All right-thinking Indians should unequivocally denounce the right-wing fundamentalists who threatened M.M. Basheer, a Malayali scholar, into giving up his column in the Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi. Remaining silent or sitting on the fence on the issue would bring nothing but ignominy upon the very idea of Hinduism, which in its essence stands for tolerance.
One is a Hindu whether or not one visits a temple; whether or not one reads a certain holy book; whether or not one follows a certain set of rituals; whether or not one believes in this, that or the other God. That is why Hinduism was different from all other isms. Always. That is why Hinduism was never so much a religion, as a way of life, which was also adopted, absorbed and assimilated by all the other religions that came in contact with it. And Hinduism had every reason to be proud of what it stood for: A rich way of life.
But this exalted position of Hinduism stands seriously eroded and threatened amidst the petty bigotry, the threats to Basheer and others like him. It is exactly the same extremism of a misplaced “Hindutva” that lead some misdirected elements of society to murder Kalburgi, or Dhabolkar or Panasare and even Gandhi; or others of the same ilk (like a member of Bajrang Dal) to “welcome’ the assassination of these rationalists.”
ndia has been home to Muslims for well over a millennium, and their contribution to the arts, culture and literature is an essential part of what India is today. And for the same reason, Muslims in India are as much Indians as its Hindus. Raking up trouble deliberately seems to be the pastime of the communalists, whether Hindus or Muslims, who seem to be happy dividing a large mass of uneducated and unskilled population along radical lines. They seem to be achieving their ends because a large segment of main-stream segments remain mute spectators to these radical elements.
If the government wants to be seen as truly progressive, both economically, socially and culturally, they must come down on these radicals with a heavy hand, and not let them shoot using the ruling party’s shoulders, even indirectly.
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