Over the last few years, incidents of intolerance and religious hatred in various parts of country are on high rise and matter of grave concern for each of civilised citizen of this country. The newspapers and social media is replete with such incidents and are causing fear and anguish amongst countrymen of land of Lord Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi wherein ‘ahimsa’ is mool mantra.
The extent of religious fanaticism in recent times is indeed volcanic and situation is assuming shameful and an alarming magnitude forcing all of us to think what is really going on? who propagating this and why? Is it an agenda to weaken roots of long established democracy for creating rifts for political gains of ‘divide and rule” or as a political gimmick for nefarious gains in elections?
The sudden rise in such incidents ie fiery and hate speeches, shouting provocative slogans over festivals and religious processions, caste and religion based defamatory words, pitch of loudspeakers volume, reports of cow rakshak vandalism, disputes over worship places and judicial intervention, temples, mosques, churches land dispute news , idols placement disputes, protests at Ram Navmi processions and New year celebrations etc. especially in Northern parts of India need specific mention as print and social media both are replete with colourful projections of such incidents in the form of masala clips , reels , third rated morphed videos often leading to severe law and order problems resulting in even deaths and major casualties for no valid reasons whatsoever. Scary news is not only harmful and matter of shame for all of us before the world at large and international forums as well who get an opportunity to make adverse comments.
The question is why few of us are getting exceptionally intolerant and resorting to such new trend of ill practices which were never heard or seen before. The rapid increase in incidents of religious hatred over the past few years is unexceptional and matter of serious concern for the society and the Nation. It is an opportune time for all of us to consider how to stop and defeat such disruptive elements so that we may breathe in peaceful air, in spirit of harmony and brotherhood and our future generations do not have to be ashamed of misdeeds of unscrupulous elements. They may not get prejudiced and develop misunderstandings due to lack of presentation of true facts which is duty of ours and we must not shirk off from this task.
When we look at the conditions of Medieval India and that of the British period, we find that attacks and atrocities that occurred during that period were not driven by the propagation of any particular religion or religious hatred. Rather, their primary goal was to expand their own rule. India remained under the Mughal rule for centuries during the medieval period. Later, country was ruled by the British who divided Hindus and Muslims. The ongoing Hindu- Muslim conflict at certain parts of our country to a large extent is fundamentally a result of British policy of ‘Divide and Rule”. The Muslim invaders who attacked and ruled India were, truly, not followers of Islam which never advocate attacks
or violence of any kind, or conveys any such message which was against humanity. The Muslim invaders did not adhere to teachings of Islam and in fact their actions were inherently anti-islamic. But what we witness today is that these invaders are considered as heroes, role models and even source of inspiration, thus are playing crucial role in creating divisions in our society. I believe that such followers are far away from preaches of Islam.
Since ancient times, India has been a land of great personalities. From Lord Mahavira and Buddha to Swami Ramakrishna Vivekananda, Maharashi Dayanand , Maharishi Arvind, Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, and Sir Syed Ahmed Khan , all great personalities were born in this country. If we look at the history, we find that in Maharana Praap’s army , Hakim khan was his trusted Commander who sacrificed his life in the Battle of Haldi Ghati. Similarly, in Chattrapati Shivaji’s army, many high ranking positions were held by brave Muslim soldiers like Daulat Khan and Ibrahim Khan. Shivaji Maharaj never harmed any religious sect and he always respected the holy Quran. Further, Rani Laxmi Bai, most trusted commander was Ghulam Gaus Khan, who died while defending Jhansi. While talking of Rahim, he was a staunch devotee of Krishna. Similarly, can we divide Kabir along Hindu and Muslim lines? Absolutely not. What I mean to say that Hindus and Muslims have always lived together in India for centuries, so where did this religious hatred come from?
Since ancient times, Hindus and Muslims have contributed equally to the Hundred-and-a-half-year long struggle to liberate the country from Britishers. This was a time when fanaticism was almost non-existent. Common people could not even imagine disputes like temples or mosques. If we mention about Mahatama Gandhi, can we forget Frontier Gandhi –Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan. But it seems that we have forgotten the ideals and teachings of these patriots and
are falling into the trap of religious fanaticism. India’s history teaches us to walk together and not to walk differently. Maharana Pratap, Veer Shivaji, Rani Laxmmibai , Saint Rahim and Kabir –all of them are not figures of any particular religion , rather all of these embody the spirit of human consciousness and religious harmony.
To my understanding, religious bias and ‘me and my religion superior’ dogma appears to be foremost reason of growing trend of today times incidents of religious extremism. For example- “Only we will survive and only those who follow us will survive”. What is all this about? How one religion of particular community can be superior to others? How Hindu scriptures can be superior to other scriptures and vice versa? Is there any such study or any parameter? All of such misunderstandings are creature of selfish vested interest’s elements game plan. It is also perhaps because of half-truths, distorted versions and lack of knowledge of scriptures of other religions. There is no instrument available and lack of authentic education about ethos, believes and practices of particular religion is root cause of situations prevailing today.
Further, poor literacy rate in country often aggravate the problem as illiterate or semi-literates do not have any means of even attaining elementary education to think rationally and often get swayed by what they are presented with and what they made to watch in social media which is manipulated and presented with ulterior means with definite agenda. But illiterates, since now have easy access to such gadgets (in the form of cheap social media format) fell prey to such third class rated stuff, consider it as gospel truth and start forming an opinion which often get deep rooted and later inculcate in behaviour and spread to society at fast speed and get established.
Yet another fallacy which is being repeated, both historically and even today is the practice of judging entire community or caste based on the actions of few individuals. This can neither be called prudent and it does not pave the way for the development of any Nation. History bears testimony to the fact that in every society, religion or caste, there have been oppressors as well as saints. If there are certain selfish elements, there have been martyrs too. So, how can we be justified to blame a community based on the actions of few individual belonging to a particular community. This approach is erroneous and certainly contrary to the spirit of humanity.
Today, we need to remember that we are first and foremost, Indian citizens and as true nationalist, our primary duty is to prevent spread of any kind of fanaticism which is detrimental and affecting us as slow poison. This will be probable if we imbibe the concept of “We are Indians “and this is possible only and only through developing means of literacy and education. We should begin with providing accurate and factual information about all religions at primary level itself. Whether, it is school or Madrasa , all of us must provide accurate information about basic tenets of religions. Children have very clear minds and intellect and at their childhood level, correct understanding of religions can show them the right path. Similar efforts are needed to be practised at community levels. Leaders, scholars and intellectuals of all religions should come together to decide how to launch a nationwide campaign for opposing religious fanaticism and ideas which foster understanding and respect for each other’s religions and cultures. If values and beliefs of particular religion are taught at elementary schooling level and accurate religious knowledge is imparted, I am of strong view that true knowledge will enlighten the minds, misgivings can be removed and there would be decrease in instances of hate mongering which do not become our civilised society and our motherland which is known worldwide over tolerance, harmony and co-existence. All of us need to work on this issue as same is of concern of all of us and one can’t say “not my headache” as evil is serious one and it affects to all be it today or tomorrow.
A quarter of the twenty first century has already passed. While India dreams of becoming a developed country by joining top of World economies, fundamentalist and anti –national forces are working to weaken it. Further, reports of religious hatred, violence over religion beliefs are never in good taste and country is defamed for misdeeds of vested interest elements. If we fail to come out of clutches of these evil forces, how will be able to achieve the status of a developed Nation. There is an urgent need to put a complete embargo over the incidents of religious hatred by means of providing accurate and authentic information about scriptures of all the religions so that clear understanding be developed amongst our children and youth and incidents of religious hatred be curtailed and evil plans of vested interested elements be frustrated. Such unpleasant incidents can never be allowed to hinder the prosperity of our Nation which is marching ahead.
We Indians have also believed in the ideology of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” – which means that the whole world is one family. The principle promotes unity, mutual cooperation, empathy and brotherhood in the world and prioritizes humanity above nationality, religion or caste. The recent incidents of religious hatred are scar on our country which is known for peace brotherhood and tolerance. Let us resolve for big NO to such evils.
Our countrymen specifically our youth have proved their capabilities by nearing status of few of top economies and way ahead we dream of elevating India to new heights but such heights are to be above narrow mindedness such as religion, caste, regionalism. We must strive to build a Nation with shared culture, shared heritage, shared struggles and a shared future. Our country will be great in its true sense when it belongs to everyone, and this will happen only when we embrace the spirit of peace, harmony, tolerance, brotherhood and root out religious fanaticism of any kind and nature and learn the concept of co-existence.
Dr. Ashok Kumar Gadiya
(The author is Chairman of Mewar University, Chittorgarh (Rajasthan). The views are personal to author and not of Mewar University.)
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