A lot is being said and heard about India being “Intolerant”
these days. One may wonder and keep digging through different sources to find
what exactly does “Intoleance” mean and what has painted India to be one
lately?
An unfortunate incident happens which shouldn’t have; but not
very different from what happens worldwide, especially rampant in underdeveloped
nations like India, and the entire intellectual layer starts whispering about India
getting intolerant. I wonder what it was when thousands of innocents were massacred
in Maharashtra as a backlash of Gandhiji’s murder, just because the killer
belonged to “their” community? Did this incident not raise questions, rather
affirmations on the endurance of the very principle of non-violence that Gandhiji
lived for, principles which sadly could not even live for 24 hours after his
death :-(.
And why were lakhs of Sikhs brutally killed in retaliation
to 2 Sikh bodyguards who killed Mrs. Indira Gandhi? Basically, this mental state
of generalizing and targeting communities, dislike towards everything that differs
from us and not gracefully considering or accepting other points of view had
always been there in Indian society. It’s like a disease which has always been there
and has killed many, but hasn’t got a medical name yet. This social disease
just got its name in India- “Intolerance”.
Indira declaring emergency to curb opposition or religious uprising
in Ayodhya was not termed “Intolerance” then. What painted our faith, rather
egos saffron and green was intolerance.
Intolerant had we been when we abused and cursed Yuvraj
Singh over the length and breadth of social media for not being in form in the
2014 T20 cricket world cup final, comfortably forgetting his lion’s share in
making India win the 2011 ICC World cup. Intolerant were we when we left no
stone unturned to even term Maria Sharapova a whore on Facebook, for she just
could not recognize Sachin Tendulkar.
I wonder why did none of the intellectuals and thinkers not
return awards in retaliation to the moral bankruptcy and judicial impotency in
cases where the Nirbhaya murderer wasn’t harshly punished being a juvenile, or
when Jayalalitha and Salman Khan were scot-free by the honourable courts, or
when lakhs and crores of exchequer money was being shamelessly sucked by the
politicians?
Why didn’t they raise their voice against the scores of
time, money, energy and judicial synergy literally wasted on deciding if Ayodhya
should have a temple or mosque? Could they not through their writing influence
masses to have both reside alongside, keeping aside the religious intolerance
to create an icon of true national integration that India could boast of?
And then we have our responsible media who responsibly spits
venom and keeps the masses engaged (and enraged) with loose talk and gossips. Don’t
they only add fuel to the already ignited matter, just to have their breads
baked?
We will remain intolerant in this manner till
the time we do not cleanse ourselves morally and have better things to think
about and being engaged with. A society addicted to hatred and paralyzed by the
negativity around is hardly bound to help itself. Hope stays alive though.
