Each of us in our forties and above only needs to look back at our growing years and remember those times. From home to playground, to neighbourhood to school, did we even for a minute think we were any different from the rest of us, our friends, neighbours, coursemates, or colleagues. Did we even think of our festivals or theirs, didn’t we go to temples churches, and mosques with the same spirit of reverence and celebration?
We had the same reference points, studied the same history, saluted the same heroes, and had the same goals- a good future for ourselves, a self-reliant economy, opportunities, and jobs in our land and country.
Therefore, when all of India and all faiths began to hear statements, and speeches that were clearly against another religion or people of other faiths, all right-thinking people who loved the country began to have questions, and the questions were as follows. Has India changed, have we changed, is this correct, is there something we are not understanding, Our feelings towards one another have not changed hence why are we hearing all this?
Most importantly, at this stage, we look back on the quality of education that right-thinking Indians have received across institutions run by people of different faiths. Education taught us values and this was seen across Majority run institutions or wonderful minority institutions. In Goa students across sections and faiths have passed out, fully trained to face the world and embrace all in a pluralistic inclusive society from different educational institutions This is the real Goa.
And across India, we have been blessed with educated leadership. Of Dr. Radhakrishnan, Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel, Nehru, Kalam, and even in the later years our parliament has been full of writers, lawyers, and academics. And the underlying evidence has been that good education has hardly ever made a bad leader or politician. And who can forget India’s poet Prime Minister Vajpayee giving a clear message that for a leader there is nothing bigger than “Raj Dharma” (duty to the nation).
When religious structures, artifacts, or symbols of one religion were imagined or seen in a place of worship of another religion, after hundreds of years, right-thinking Indians again asked why are these things being noticed or imagined now. Is it real is it an optical illusion?
When there is talk of rebuilding temples that were destroyed, one asks if there is any list of such temples, since these purportedly happened over hundreds of years. And if there is such a list, why didn’t we see it.
Now as we see Inda burning with protests and lathi charges and Indian goods being taken off the shelves in the gulf and other places, and Indian ambassadors summoned, because of comments made against the prophet by the BJP spokesperson, Nupur Sharma we have more questions. One ambassador called her a fringe element. And the BJP without mentioning Nupur Sharma, said “The party is strongly against any ideology which insults or demeans any sect or religion. The BJP does not promote such people or philosophy”.
This is fine. Now let us look at some of the other speeches we have heard in our country for example, there are 3 examples of speeches flagged.
In of Hyderabad, a lawmaker sang a song with lyrics that said anyone who didn’t chant Hindu deity Ram’s name would be forced to leave India soon.
Days before that, a viral video showed a Hindu priest allegedly threatening to kidnap and rape women of another faith in Uttar Pradesh. Police registered a case only after a week.
And then one slogan which everyone knows in this country “Desh ke jaddaron ko, goli maro salo ko” was uttered by none other than a Union Minister.
One high ranking member of a party holding a constitutional position referred to the minority community in his state as the “taliban” and said that anyone supporting them would be finished.
Then in a central Indian state, a worker of one party kept on beating a man asking if his name was Mohammad. The next morning the victim was found dead.
In Bihar, one MLA said members of another community should be set ablaze just like effigies are burnt during Dussehra.
In one major religious conference in Uttarakhand, a Supreme Court lawyer called for the genocide of one community like the Rohingyas of Burma.
Yet another MLA from UP, pointing towards one community said “If you have to live in Hindustan you have to say ‘Radhe Radhe’, else, like those who went to Pakistan during the partition, you can go too”.
There are many such statements and speeches which are full of hate and incitement to violence. People would like to know if they qualify as hate speeches and if they do if any action is called for. If they are not hate speeches and are just normal then even that is fine but the people should know.
Most importantly irrespective of whether the government or the party is either supportive or complicit by its silence or officially “distanced”, it has the accountability and the constitutional responsibility to stop it. And the questions that need to be asked is, if the ruling system is keeping up to its preambular promises of liberty, equality, and fraternity in a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic?
At all points in time the government has to follow the iconic judgment in the Kesavananda Bharti judgment which said While the Parliament has ‘wide’ powers, it did not have the power to destroy or emasculate the basic elements or fundamental features of the Constitution.
The commenters by different leaders and the hate speeches and the atmosphere of unease need to be seen in that context and the violations stopped.
