There is one relationship between a Goan and a Maharashtrian or a Kashmiri with Bihari or a Bengali with a Tamilian, so also there is a relationship between Hindus and Muslims or Hindus with all minorities in India and that relationship is we are all Indians first and this is cemented and legitimatised by the Constitution and by the Act of Citizenship 1955.
India otherwise known as Hindustan is a land where the Hindus are in majority with minorities Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains and Parsis, but the Hindus never made the minorities feel they are less secular and hence all the communities lived in peace since Independence and the peaceful coexistence led to the prosperity of the nation.
The 1971 Bangladesh war and the decisive victory of the Indian army transformed the then PM Indira Gandhi into a deity. She was compared to Goddess Durga. Following the euphoria of the victory the Congress swept the Assembly polls of 1972 in Delhi and polls across most parts of the state. A similar situation has now evolved since May 2014 after BJP won the general elections with a thumping majority on its own. The minorities who were a vote bank of the Congress did not stand for the party and helped to elect the BJP government as the minorities felt the Congress had done more harm than good during its governance especially in the last 10 years from 2004 to mid May 2014 as the UPA government was embroiled in scams after scams which did not augur well with most people in India and hence voted for a change. But little did the monorities realize then they would have been taken for a ride.
Following the swearing in ceremony of PM Narendra Modi on 26th May 2104, a section of political parties, media and social organizations started giving a communal colour to everything that is happening in the country. It is the prerogative of the PM or the ruling party to rule the country solely according to the Constitution and not be guided by any one behind the scenes. Since May 2014 there have been several instances of intolerance, abuses and insults on the minorities and some celebrities have voiced concern. Now the incidents of religious intolerance have reached to such a proportion more voices are spreading concern over the future of the younger generations. Lynching is a practice in which a mob takes the law into its own hands. The practice is now become the order of the day and is directed towards all those who preserve or eat beef or is directed towards the Muslims the latest being Deputy Superintendent of Police in Jammu and Kashmir and four innocent Muslims in Haryana. In the last 3 years of the BJP rule India has witnessed number of horrific lynching incidents and they are becoming more and more regular. We may be passing through difficult period in the context of social relations but the state government has enough means at its disposal to maintain law and order. Maintaining complete silence by PM Modi on the issue of lynching amounts the Union Government recognizes the crime as a legitimate act.
A CEO of a multi-national company lately stated “Eating beef or any food is purely personal freedom. No one has a right to ban it. We don’t live in Dark Ages where the King decides on people’s freedom. Great country like India must move towards Science and Technology and not Religions. Moving towards religion will surely hit towards country’s stability and business and we see many big industries already moving from India due to religious tensions”. A former Supreme Court Judge said “I am a Hindu and I have eaten beef and will again it. There is nothing wrong in eating beef, 90 % of the world eats beef. Are they all sinners? And I refuse to believe that cow is sacred as our mother. How can any animal be a mother of a human being?” Added to this in June 2017, 65 retired top bureaucrats who held positions in Union and State Governments under different political dispensations have come out with an open letter citing “rising authoritarianism and majoritarianism” choking dissent, growing climate of religious intolerance aimed primarily at Muslims and disagreement and dissent considered seditious and anti-national with chilling impact of free speech and thought.
If the voices of common man have been silenced or sidelined the Government of India headed by PM Modi should take cognizance of the feelings of the people of India through the voices that are raising concerns now. Since the last 67 years Constitution had reigned supreme and its basic tenets of “Justice, Equality, Liberty and Fraternity” had been upheld in letter and in spirit. It is also a time right wing fundamentalists, section of political parties, media and organizations give a proper thought of the consequences that may follow if the minorities especially the Muslims are persecuted or harassed in India given the fact Islamophobia has gripped the world and Europe has been torn apart and devastated following the brutal killings of innocent people which may soon spread to our beautiful, peaceful and tolerant India. It is for the Modi Government to uphold the Costitution.
