We refuse to learn from history & inflict more injuries on humanity
in the name of God
The cultural and religious diversity in India makes it a remarkable country. For decades, poets have sung paeans for the wonderful social harmony. The bard wrote, “Hey mor chitto, purno tirthe jagore dhire/Eyi Bharoter mohamanober sagoro teere” (Oceanic expanse of the mankind lay in front/Liven up my soul on this great land of India).
But the bard is dead. Long live Tagore. Now is the time for reality check. No, India did not live up to Rabindranath Tagore’s expectations. Neither did it follow the Mahatma’s path of non-violence. Over decades, religion, and not humanity, became the yardstick to judge a person. Skull cap and beard became a sign of terror and saffron and lotus the symbol of benevolence. The terror still grips citizens and the pseudo-benevolent have lost their masks.
Even in the time of Chandrayaan, Mars mission, Coronavirus and the unsolved problem of poverty, the country chooses religion over science and logic. Communal violence, intolerance and illiteracy are not uncommon here. In fact, the last two have turned into political tools to instigate people to kill, maim and murder in the name of God. The pogrom in Delhi is the recent instance of such mindless violence. No matter if one is an 85-year-old grandmother or a 22-year-old mentally challenged youth, the mob spares none.
Why such singling out of a community? Is the viciousness our innate capacity? Or have we failed to grow out of the political puppetry? Questions are aplenty. Hate is even more.
“It is difficult to say what propels communal violence and why a particular community is always targeted. Probably vote bank politics… But in all these, only the poor and the innocent die,” said L Sohtun, a citizen of Shillong, as he condemned the killings in Delhi.
Caldwell Manners of Christian Peacemaker Teams feels that the hatred against Muslims is taught and the colonial idea of divisiveness persists and is practised using the same tools.
Intolerance is growing not only in the mainland, where disillusioned bhakts are on rampage, but also in the abode of clouds. The intermittent flare-ups in Meghalaya, the recent being the clashes and deaths in East Khasi Hills, have time and again exposed the festering wound of communal disharmony in the state. Religion, however, was never a bone of contention here.
Shillong had witnessed communal clashes but it also managed to recuperate from the debilitating effects of hatred. No doubt there is an apparent harmony among the communities, both local and non-tribals, living in the city and in other parts of the state. But has it been able to unfetter itself completely? Not really. The incidents in the last two years are testimony to that. The embers only need some fuel to turn into engulfing flames.
Time and again, the Good Samaritans have come together to spread the message of love and peaceful co-existence but time and again hatred has ruled over harmony. The minority-majority equation changes with time and place and from state to state and so do the issues which lead up to violence. What does not change is our mindset.
“The best way to stop this (the vicious circle of violence) is to stay away from religion. Religion corrupts all. I am a Sikh and you are a Hindu but our blood is red,” said Parambir Singh, a citizen of Shillong.
Education, said Manners, is the only way to end the cycle of violence and hatred. “When we don’t have an idea about another faith or group of people, our skepticism is overwhelming. But when we are aware of the rights and wrongs and different cultures and religions, we feel secured,” he said.
The regression in mindset, decadence and the social decay which grew over the years have not only impeded India’s intellectual emancipation but also restricted its economic advance. We lose time cleaning the mess that we create over trifles. We refuse to learn from history. Instead, we cite examples from history to inflict more injuries on humanity. Meanwhile, the fragmented dreams of the countrymen drown in the blood of innocents.
~ NM