The fires that raged in East Delhi last week have been doused. But, will the fires that were ignited in the hearts and minds of those who then went on a rampage ever be put out? Or will they remain as embers of hate that can one day turn aflame to result in another clash or riot? Mahatma Gandhi had said, “A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and the soul of its people.” It is this culture in the people that will be passed on to the future generations, and so it is the duty of the generations alive today to ensure that they leave a legacy that will make all Indians of today and those who will come tomorrow proud to be residents of this wonderful land.
The idea of India as a tolerant nation that encompasses all cannot be allowed to die. That idea has to be nurtured and kept alive for the generations of tomorrow. Historian Ramachandra Guha in the book ‘The Enemies of the Idea of India’ writes, “The idea of India is plural and inclusive. The Constitution of India is flexible and accomodative. As it stands, India incorporates a greater variety of religions (whether born in its soil or imported) than any other nation in human history. It has, among things, a Sikh majority state (the Punjab), three Christian majority States (Mizoram, Nagaland and Meghalaya), a Muslim majority state (Jammu and Kashmir), Muslim majority districts in Kerala and West Bengal, and districts dominated by Buddhists in Kashmir and Arunachal.”
It is this India that we have lived in and are living in. It is this India that we, the generations of today, have to bequeath to the next. We therefore need to pause and reflect whether we are doing that, or we are failing to do so.
It was a horrendous couple of days for Delhi, a sad couple of days for the rest of the country. Over 40 people died in clashes and riots that were avoidable. Watching the video clips and news commentaries telecast on foreign news channels of the Delhi riots made one cringe in embarrassment that our India was being portrayed as being intolerant. A country that has been described as the cradle of civilisation has to live up to that reputation by becoming the nurturer of hope and tolerance. Sadly, the perception of India in the international media is changing, and it is becoming obvious in the manner in which they are reporting on the country.
The Constitution envisaged a secular country, and that is the country that should be bequeathed to the next generations. We have been a country enriched by the secular traditions that the framers of the Constitution sincerely believed in and wanted for the India of their dreams. We owe it to them to keep those dreams alive. All that cannot go up in flames of communal violence. It will not be easy to iron out the divisions that have surfaced among the people. It will take time, and that is one commodity that the country is running out of, as every day that the prejudices remain, the deeper do the divisions get.
In Delhi, they are still counting the dead and the injured. In the rest of the country we are mourning the loss of a narrative that made India the precious jewel in the crown. The redeeming feature is that as communities were targeted and attacked in Delhi, there were also Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs who came together to protect and save each other. That is the greatness of India which nobody can take away. That India will not die, that India cannot be allowed to die.
