Sunday, August 2, 2009

Secular India


Indira Gandhi once answered in an interview that our major achievement after 30 years of independence is that we have "survived" as a nation. At first look it appears intangible but "survival" has a deeper meaning. A nation that was predicted to disintegrate after its 10 years of independence stands united still.Against all odds we are united atleast claim of being so.

And now we have her followers claiming to be secular and implementing all sorts of beneficial policies for the "reeling sections". The dream of secular India seems to be coming true...or does it not. Recently,Emraan Hashmi expressed the hassles he is facing in Mumbai. Is he really? or is it just a popularity stunt? Well..truth is yet to be unveiled. But one thing is for sure, disputes do subsist. From vociferous rallies to extremely unfortunate riots we have many "replies" to such disputes. Some may call it Fanticism ..some religious war and some even an uprising. It appears as if God is the One creating all disputes.

Reality ....?? It is all in our minds. Almost all of us narrow our eyes and may be even give a frosted nose stare to a person of a different community amongst ours . We commit several mistakes and are ready to forgive ourselves. But when it comes to others our scepticism suddenly rises. Agreed it is very human to just care for oneself and forget about others . And such behaviour has crept into the Indian society for long now. But also it is humanity to develop a level of susceptibility .

Talking specifically about India , we boast of being the most diverse nation in the world. Caste,Colour,Creed,Religion,Language ..name it and we have got it. So how does susceptibility develops with such a variety.Clashes are bound to happen. A routine for one may be blasphemy for other. For about 6 centuries now Indians are resolving disputes and developing new. And obviously we have the "sufferers" and the "benefactors".The former being many times of the latter in numbers. Infact, Empires have been created harnessing such differences.And they still keep on existing, probably more intense than ever before.

So ..? Is the dream shattering? We all know the answers. Evidently the steps taken to abolish discriminations are developing new ones. Policies made by the demagogues are not helping. It is left to the people, yet again, to realize the dream. Its just your perception .