|
Prime
ministerial aspirant L K Advani and VHP’s international
president Ashok Singhal are gentlemen that is when they
are not talking politics. So too Gujarat chief minister
Narendra Modi, now riding the 'development' wagon is a
patriot.
But they don't seem to know yet that their good
intentions to build a prosperous and peaceful nation are
jeopardized by their own acts of omission and
commission. Perhaps it may be a certain guilt that
persuaded the peace-loving Singhal to appeal to the
Muslim religious leaders the other day to issue a
'fatwa' calling upon Muslim groups to declare India as
Dar-ul Aman (land of peace) as opposed to Dar-ul
Harb (land where jihad is legitimate)
One of the VHP's outfits had sent letters to 13 Muslim
groups calling upon them to issue fatwas,
according to indications, has shot the letters to some
Muslim leaders as part of the image building efforts of
the BJP in the context of the forthcoming general
elections.
He may not be unaware of the Darul Uloom Deoband's
declaration at a massive rally held in Deoband (town in
UP) last year that “Islam was against any kind of
violence, of which terrorism is the worst
manifestation.” It is quite likely that because of the
VHP's deep-rooted anti-minority mindset, such positive
developments are simply distrusted or made light of.
However in response to the letter, Mufti Mohammad Khalid
Qasmi, a senior member of Darul Uloom said : “We all
love our country and don't see any space for terrorism.
We have issued more fatwas against terrorists
than any other organization. Those who bring up the
issue time and again are the enemies of the country.”
Another spokesman of a Muslim organization is reported
to have posed a counter question to Mr Singhal: “We have
issued fatwas against terrorism. All Deoband
clerics have done so. Can the Hindutva leaders
issue a similar condemnation against those involved in
the Malegaon blasts? Terrorists are butchers. They don't
belong to any religion.”
That indeed is a good question. It is a few
fundamentalists who bring bad name to the whole
community. It is unfortunate that the Muslim community
feels harassed by the prejudices generated by
thoughtless reporting by media and often equally by the
insensitive conduct of the police.
With the Indian Constitution granting equality to all
its citizens without regard to race or religion, it is
absurd for one section of people to be questioning the
loyalty of another section to this nation because of
differences in religious beliefs or on other grounds.
The VHP, in its letter, has expressed concern over
Muslim youths getting drawn to the paths of violence
because of an overdose of religion. The holy book of
Islam, the VHP had alleged, had the potential to
motivate misguided youths to take to arms.
It is true scriptures are misinterpreted by fanatical
elements. This holds good to followers of most
religions. But blaming Muslims for all the terrorism or
falsely accusing Christians of converting through
fraudulent means are not the best ways of ensuring peace
and progress of this nation. Right from the demolition
of Babri Masjid to the recent atrocities on Christians,
extremist elements have many things to answer for. It
will be worthwhile for Singhal to examine the ways of
extremist elements around him and supported by him
before pointing an accusing finger at others.
Through repeating lies and planting them in the media
and in the minds of illiterate masses, seeds of hatred
are being sown in society. While going on sowing hatred,
no one can expect peace to blossom out of them.
Ours is a pluralistic society with people professing
many faiths and creeds. They hail from varies
backgrounds. There are conflicts of interests and
engaging in the blame game is not the best way of
ensuring harmony. Singhal with his avowed patriotism
must be able to see that others following other
religions than his own are equally patriotic and love
peace.
Let not the 'patriotic spirit' be narrowly defined as
that of hating others and holding out as superior one's
own culture to the exclusion of all others. Patriotism
is not narrowness of mind or vision. All civilizations
all over the world have contributed to human progress
and the Creator expects us all to live under the one sky
respecting one another and ensuring justice and
righteousness so that there is no cause for hatred and
violence.
Often patriotism (or even nationalism)has degenerated
into a narrow kind of exclusivism and jing-oism. Eminent
thinkers like Tagore and Tolstoy had extensively written
about the dangers of such a trend. Recently the BJP has
also come up with their demand for instilling more
patriotism in school text books. Yes, children should
come to love the nation without learning to hate other
peoples. The kind of patriotism that teaches to hate
should be abhorrence to all.
Writing in 1900, Tolstoy observed: “Patriotism as a
feeling of exclusive love for one's own people and as a
doctrine of the virtue of sacrificing one's tranquility,
one's property and even one's life in defense of one's
own people from slaughter and outrage by the enemies was
the highest idea of the period when each nation
considered it feasible and just, for its own advantage,
to subject to slaughter and outrage the people of other
nations.” The times have changed. Tolstoy then foresaw a
time “when to call a man a patriot will be the deepest
insult you can offer him. Patriotism now means
advocating plunder in the interests of the privileged
classes of the particular system into which we have
happened to be born.”
The present period of civilization and technology are
the results of contributions from peoples from all parts
of the globe. We who keep reciting that the world is one
family (Vasudaiva Kutumbakam) should at least
learn to tolerate the ones in whose midst God has placed
us.
You must be the change you wish to see in the world,'
this exhortation from the father of the nation is a para-phrasing
of the Biblical instruction that we cannot take out the
speck from our brother's eye until we remove the 'beams'
from our own eyes.
|
