India is a secular country, and our policies have to be independent of religion and should not be driven by it in any manner whatsoever. But with the recent emergence of BJP as an ultra-nationalist party with a parent body (RSS) which believes in creating a dangerous but supposedly ‘Hindu rashtra’, our democracy has been put in peril.
When a nation starts functioning on religious basis, the biggest question is – will it accept and let flourish all the religions other than the majoritarian one? This question also puts forward concerns towards how these minority communities can sustain themselves when the entire focus is on creating vote banks through either focusing on the majority religion or the combination of the minority ones. Such a situation can lead to complete ignorance towards the needs and desires of the smaller communities.
With the upcoming state and central elections, the political parties have again ignored that our country is a secular one and have started focusing on religious divides – instead of working towards the development of people, irrespective of what religion they practice. When people start sensing ignorance from the very leaders they elected, it creates a sense of isolation in them, and makes them feel as though their identity is no longer important in the larger scheme of things concerning the nation.
The re-emergence of the Ayodhya dispute has taken a political turn with the ruling party openly demanding the building of the temple, yet again using this issue as their political agenda by ‘pleasing Hindus’. On the other hand, Congress seems to be in a no man’s land with no clear stance on this particular issue as well as other economic and developmental issues.
It’s a matter of concern that the most relevant political parties of our nation take up communal stands during elections, instead of focusing on important issues that need immediate attention. For a developing nation like ours, job creation for the educated unemployed youth, gender parity and equal representation of all communities should be the focus points for every ruling party. Instead of focusing on just pleasing specific communities, the government should implement policies that are crucial for all.
Let’s hope for an election season wherein the rival parties engage in a healthy battle over their developmental policies for the socially and economically backward classes, instead of focusing on creating vote banks through communal means.