“In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you” – Buddha
Hindus are in majority in India. But, since my childhood I heard a phrase that Hindus are “Sarva Dharma Sahishnute”. I grew up with Hindus of all castes and creed and I found their company very warm. So if a few are asking for India to be called as Hindustan, forget them. We go with the majority of Hindus. Whatever be the ideas of these few people or the forces driving them, we believe and trust the majority who will never agree for renaming India as Hindustan and Hindu as our Nationality.
This is the time when we need to understand as to what is the goal of the politicians?. They want power. Let them fight among themselves like Karnataka CM fighting with BJP member at Shivamogga and let them not spill the beans to us. Let that not affect us. We need not fear that we will be baptized by a new nationality- “Hindu”.
We will be free and our passports shall remain “Republic of India”. We will respect all religions and their holy books irrespective what these ruling and opposition political parties say. But, what we want is leadership from our elected representatives and the Prime Minister. We want them to be the doer of right things, transformational, establishers of clear vision for India and the states, developers of strategy and plans, concerned with people and their welfare, funds resourcing and funding, identifying problems, influencing the creation of teams, focused outwards, Risk takers, empowering others, concerned with influence, using conflict for the betterment of the State, challengers of the status-quo, producers of positive change and leaders who see the forest, not the trees. The statement of our Prime Minister which always said 1.25 billion people is an inclusive one and if a few people of his party, mentors or associates do or say some humbug things, can we judge all Hindus are of the same opinion? No, not at all. In fact, our population is our strength and our unity in diversity is at the core of our nation. We 1.25 billion people are the soul of India and our spirits are high and we will not allow any fringe elements to sabotage India.
We will never create a fear in the minds of citizens especially at this hour when the rogues and fanatics in all political parties, their mentors and associates sow the seed of hatred and poison the minds of people in religious lines for their selfish motive of acquiring power. Even all the media is hyper active in the interests of their TRP because majority of them are either owned or leaned towards political parties. A few are unbiased. Why the debates in news hours on TV cover only these intolerable incidents of hatred, mob lynching over food and all negative things? Why not they forget for a year and turn around and focus as leaders of change? There are many issues of necessities that they can debate and get solutions for it from thinkers, rationalists, film stars, politicians, ministers, and ordinary people. Let us have positive debates where we can bring out charters of change and give solutions to the problems of India on farmer suicides, irrigation, rain water harvesting, cleanliness, afforestation, planting trees, cleaning of lakes and culverts, keeping our homes and neighborhoods clean, supply of uninterrupted electricity and water, better roads, increase productivity, improving health facilities and the like.
If someone is planning to have one religion, single menu throughout India, only vegetarian, no meat eating but rearing for export, nationalizing all educational institutions all over the country, rewriting history books and the constitution, I must say that they are not with the spirit of India. If someone thinks that they can suppress the voice of millions of Indians, then they are wrong, because we are by birth Indians and we will pass on this gift from our parents to the next generation. We will till the lands, increase our productivity and accept challenges of hardship but we will never quit India. These kind of thinkers are like rotten mangoes in a basket of good mangoes and no one will take them.
What is freedom and constitution? Real freedom is now, when we can talk positively about India that we can still own lands, continue education, invest and increase profit and support the fellow citizens instead of spreading hatred due to stray incidents. India is big and so are the hearts of Indians. Listen O politicians, “Mahatma Gandhi, Abdul Kalam, Mother Theresa died and so also NathuramGodse and Hitler. The world remembers these people, but the first 3 for the good they did and the latter 2 for the worst things they did. Let people remember you for the good you did after your life. Motivate your people down the line, create employment, give them good education, and distribute wealth”.
No one will ever write a uniform civil code and everyone will recognize the laws of other faiths. There will not be any uniform dress code for men and women, no one will dictate one language across the country and everyone has the constitutional right to protest and it will not be taken away. The armed forces of our nation is an example for us and so also the millions of non-resident Indians who miss the smell of India and want our India to be a best nation to live without fear.
We will not tolerate any nonsense from a few. All will have religious freedom and can eat what they want. The constitution is the most supreme and all will abide by it and if someone plans to bypass they should be the ones who should be called traitors and no other way round. So in India, forget the few who want all of these things that do not represent the India of centuries. India will emerge stronger because of their actions. Wheat and weeds grow together, if we remove the weeds, then it will harm the wheat. Let both grow together but come harvest day, the next general election, the weeds will be burnt and wheat will go to the barns. March ahead with out of the box thinking and forget the few who are less than 1% of 1.25 billion Indians.
About the Author:
Valerian Dalmaida is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India since 27 years and a Social Thinker. Presently working at Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Newskarnataka.com and Newskarnataka.com does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
