As a child, I went to a village school where students from different castes, creed and religions would be seated and taught together under the same roof without any discrimination. In class six, my first English teacher, Md Ali, popularly known as Maulavi Saheb, came to teach us. He was from the Muslim community.
In class 12, the teacher who had provided me with tuition and guidance in spoken English was none but Professor Ahmed. He steered me through the ocean of the English language in such a way that I developed my linguistic abilities to the extent of being able to share it with others.
Later on, in 1993, I laid the foundation of British Lingua, from where more than two lakh students have graduated with a fair degree in English communication skills, which has opened a window to the world, as English is said to be a passport to success in today’s job market and career growth.
British Lingua, with an intake of trainers and trainees from all sections of the society, irrespective of their religious faith or political affiliation, has been engaging in providing the skill for the past three decades, to the youths, whom the country hinges on.
The immediate neighbour at my workplace is a Muslim fellow. The landlord I have worked with is also Muslim. We have no issues and hold no grudges against each other. They have their religious freedom, I have mine. We are not supposed to mix our religious sentiments with our work. We co-work happily with the mission of taking the English skill to Indian youth irrespective of their tenets, ideology, political affiliations, and religious faiths.
Sadly, I get reminded of the early 1990s when former Chief Minister of Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav, who is currently languishing in a jail in Jharkhand, began committing atrocities on people, delivering hate speeches. One of his provocative slogans was “Bhura Baal Saaf Karo”, meaning to finish Bhumihar, Brahmins and Rajputs, known as the upper caste of the culturally-diverse society in the country.
My body begins to shiver at the very thought of how Lalu Yadav instigated the mob that targeted, persecuted and tortured the ‘Bhura’ as part of polarisation for his MY (Muslim and Yadav) formula. It was all for his vote bank and sadistic pleasure. A section of media began eulogising Lalu for his ‘social engineering’, rather than castigating him for his caste politics.
Fifteen years of the Lalu-Rabri-Lalu misrule is quite infamous across India. Lakhs of state citizens migrated from Bihar to save their lives and earn a livelihood. The police were made handicapped, the judiciary was almost mute, Suo Motu was a rare phrase, and there was a situation of ‘Who will bell the cat’. No FIR was registered against the political masters for their hate and inflammatory speeches against the so-called upper castes. However, his government got toppled only in 2005, and a new government came into power. But who succeeded him? The formula of divide and rule continues.
The metropolitan city Delhi houses people from different walks of life – be it any caste, creed and religion – drawing them from all over India. But the politicians of the day seem to be hell-bent about making it a living hell.
The ‘Divide and rule’ politics has again come into play after the British rule, though it has been over seven decades since India got freedom in 1947. The heart of the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi must be bleeding at the sight of the recent spate of mayhem in Delhi, where more than 46 innocent citizens have lost their lives, and 150 odd are injured and battling for their lives in hospitals for no fault of theirs.
Human life in Delhi has become so cheap. For a few bucks of Indian currency, one can be made to sit in for a protest and beeline for party politics. Another fringe group is radicalised and mobilised to combat as if they were the sworn enemies. Further, they are misled to commit crimes of arsons, loots, firings and killings! Where the hell is the country heading now?
Whether it is the AAP-turned-BJP leader Kapil Mishra, millionaire AAP Councillor Tahir Hussein, or lawyer-turned-politician Waris Pathan and others, all have galvanised gullible people into taking the law into their own hands, butchering people and setting their houses on fire for in Noetheast Delhi for no fault of theirs.
Who cares? Law and order is the state subject issue. Maintaining peace and social harmony is the government’s duty to ensure.
However, in a filmy style, the Chief Minister of the Capital simply pops up in the assembly and seeks to know how it happened, giving an impression that he knew nothing as to how it stemmed out. He looked to be more in the Opposition rather than a part of the government.
What happened in those days in the Capital is a shame on humanity, a blot on Indian democracy that can’t be washed away. However, corrective and preventive measures must be taken. Accountability has to be fixed, whether it is failure of the state administration or central machinery, or if it is the handiwork of a handful of political goons. Probity in the probe has to be crystal clear.
Those who are weakening the social fabric of the country need to be curbed, controlled and taught a lesson. Justice must be delivered in a time-bound manner. If there is a timeline and deadline for paying taxes and salaries to those engaged in work, why can’t there be a dateline for delivery of justice in the country?
The law of the land must be a deterrent for everybody, signifying the legal dictum “be you never so high the law is above you.” Currently, what is happening is ‘little thieves are hanged, but great ones escape’. The public psychosis is that there is ‘one law for the rich and another for the poor’. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi says he is committed to the philosophy of justice for all, he must ensure it across the length and breadth of the country.
Else, you never know, one of us could be a victim tomorrow. Campaigns need to be launched throughout the country for social harmony, and education should be imparted for developing bond among people.