Minority, whenever I come across this past, I am always reminded of the past. The recent incidents, involving the minorities in India, mostly draw for me a vivid picture of some people being deprived of their rights or not being given the equality they deserve in the society. They have been killed by some so-called elites, their women have been raped and the list goes on. This word, and people represented by it in India have become a stereotype, and synonyms like inequality, discrimination can be easily applied to their situation.
The extent of cruelty on minority people in India can be seen in a recent incident in Gurgaon where a small feud between two little kids led to a big clash between their parents. Humanity lost its existence when more than twenty-five people invaded into a house of a minority family and beat the breadwinner to death.
The more shocking parts were the slogans used while beating them, “Agar Cricket khelna hai to Pakistan Chale Jao.” This kind of mindset is shameful for a country like India, which is known as a haven to refugees like the Dalia Lama, and yet, is unable to teach secularism to its people.
26th January 2018 will not only be remembered as the 69th Republic Day of India, but also add to the list of minority clashes in India. The clashes took place between members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and minority people in Kashganj, Uttar Pradesh when a Tiranga Yatra started by these two youth wings to celebrate Republic Day later turned into a violence yatra. Some unacceptable slogans in the name of nationalism and patriotism targeted minorities that ended up in the death of a 22-year-old Hindu boy.
The conflicts did not stop there as the agitated people vandalised several shops and vehicles in the area. Forty-nine were arrested, internet services were blocked, and many more restrictions were imposed in this place, which was celebrating their Republic Day. A report published in The New Indian Express mentioned that the police was covering the area when shops were set ablaze.
The irony is, a year later, the Gurgaon incident did not convert into Kashganj as the killed person was from the opposite religion. This is not because of the powerful administration in Gurgaon or weak administration of Kashganj, but it is because of a fear that persists in the minds of minorities in India. They have already accepted the fact that the current regime will suppress them immediately in case of any revolt.
Bollywood star Amir Khan, at the Ramnath Goenka Awards conducted by The Indian Express Group in 2015 had said that his wife, Kiran Rao, asked him to move out of the country citing security of their children as the reason. A person who has produced a show like “Satyamave Jayate” to create change and challenge taboos in the conservative Indian society, stood firmly for his statement, bringing up examples of the Dadri lynching and murders of rationalists.
This somehow goes on to showcase the current dreadful situation of minorities in our society where money, which is seen as a status symbol, is not enough to educate people and rid them of their inequality and discrimination phobia. And the word keeps gaining strength every day with horrifying incidents shaking India’s secular identity.