The re-elected BJP government, within a period of 2 and a half years, took sensitive issues to shake the very foundation of the Indian nation. It seems that BJP is in a continuous hurry to solve all communal issues within 5 years.
In this 21st century, while the world is moving towards progress, BJP took the centuries-old religious issues to target one particular community. Wrongs done in past can’t be corrected now. These things happened in theocratic India. Now, India is a secular democratic country.
Therefore, there is no need to dig the past once again to let the wounds of every community bleed again. Instead, the present government must behave rationally and take the lessons from the past to end the widened gap between communities.
We Should Blame Rulers Not Subjects
Searching for heroes in history books, that too from the ruling class, is not a good choice. If it is necessary to blame anyone while reading India’s horrid past, then one should accuse the rulers of the country who belonged to different religions and communities. It was the greed of money and hunger for power that encouraged the kings to hit the interests of poor people.
Very few rulers, dynasties and empires did something great for miserable people. But such examples are very rare. Most of the kings spent lavishly on luxuries of life.
Out of the state revenue, they built a few religious buildings such as temples and mosques to please the God-fearing people of the country and spent rest of the money in building magnificent palaces for themselves and used some portion of revenue to raise a huge army to protect their lofty mansions.
The ancient and medieval monuments standing today don’t please me anymore. It may be a symbol of glory for someone, but to me, they are symbols of slavery. These long-standing structures were meant for the ruling class to show off their power and glory.
It is not justifiable to blame the subjects of the time who were helpless in front of these mighty rulers. Whether they were Hindus, Muslims or any other, they were burdened with high taxes. The masses were equally suppressed, be it a Hindu or Muslim. Rights were absent and people were well aware of their duties towards the state.
Is It Necessary To Recall The Horrors Of Partition?
The new India was made with the efforts of all religious groups. There is no doubt that every Muslim in India is a true Indian. The Muslims of India rejected the two-nation theory and wholeheartedly accepted the Indian constitution.
The way the BJP is running the government, it seems they are hell-bent on teaching Muslims as a lesson. Instead of looking forward, they go 75 years back to recall the horrors of partition. Since partition, radical Hindu nationalists still remember Jinnah’s two-nation theory. “India for Hindus and Pakistan for Muslims”.
If BJP has such kind of hate with Muslims, then it should go to war with Pakistan, as there live the Muslims who made a demand for a separate country at the time of independence. Indian Muslims decided to live here. They work along with other communities and are committed to taking India to new heights.
Drafting controversial bills to make draconian laws will not help India; instead, it will destroy India from within.
Misleading The People By Presenting Distorted Historical Facts
As we go through the history of the Indian subcontinent, we see it was not ruled by Muslims alone. Here ruled Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Muslims, British, etc. It is unfortunate that radical Hindus only remember one part of history, i.e. the medieval period, and give it a saffron colour.
They portray this period as the darkest period of Indian history. These mislead elements in the society call Muslims outsiders. Don’t they know their ancestors, i.e. Aryans? They were outsiders too.
If we go through the pages of Indian history, we see Aryans settled in India after the decline of the Indus valley civilisation. Before the Indus valley civilisation, there was a well-known stone-age culture in India. So we can see before the Aryans people lived in India for long.
Don’t dig history too much that all your myths are disclosed to the public. Be limited and specific while quoting history.
Lessons From The Past
BJP needs to learn from Indian history. Radical religious ideas never gained ground in India. After the Kalinga war (261 BC), king Ashoka changed his policy from Dig Vijaya to Dhamma Vijaya (i.e. from war to peace). Akbar’s secular policies were praised as well. Now see the fate of Aurangzeb, his policies many historians believe led to the disintegration of the Mughal state.
Are these examples not sufficient for BJP to learn from them? Till there is an Indian secular constitution, there is one united India. Once BJP tries to change it, many new states will emerge out of India. This happened many times in Indian history.
We have seen a united India under the Mauryas, Guptas, Sultanate and Mughal periods. After the decline of these powerful kingdoms, India got divided into many small states. BJP must keep in mind that if India is united today, it will meet with decline tomorrow by its communal policies.
Ignoring Minorities; A Big Mistake
BJP committed a big mistake to give Muslims a chance to unite. I feel a sense of unity among Indian Muslims, which was never visible since 1947. Some controversial bills like CAA, NPR, NRC mobilised them. In February 2020, for more than 2 months, Indian Muslims staged peaceful protests throughout the country to pressure the government to refrain from legislating such laws.
Next, we saw all this end in the shape of the Delhi violence. Presently we again see divided India over the Hijab row. There is an immediate need to prevent further damage to secularism. The journey of disintegration began years ago. The next few years will be very decisive. If not now, then it will be too late.
It is time to say “back to secular India” not “back to Vedas” (Swami Dayanand’s popular slogan). For ages, Hindus along with other minorities, lived together here. Now it seems the seeds of destruction that had been sown in the early 20th century (in the form of Hindu Mahasabha, RSS, etc.) are growing. It needs to be cut down before it ripens.
If we wait then we will not see one strong united India but many pieces of India.
A Sincere Effort To Save India
The beauty of India lies in its diverse races and cultural pluralism. The constitution gives every religious community a space to practise its religious beliefs without any compulsion. These rights are guaranteed by the constitution and nobody can steal them from us.
Attacking Part 3 of the constitution means attacking the soul of the constitution. These rights are enforceable by law. That is why one can move to the court after the violation of any fundamental right. The right to freedom of religion (Articles 25–28) is what makes India secular. The need of the hour is to protect them at any cost.
Let us take a pledge to prevent the secular thread of India by protecting every temple, mosque, gurdwara, church and other religious building. Time has come to form a united front against these miscreant religious bigots. We must not become a part of any propaganda or conspiracy that aims to throw away the minorities from the country.
As responsible citizens, we should make sincere efforts to protect the religious minorities of the country.