Horror. Shock. Despair. These were some of the reactions when I came across the news of the Rajasthan murder. Violence in the name of so-called “Love Jihad” has grown in the recent times and this points to us having failed to develop as a mature society. Such incidents have become the daily news headline of our screens and newspapers. Now it has become a kind of routine.
This latest episode in the book of hate crimes like the earlier ones has eroded the very fabric of our brotherhood and fraternity. People have literally divided themselves in the name of religion. Earlier where the question was just about our communal interests, now with the rise of the violence of the reactionary elements, our secular interests are also in jeopardy. We are standing at the point of insecurity with the social bomb of communalism.
Think about the victims of these attacks. They have no fault of their own except they are born in different religions. Well, it’s not someone’s choice. How can this even be a ground for abusing, let alone violence? Such terror acts cannot be justified on any grounds. Hate crimes have left all of the secular credentials of our democratic nation on the periphery of governance.
“They deserve it” and “Us vs them” attitude has further removed the scope to remedy these fallen relations. Political powers have also contributed a lot to this environment of mistrust. The violence in the name of “Love Jihad” raises two important issues.
1. Our acceptance as a society, that different religion have different interests. It has become the norm of our thinking.
2. Person’s choice of love, his freedom to choose his partner.
These questions demand not only the political solution but also legal security. The recent evil is even filmed by the relative of accused and put on the internet. That is so depressing. Where have we failed? Why is India in such a sorry state?
I am really worried about our future, not only as a society but also as a nation. These were the same problems that we were fighting back in the 1960s. And still, we are struggling with them. It feels like we are stuck, haven’t been able to get rid of this evil. As an Indian, this violence in the name of so-called religion and jihad has frustrated me the most. I can’t even think of calling myself a proud Indian.
People need to forget the imaginative differences created by the religious cartel of sundry men of their own logic and start to look at every other person as a human being.