and mostly ignore the comments. Turns out, most people read
them and did happen to bond over common misery. Soon we had successfully
alienated ‘Muslims’ from the mainstream making them feel that they have to
avenge for things done to them. No state will provide them justice for the fear
of being caught ‘appeasing’ the minority community. The ghettoization of
Muslims – like blacks in America had begun. So many places became no-go zones
for Muslims and likewise for Hindus. Renting or purchasing of property had
added qualification of religion and caste – apart from budget and distance from
work place. India was shamelessly and openly becoming a ghettoized society with
the state napping or willfully looking the other way. Then came, the theory of
Muslim ghettos being breeding grounds for “terrorists”. We had online hate
content urging Muslim youth to take up arms against “infidels” – meaning rest
of Indians. These posts were usually made by people outside India or maybe some crazy
people in India (we do have a lot of hate mongers) – but they were usually
accompanied with a spate of crude bomb blasts – in quick succession – at
various locations in India. Seemed to everyone, that the online recruitment was
working, “Muslims” were hitting back and killing the rest of us. What resulted
was an absurd and stupid state reaction – since we had already ghettoized on
religious lines, the administration went on arresting Muslim youth – again
mostly believing that “Muslim ghetto is a breeding ground for terrorists”.
Every Muslim had to defend his identity as “devout Indian” with no extra
allegiance towards neighboring countries. That did not stop several of our
‘tall leaders’ from ridiculing them as Bangladeshis or Pakistanis. These
arrests made the rest of us believe that terrorism was indeed equated to religion.
The ghettos increased in size and expanded to most cities of India. It was recently
discovered that these attacks were carried by fringe elements – mostly people
who were Hindus by faith, who wanted the
ostracization of Muslims from the mainstream. With the cat out of the bag, the
same ‘tall leaders’ are out saying – “Terrorism has no religion”. Well! Why did
you not speak up when innocent Muslim youth were arrested and tortured for
crimes they did not commit? Who will compensate for the trauma suffered by
these citizens who like the rest of us had same right to freedom of religion
and freedom of movement and freedom of speech? Why should any Muslim in India
qualify his statements with a prominent ‘my allegiance is towards India’ while
the rest of us- including the ones arrested for various bomb attacks have
implied allegiance towards India? Why did the state administration not
understand that they were discriminating citizen on basis of religion and this
is violation of the Constitution that they swear to protect and defend? Why is
the Supreme Court silent on this when it goes out of the way to beat the Government
with any stick it can – many times exceeding its mandate? It makes me ask this again
- Are we secular? Or do we like to be called secular? Me thinks, it’s the
latter!
With examples of state being biased towards Muslims, let us
not feel that the rest of us are spared. It’s just that Muslims are a minority
in many states and they get picked on mostly. True fact being, India is a bully
state that likes to pander to the majority citizen (based on religion, mind
you) at the cost of the minority. We are yet to become secular. In each state
the definition of minority changes and hence different sets of people are short
changed in different states – whether it’s the Kashmiri Pundit in Jammu &
Kashmir or Muslims in Assam or Bihari migrant in Maharashtra. All our leaders
pride themselves in bullying the minority with some political organization like
–Shiv Sena or MNS specialize in bullying tactics. Its simpler for politicians,
they need majority votes to be elected to office. My point is, India has enough politicians- she
needs LEADERS. When we use the name of Gandhi or Bose or Shivaji, we forget the
major point that these people were leaders because they had the people behind
them. Political strength can be achieved by having universal backing not by
alienating portion of the population because of your biased dealings. We seem
to have forgotten all aspects of governance and simply move from elections to
elections pandering to different sets of people in different states with no
intent to uphold universal rights of citizen to all that is good. Hence we have
novel concept as the “first right” over the resources, instead of universal
right as Indians. Why should we feel united as Indians, when our “leaders”
spend all efforts to divide us into pigeon holes? Why should a Muslim feel he
is Indian when we don’t want to give him the rights other Indians enjoy? Why
should a Kashmiri pundit feel he is Kashmiri when the Government fails to
recognize his rights over his land? We as a country need to ask ourselves, Are
we simply brewing a potion that will end up imploding India someday. Is the
identity of being Indian left with any meaning today?
The Government is not only guilty of pandering to majority
religion- the cynicism runs much deeper. There is regionalism too. Is this the
mandate of an elected Government under the constitution of India? We have
similar problem is Telangana agitation and Gorkhaland (North West Bengal). I
feel bad for my country, with problems like mass depravation, abject poverty,
healthcare, malnutrition and poor social indicators all around – Governments by
and large try to deflect issues to regionalism and religion; we let them easily
do it and jump onto the bad wagon. It takes a match to burn down a fire truck-
as the adage goes, here we are sitting on heaps of dynamite (hurt feelings of
citizen towards State) and yet we continue to light matches till it blows up on
our face. If we are a nation – as we believe we are, the least we can do is
lend our voice to our brother or sister who faces these problems and stand up
for them. We are after all our brother’s keepers! I end here hoping to see a
better India someday soon.
So long.....
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