Democracy is the weakest form of government to handle people who put the religious book above the law and constitution. Its preventive measures are slow and judicial system allows escape of 100 criminals to prevent one innocent from false prosecution. As a result, courts are used to get asylum but the same court decisions on religious matters pertaining to the same community are not accepted.
Hindus lived in a very secure and safe environment protected by Himalaya in the north and sea in the south. Their knowledge system, business acumen, Ayurveda, Yoga supported the wealth creation and trade. Without attacking other countries, they were flourishing. India was the leading economy of the world. They were aware about the importance of hygiene and nutrition. The stories of the prosperity were spread far and wide. Travellers and seekers from far and wide were visiting to learn and to understand the secrets. Hoon attempted invasion from the north followed by Alexander.
From sixth century onwards invaders attacked India which had no conflict with them. Their only aim was to plunder the wealth. Most of the invaders left after looting and killing, few stayed back. Despite becoming the king, they showed no mercy and exploited the country, people and modesty of women was violeted. Kashmir was the first to fall. Temples were destroyed, people were forced to convert or get killed. Hindu kings won many times but their value system did not allow to reciprocate the cruelty. As a result, 100 wins were not enough to survive if they lost the 101st war. After Kashmir Takshila, Afghanistan, Pakistan whatever area came under the rule of Islamic invaders was ethnically cleaned. Hindus are practically non-existent in these areas now. Follower of Islam claimed east and west Pakistan (now Pakistan and Bangladesh) leading to partition of India. The argument given was that they cannot live peacefully with Hindus. The congress leaders tried to oppose the move but surrendered meekly as soon as Jinna executed his heinous ‘direct action day’ plan when more than 10000 people were killed. Britishers looked the other way.
The irony is that despite partition taking place on the religious basis, people did not migrate, Punjab in the west and Bihar, Bengal in east joined in a major way, south India did not participate much. Even Muslim league continued to exist in India. The top mastermind did leave the country but the major centre like Hyderabad, Rampur, Deoband, which led this movement remained in India. New outfit keep mushrooming to pursue the agenda of Ghazwa-e-Hind. The latest was PFI banned by Indian government recently.
Did partition lead to peace?
Contrary to the promise made, Pakistan took no time in attacking Kashmir and grabbing a vast piece of land which is now called Pak occupied Kashmir (POK). Their rouge intelligence agency ISI sponsoring terrorism for last 5 decades. It is not only that they have problems with Hindus! The Islamic leadership in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India is not ready to live peacefully with any community which has any difference of opinion with their ideology no matter whether they are Shia, Ahmadian or Hindu. India was dragged into 1971 war when crores of Bengali Muslim crossed Indian borders due to genocide inflicted by Pakistani army.
Did our forefather failed to see this probability? What it has to do with the issue of Hindu unity?
In Mahabharat Vyasa wrote five thousand years ago:
त्रेतायां मंत्र-श्क्तिश्च ज्ञानशक्तिः कृते-युगे।
द्वापरे युद्ध-शक्तिश्च, संघशक्ति कलौ युगे।।
as per the scriptures every yuga has its own strength and weaknesses. In Satyuga truth is respected and a knowledgeable person enjoy power as being right is good enough. In treta yug siddhi work better meaning that the knowledge has to be transformed in performance. In dwapar yug the power to win war matters and the Mahabharat decided the course of history. In Kaliyuga communication, publicity, propaganda enable falsehood to camouflage the reality and masses get influenced by these forces. In this era unity is the power. Unfortunately, the Indian rulers continued to live with the values propagated by maryada Purushottam Ram despite Krishna explaining the transformation needed to survive and suffered heavily. Despite atrocities inflicted Indian king did not avoid giving shelter to pregnant wife of Humayun who gave birth to Akbar. Jahangir took shelter at Orchha. It helped the invaders learn the skills and strategies of Rajput kings. Let’s examine it in details.
• India has seen the rule of Islamic rulers, Britishers, French and Portuguese. 77 years of independence have been completed. From the days of Haqiqat Rai Bakhmal Puri (died 1734) to Nupur Sharma debate on 27 May 2022, nothing has changed. One start insulting Hindu deities shamelessly but any reference to Islamic principles or person with proof is treated as blasphemy and the ‘Sar Tan Se Juda’ is executed. Any attempt to discuss is resisted with violence. Nupur Sharma is living in exile now but unrelated poor Hindus lost their lives.
• The different commandments given in other religions leave little scope for living in harmony. . The first three commandments of Christianity declare: You shall have no other gods before Me, you shall make no idols, you shall not take the Lord’s name in vain. These commands leave very little scope for Hindu way of worship to be respected and tolerated. The Islamic Azan, the call to Muslim prayer says: Ash-hadu an-laa ilaaha il-lal-lah (recited twice): It means "I bear witness that there is no god except the One God".Ash-hadu anna Muhammadar-Rasool-ullah (recited twice): It means "I bear witness that Muhammed is the messenger of God" Hayya 'alas-Salah (recited twice): It means "Come to pray" Hayya 'ala-l-Falah (recited twice): It means "Come to success". If a neighbour is claiming it 5 times a day on the loudspeaker, then it is very difficult to have peaceful living together because respecting each other’s religion and culture, the first requirement itself is under constant threat.
How democracy and secularism has harmed Hindu way of living?
In democracy political parties have to seek mandate after a span of a predefined time. In a country like India where election take place every year in one state or the other, political parties succumb to the pressure of collective voting. Communities which vote collectively are able to exploit democracy better. Had it not been true no sane government would have passed the present waqf board law nor it would have created a Muslim personal law board. A true secular democratic country has no place for discriminatory empowerment to a select few. Government after government have amended the laws restricting Hindus from practicing their rituals raises alarm! Temple after temple is being taken over by state governments, non-Hindus are being appointed administrators, temple money is being used for work not related to Hinduism. Corruption is rampant. Courts are interfering in temple rituals. Restraining from singing prayers, ringing bells, permission is not given for Durga Visarjan, VIP darshan by charging heavy amount are some of the examples. Hindus are not allowed to preach their religion. The frustration is rising, independent India has been more damaging to Hindus and freedom has not resulted in empowerment of oppressed Hindus. Rampant conversions, infiltration has changed the demography drastically. Kashmir saw the ethnic cleansing of Hindus, many state in north east suffered the insurgency.
On cultural front as well as on historical front many false narratives have been created, the great Hindu kings including Maratha, Jat and Sikhs have been sidelined and an impression has been created that British defeated moguls to rule India while the truth is that out of more than 20 major wars only 4 were fought against Muslim rulers i.e Sirajuddaula, Wajid Ali Shah, Tipu and Nizam. It is irony that more than 500 kings had the freedom to choose between India and Pakistan, India was member of ‘league of nation’ and ‘united nations’ before it was made independent, yet we were labelled as slaves.
Post independence it has become very easy for anti-Hindu policies and positions to be advanced in mainstream institutions like universities, schools, corporate workplaces, and media by interest groups who can easily pretend that the majority of the Hindus here do not agree with their critics. Every Hindu festival is preceded by some advertisement by the business houses which demean the festival as a water wastage, noise pollution etc, while the festival of other religion which leads to blood of the slaughtered animals on the streets and drains etc are appreciated. Navratra and ramjan are the two fasting festivals, but Hindu fasting is depicted as regressive and ritualistic while governments, politicians and media houses hold iftars in reverence during Ramadan.
The Hindu Communication Gap: This is a troublesome gap, going back to the point that we simply do not care to own our stories, even stories that are about our own well-being, safety, and happiness. When the National Geographic or NPR publish a story praising Indian Americans for being rich CEOs, Hindus embrace that praise up as if it’s their achievement. When big media promotes absurd-level lies and bigotry about Hindus or Hinduism, many Hindus simply brush it off as if it’s not about them, but someone else, those “bad Hindutva” or casteists. This has led to a situation where terrorist attacks were labelled as Hindu terror by Hindu leaders using Hindu police officers. Honest and patriot people were framed in false cases.
“ISRO espionage case: CBI files chargesheet against 5 former cops for 'framing' scientist Nambi Narayan”. PTI 27 June 2024.
A decade of assertion has brought good results but more is needed.
Last decade has indicated how accidently united Hindus can safeguard their culture and religious practices. 2014 has changed a few things. The success of nationalist party has led to elimination of Section 370, building of Ram temple. Court reopening Gyan Vapi case, archaeological survey accepting the fact that mosque is built on a temple. Stringent anti conversion laws are the few such changes. New education Policy (NEP) is an attempt to correct the historical gaps in education. India has been way ahead in wealth creation but we failed to protect the same.
How to unite Hindus?
• Political parties have worked relentlessly to divide the society and these have used caste system to split the votes. It is painful to see the debate on media channels where caste combinations decide winnability of the candidates.
• Reservation is another tool used by the governments. It surprises a layman when India is progressing then how more and more caste are becoming eligible as Dalit or backward. The process is ongoing and now caste census is the next tool for further division. India is growing to new dimensions and time has come that we build a culture of entrepreneurship. The British idea of developing clerks has outlived its utility. A beginning can be made to provide reservation to economically weaker sections. It will easily include backward community if any. The existing reservation rules should give priority to the first-time beneficiary. Baba Saheb Ambedkar made provisions for ten years but the vote greedy politicians have made it eternal. It is difficult but not impossible the present prime minister has persuaded the people to give up subsidies he can do the same work for giving up reservation also.
• Dowery is another evil a mass movement should be launched to encourage young students to pledge against dowery.
• Freeing temple from government control. At present there is no institution which promotes brotherhood among Hindus. Kashmiri pandit had no place other than refugee camps to go at the time of crisis. Church and mosque not only provide support but run hospital and educational institutes as well. It is high time Hindus should be allowed to reap benefits from the wealth created by them in temples. Author Sandeep Singh has described it in details in his book ‘Mnadir ke liye ek dashak’ (A decade for temples) and ‘Temple economics’. Temples can play an important role in uniting Hindus and promotion of crafts, business, art and culture with ease. There are NGOs which uses pilgrimage to promote health through vaccination and cataract operations.
• Spiritual leaders have to play a great role. At present Hindu dharma Gurus and Shankracharayas are politically aligned. They rarely act in unison and create confusion. Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha exposed their differences. The challenge can be resolved by bringing an act defining the rules for governing bodies of temple and freeing these in line with the Gurudwara prabandhak committee act.
• At present there is no authority to validate commentaries being written on Hindu scriptures. Novice authors are giving new meaning to Hindu scriptures. At times one feels that whether they have personal motives? Scripture are being called mythology and mythology is called ‘mithya’ (meaning false in Sanskrit language). It is unfortunate that educational institutions are promoting these books as textbooks. This assault cannot be stopped until free temples take up this issue in right earnests.
Does India have any precedence to assume success of the idea of Hindu unity?
Despite being attacked and ruled by invaders for 1400 years continuously in parts, India is the only country and Hindu is the only religion which has survived this onslaught. Allama Iqbal a hardcore fundamentalist and one of the founder members of Pakistan could not resist writing
यूनान-ओ-मिस्र-ओ-रूमा, सब मिट गए जहाँ से।
अब तक मगर है बाक़ी, नाम-ओ-निशाँ हमारा।।
(Roman empire, Egypt and many other cultures have been destroyed but Indian culture is still thriving). Indian culture which imbibes non-violence, truth, not stealing, not accumulating, contentment, hard work, hunger for knowledge in its value system, can thrive in most difficult threats. The government has to act impartially and allow the Hindus to reach their true potential. The only religion which thinks and practices the principle of vasudhaiv kutumbakam should be allowed to unite the world by uniting itself.
By Rakesh Kumar
(The content of this article reflects the views of writers and contributors, not necessarily those of the publisher and editor. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only)
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