Intolerant India

Anis Alamgir [Published at 01:20 am October 17th, 2015, in Dhaka Tribune] In its entire history, only two of India’s leaders were purely secular -- Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Gandhi never visited a temple, never bowed in front of any idols, though he did admire the Gita. He went so far as to write down an interpretation of Gita, explaining it in the process. He skipped the verses which seemed extreme to him. He considered a nice and smooth governance as “Rama Rajotto” (kingdom of Rama). When Nehru became prime minister, Gandhi blessed him saying “be the leader like Hazrat Umar.” No one was accepted by the common Indian without sacrificing his or her own kingdom, family, or certain embellishments.

Not even the great Buddha, nor the Mahavira of Jain. Buddha was a prince, and so was Mahavira, but Gandhi used to dress down as a naked fakir. No worship events were organised at the monastery, the one which was built near the bank of Samarmati river by Gandhi. Everyone just went there to pray. Nehru was fully dedicated to English liberalism. He used to say: “I am a student of science. Biology taught us that the cow has the lowest intelligence in the animal kingdom, and yet we worship that animal like a deity.” Nehru never worshipped anything. He used to eat pork and beef. He wore the dhoti only once ever, and that too during his father’s funeral. When Nehru was in his sick-bed, astrologers told him that he was towards the end of his life, that his life could have been made longer if only he could arrange for a ritual at the temple. Needless to say, Nehru did not listen to them. These two tremendously powerful leaders led 400 million Indians for decades. All the while, India gave birth to several secular leaders, activists, and intellectuals. India was able to maintain her balance for a long while, but nowadays, the poisonous mist of communalism has started to seep throughout the general populace of India, courtesy of the communal Hindu group known as Sangh Parivar. It’s safe to admit that India has an intolerance now. The Sangh Parivar declared the Ghar Wapsi (return home) program after the BJP came to power. No one can ever be converted into a Hindu, one can be a Hindu only by being born into a Hindu family. So, how can a Christian or Muslim be converted to Hinduism? In such situations, Hindu theologists argue that they were neither Muslim nor Christian at one point -- since, once upon a time, they were all Hindu. They had been motivated to convert into Christianity or Islam out of anger. Therefore they have to come back “home.” Calling it a “homecoming,” the Sangh Parivar started converting Christians and Muslims, naming the process as “Ghar Wapsi.” In Orissa, the Sangh Parivar tried to convert Christians by force and tried to convert Muslims from a slum situated in Agra, through deception. None of the attempts were successful. Under Modi’s government, such ‍attempts at converting people of other faiths to Hinduism will surely be seen as a volcano about to erupt. The hate-group recently started torturing lower caste Hindus as well, if I should mention. About 250 million Muslims and Christians live in India, and around 350 million of the nation’s population fall under the lower caste of Hindus. If half of the 1.2 billion Indians became hostile, would claims of “unity” hold any water? Submission to the mother-cow is traditional for higher-caste Hindus. Before its independence, every district in the sub-continent had a committee dedicated to the protection of cows, with rich landlords often donating assets to them. They also harboured thugs known as “Pandas,” who used to try and hinder Muslims, living under the dominance of Hindu majority, from sacrificing cows. During the mid-19th century, a great clash occurred while the Muslims were celebrating Eid-ul-Adha at Ayodhya, when Wazed Ali Khan was the Nabab. He dealt a negotiation with both parties. He convinced Muslims that, seeing how Hindus consider the cow as a deity, it would not have been just to kill their god, requesting Muslims to perform Eid-ul-Adha by sacrificing another animal instead. ‍It is with that sense of judgment that Muslim rulers were able to rule India for more than 700 years. Now, with the BJP in power, the slaughtering and selling of beef has been banned in some states. Quite recently, a Muslim citizen was lynched by the Pandas working under Sangh Parivar, after false accusation arose of the man having preserved beef in his refrigerator. And then, it was revealed that a BJP leader was affiliated with an exporter who dealt with buffalo meat -- it proved to be particularly embarrassing for BJP. Sangeet Som, a member of the assembly and also a prime accused in the Muzaffarnagar riot, recently let loose some hate-speech opposing the cow-slaughtering. There were allegations against him that he had been in the directorial position of a beef processing firm for four years. Som denied his involvement, naturally. But, it paints a clear picture of the sheer hypocrisy that pervades most of these so-called “Hindu nationalists.” The latest example of India’s intolerance was made clear on October 12. Protesters of Shiv Sena, who were jointly running the Maharashtra government, poured tar on the face of Sudhir Kulkarni. The awakened conscience of the world is waiting with baited breath to see just how much further the envelope can be pushed by Mr Modi and his intolerent India.