Incidents:
1. Students of private medical College, belonging to varied faith were assaulted in Surathkal by Hindu activist group.
2. A man belonging to Hindu faith in Bengaluru was assaulted by Muslim crowd for providing lift to a Muslim woman.
3. Activists from an organisation distribute Trishool during Ayudha Pooja. Leader of the same organisation in a video found stating: “India is not a secular nation and that is a country for Hindus.”
India today, is in a very fragile and vulnerable stage of communalism. The trust, love and oneness once existed among the people of the nation is being brutally massacred with the infused religious hegemony. From the British set foundation to destroy the thin line of existing religious febricity and build the wall of doubt and hatred among the people of various religion, our country is drowning in the ocean of poisonous communalism.
There exists an atmosphere wherein the aiding hands of ‘person with different faith’ is considered as ‘a milk mixed with poison for the one who is thirsty’. Interaction, acquaintance and friendship among the people belonging to different faiths is now in need of qualification and verification certificate by certain sections of the society. A religious fest like Ayudha (tool) Pooje which began as a practice to seek the prosperity in wealth and crops by performing certain rituals to farming equipments, has now been deviated to showcase the strength and instill fear among other communities. Statements against the unity and integrity of the nation are no less in public arena.
Sociologist cum Economist Karl Marx stated: “Religion is a opium of mass”. Thus, the addiction of the same has reached to an extent wherein rationality, accepting the infallibility are no more a part of a human when it is the matter of religion. Anxiety and rage have stood as an outcome of the consumption of this opium.
As Gandhiji rightly said, “There can be no politics without a religion.” At the same time, Communalism in India is a part and parcel politically-coloured religion. At this vulnerable and dangerous juncture, the need is Comprehension, Emphasis and Utilisation of Constitutional values.
Each student when coming out as a graduate has to be enriched with Constitution and the ideas enshrined in it, so that when embracing one’s own religion, people will also learn to respect tolerate and accept the religion of others aiming to form a peaceful humanitarian society.
Image by James Henry
