It's not the era for extremism

 

A massive chunk of sun breaks off unleashing a solar flare. A fiery slingshot of infernal tornado smashed into space. Solar flares affect our communication system. I hope it won’t flare-up the already heated-up temperaments of the world leaders who are firing missiles and rockets with nefarious designs and conspiracies.

The solar flare seems to increase temperatures and separatist itch in the khalistanis in Punjab. They again raise the banner of revolt. These are the dark spin-offs of the ultra-nationalist ideology. You have been parroting ‘Hindu Rastra, Hindu Rastra’ too loudly of late. It creates ripple effects. It inspires—wrongly of course—others also to do the same. If you emphasize too much on an over-swiping Hindutva, coloring the entire country in one color, the minorities will justifiably feel threatened.

The extremist Hindu ideology itself is a reaction, an offshoot, to the blind religious zealotry of hard-line Muslim maulvis who have drilled a dangerous fact in the common Muslim psyche that their first identity is that of a Muslim before any other lesser identity like citizenship, designation, role, responsibility. So the bullyboys of Hinduism feel justified in raising a din in the name of their own religion also.

To begin with, in the contemporary scenario of extremist, communal violence, the hard-liners in Islam have wrongly inspired fiery sentiments among other religions. A few of the otherwise peace-loving sanatan dharmis have turned trishul-wielding mobsters. The main culprit is the fire of sectarianism. Catching the flame from Islamic zealots, it now burns in many Hindu hearts. In the same vein, the fiery Hindu hearts can’t but help it from spreading to other sections. So they inspire resurgent khalistanis now.

As the shadows cast by the nationalistic sunrays—call it revived Hinduism—creep over the Indian diversities, we have the troublesome revival of khalistan movement. If you over-do it, so will others. You create justifications for others to do the same by your overblown actions. The wrong is far more effective in motivating the mobsters than the right.

Given the present government’s trident-sharp rhetoric to link everything related to India as Hindutva in the entire historical and cultural context, the Muslims feel they are the victims of systematic discrimination at the level of state policies. It goes into doing the spadework or groundwork for separatism along communal lines. I smell a very distinct We Vs They odor like it must have been before 1947 leading to partition. Further, the din raised to the proportions of pralya whenever a Christian missionary converts a tribal in the forest will keep the Christians in the north-east hooked to the feeling of alienation.

India is too diversified to be colored in one ideological color. The shining nationalistic colorists may gain temporary benefits like forming governments but in the long run it will eat the foundation of India like termites eat wood. When Hindu youths go lynching over cows, of course the Sikh youths also get an itching to go on rampage along communal lines and carry Holy Guru Granth Sahib into the police stations challenging law and order.

The far rightist ideology colors the insanity of mobsters in patriotic hues. But then in India we have enough religions to catch the communal bug and bring down our castle. Let’s talk of inclusivity. Let the elections be fought over the issues that concern the life of a common person. Let’s put the blinding colors of the so-called rastravadi revolution on the sidelines and pick up simple tools of nation-making through real, effective developmental works.

All exclusivist principles draw their sustenance from an atrophied complex, the complex of superiority. If as a resurgent Hindu nationalist you feel justified in your exclusive ideology, don’t you think others also feel the same way? Don’t you think even a khalistani will try to justify his belief along the same lines? Or do you think your exclusivist right of narrow-mindedness is greater than theirs because sanatan dharma is older than Sikhism? From this principle of seniority in years, the religion of animism followed by the Dravidian tribals deep in the forests of south India has even bigger claim to hold the copyright over the faith of this geographical unit, because they were already functioning as a human society with its distinct culture when the Aryans arrived and laid the foundation of what we recognize today as Hindu dharma.