By Ravi Kant
India – a country, which is eminent for its culture, history, values, ethics, etc. Its a place where glorious battles have been fought and a country, which gave birth to deluge of men of letters. But, Alas! It is also a place where there had been bias and discrimination on the basis of religion, caste and class as well as gender, which is still prominent in many unheard corners of India.
When British invaded India, they had a policy of divide and rule which was based on the lines of communalism. The word communalism creates lots of havoc and catastrophic consequences. It gave nothing to humanity except hatred, jealousy, and most important bloodshed. The horrific riots at the time of partition of India in 1947 cannot be forgotten or erased from the pages of the history of India. These riots sowed the seeds of discord and soured the relationship between Hindus and Muslims whose bitterness is still omnipresent in this country. It created many psychological norms against each other.
The very idea of India is based on the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity. Even the Preamble in our Constitution says, WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens India is known for its Unity in Diversity. It believes in the theory of Equality and most importantly, Secularism which means all religions are equal and no discrimination should be based on it. It believes in respecting diverse culture and different linguistic approach of the people. These are some of the ideologies, which our Constitution of India and our values encompass. Yet, in spite of all these communal carnage and riots, it helps us to belittle the idea of India.
There is a long saga of communal violence in India. The Godhara riots were a shuddering episode for India, which she had never encountered except at the time of partition. The communal carnage in Gujarat shook the whole world. More than 2000 people were diabolically killed. This communal carnage began with burning of S-6 Coach of the Sabarmati Express. Another instance of communal riots is demolishing of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya in 1992, which really at that time belittled the idea of India. This incident questioned the principle of SECULARISM in India. The question erupted in the minds of every individual Is India a secular country? The absurd reason for demolishing the mosque was that the 16th Century Mosque was located at that site; on the birthplace of the Hindus Lord Rama and that a temple had to be built there. The communal violence, which occurred against the Sikhs just after the assassination of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, is synonymous to Genocide. This riot tried to obliterate the whole species called Sikhs. More than 1000s of people lost their life especially in Delhi, Bokaro Steel City, Kanpur, etc. There was an atmosphere of uncertainty, communal violence and curfew in those times.
From the above discussion, we can infer that the idea of India is very big, where it talks about secularism, culture, values, ethics, equality, etc. but at the same time there are prejudices and communalism that belittles the idea of India. That leads us to formulation about another idea of India which is the sum total of our prejudices. Hence the one side of India is projected beautifully, but when we look at the other side of the coin about India, its own people of India encourage jealousy, hatred and distrust against one another that helps us to justify that communal riots belittle the idea of India.
Ravi Kant holds Economics Honors degree from Ramjas College, University of Delhi. He likes researching in the areas of Economics, Strategy, Politics, English Literature and Social Issues. Besides that he loves watching Parallel and offbeat Cinemas of Bollywood. He aspires to be a well-known and an eminent Consultant in the area of Economics and Strategy. Presently he is doing his MBA from Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Hyderabad.