Alwyn M. D’Sa
In the ongoing Gujarat election campaign there has been a raging discourse on whether one is being a Hindu or not. First it was Rahul Gandhi who allegedly made an entry in a register as non-Hindu in a Gujarat Temple. And then a retort from Kapil Sibal raising the bogey that Narendra Modi is not a real Hindu as he is promoting Hindutva policies. Is one to surmise by this sort of rhetoric that one needs to be a Hindu to contest an election and only those practicing this faith can be called Indian?
So are all those citizens of India who do not profess Hinduism or Hindutva ideology less Indians and non-patriotic? Where is this sort of cheap discussion taking a supposedly progressive nation like India? What is happening to the secular credentials of the country as defined by our Constitution? We need to shed these narrow parochial outbursts and come to brass tacks.
We are all aware that most politicians along with their sycophants make a beeline to houses of worship of various faiths, apparently to impress the electorate and put up a façade that they are honorable and law abiding citizens but the wise can detect their hypocrisy and manipulative nature. Following a religion or none at all is not a criterion for being a good citizen of a country. In fact, as a secular Republic we need to separate State and Religion completely by first banning all display of religious articles, ceremonies and other religious practices in all government establishments.
The ruling party at all times raises the decibel when some report comes out about the progress India has made in the last couple of years and the opposition parties instantly cry foul that the yardstick used in the reports is faulty.
When prices of basic essentials have skyrocketed, jobs are hard to find for the qualified youth, various type of crimes are committed in every corner of the country and legal systems take decades to deliver fair justice, the governments need to put their priorities right instead of digressing on mundane and irrelevant issues.
