Where is secular India going?

India as far as we have known has been secular. It has been a home to various religions and atheist traditions. Even though it seemed polarized, the polarization has never been as strong as it is today. Indian society has never patronized any particular religion as a sectarian society would. This is actually a proven fact since Hinduism, the largest religion of India is an evolution of religious and theological beliefs of various peoples of India settled over various periods in the whole region's history. Hinduism is not the ideology of one person or a few people. In fact, we can never point at one person as the founder of this great faith. This is a well known fact and is also a very important facet of whole political system of this great country. Unity in diversity has been the foundation on which the Indian society has thrived on over the past centuries.

Seeing the way Indian politicians have been using or abusing the minority and majority for their own advantage and creating vote banks has been a sad reflection on how the thin line between tolerance and intolerance has been totally violated. There has never been a consensus between the ruling and opposition parties in India ever over any issue. Using the people to gain power and causing communal tension has become so matter of fact these days. We can not blame just the sectarian communalist parties and organizations for this. Even the so-called "secular" parties of India have been thriving on creating vote banks out of the minority. If this is going to continue, we can keep dreaming about the super-power we want to create here.

This blog is actually a result of various incidents that have been happening in India. Probably we blame the politicians a lot more than the projectors of politicians. As a people we can be easily influenced. This characteristic nature of the average Indian has been, I should say very well exploited. We have been made to think that a community is dangerous time and again by the newsreaders in some television station. Once people start identifying communities with terrorism the polarizing of society starts to take place. Other communities try to stay away from the branded community. This creates a rift between people. Now when one community is branded, the people actually do not try to salvage the lost credibility of the community. Contrary to that fact, the actually start to indulge in various heinous activities which actually damage the community beyond repair. Now that the media has created a monster called Hindu terror, people start to idolize people like Col. Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya just the way Muslims have for long now revered Osama bin Laden and al Zawahiri.

If this is the plight of the media, politicians are worse. People who comment when a blast happens in the name of Jihad, keep quiet when the same thing happens for the sake of a Hindu Rashtra. In fact they go to the extent of giving the terror accused legal support. This is just one side of the coin. The principal of a very distinguished university offered legal help to the accused in Delhi blasts too. But two wrongs never make a right. India not so long ago had a Sikh prime-minister and a Muslim president at the helm. Wherever did that go. India has for long been inherently secular unlike America where opponents criticize other's religious beliefs and the criticized does all his best to prove his religious beliefs to be of the majority.

India needs to guard against polarization or it might become the undoing of a society which is infused with diverse cultures and religions. For this, the politicians and the media need to stop te act of polarization at once. Graduality in this case can never be a solution.

I searched for God among the Christians and on the Cross and therein I found Him not.
I went into the ancient temples of idolatry; no trace of Him was there.
I entered the mountain cave of Hira and then went as far as Qandhar but God I found not.
With set purpose I fared to the summit of Mount Caucasus and found there only 'anqa's habitation.
Then I directed my search to the Kaaba, the resort of old and young; God was not there even.
Turning to philosophy I inquired about him from ibn Sina but found Him not within his range.
I fared then to the scene of the Prophet's experience of a great divine manifestation only a "two bow-lengths' distance from him" but God was not there even in that exalted court.
Finally, I looked into my own heart and there I saw Him; He was nowhere else.


Rumi.


makes a hell a lot of sense.. doesn it??

i dont think of harris jeyaraj much.. but this song of his has gotten stuck in my head.. mundhinam paarthene from vaaranam aayiram.. a very catchy tune ad vibrant voices rendering it has made it into a really soul soothing number... it is being pictured on surya and simran.. simran looks extremely pretty in the movie... i just dont care about surya... he is a decent actor and thats about it.. coming back to te song.. it has some good lyric too.. the lyric is refreshingly different from all the crap that is being written these days.. on the whole the song is going to be an all time classic.. it can never become a runaway hit because of its very polished style...