(Hi friends! Though www.spreadlaw.blogspot.com is dedicated only for spreading legal awareness but I am writing on a different subject. Will soon create a personal blog for this. Please bear! )
By Sumit Nagpal
It was such a hectic day coming to an end when I was moving towards my office after doing the story from Delhi High Court. Suddenly I got a call from someone that Prashant Bhushan has been attacked. Immediately, I rushed back to Supreme Court to see what is happening. We got the news and everyone got something to talk about. From Anna to Digvijay, all condemned attack on Prashant Bhushan in one voice.
I also tweeted that I condemn this attack on a lawyer. But the next moment, I got a question in my mind! Why? Why is that the some of our youth are behaving like fanatics? What has lead to the frustration among our youth that is so extreme that they are ready to break law in their own hands? Why is that they are no more deterred by law? I was surprised to see that all the political parties and leaders are condemning this attack but not a single one offers a solution! Not a single one tries to analyse that what is the reason behind this frustration.
I kept thinking about it and soon I realised that this is a problem which, if not looked upon, will create such a situation that we shall not be able to handle. Our political class is not realising that we are sitting on a pressure chamber which can explode anytime.
Reasons behind growing intolerance among Hindu youth
Appeasement of minorities
India is a victim of vote bank politics. The same results in appeasement of minorities. Every party wants to encash the votes of minorities and to do that the Hindu youth gets to hear the statements of likes of Digvijay Singh. In his visit to Azamgarh after the Batala House encounter took place, Digvijay Singh hinted that the encounter might be 'fake'. What impression would this statement have created in the minds of young people who saw Inspector Mohan Chandra Sharma losing his life in that encounter? Was Mr. Digvijay Singh an investigator to know this?
What would have a young Hindu boy thought when he would have heard the Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh saying that Muslims have first right over the national resources of the country? I want to ask the PM, Is the agony of a poor Muslim is better than that of a poor Hindu? Why to make such a distinction? Can't we say our national resources are for poorest of poor no matter what is their religion?
Alienation
Another major reason of rise in the frustration is a feeling of alienation from the ruling party. Whenever someone raises his voice for Hindu cause, his voice is immediately discredited by terming him as communal, RSS agent etc. In addition, there is almost no effort on the part of the government to reach out to people raising these voices. Shouldn't the political class of the country, specially, the ruling party try to reach out to these people and try to convince them that the interests of the majority community are also being taken care of? Will their voices end by just calling them, RSS agent or people of communal mindset? Why only Hindus are accused of being communal? Are Muslims of Kashmir not communal who had thrown out Kashmiri Pundits from the valley? Why this tag only for Hindus standing up for their own cause?
Tolerance
We all know India is a tolerant country, but should this tolerance be absolute? Why our government fails take action when likes of Arundhati Roy, Prashant Bhushan and Geelani openly express their voices that Kashmir should be given independence? Similarly when M F Hussain insults Hindu Gods and Goddesses, why the government remains a mute spectator? Could M F Hussain have survived if he had painted the Prophet in an Islamic country? I don't say that we should have hanged Hussain, but he could have been asked to tender an apology! Why are we tolerant to everything? Why our government remains a mute spectator even if the separatists from Kashmir come and spit on our faces in the heart of the capital? Why there is a FIR against Subramaniun Swamy and no action against Hussain? Are Hindus not entitled to protect the honours of their Gods and Goddesses? I must say that the political class needs to look into this aspect too!
Leadership vacuum
India is a country where more than 80% of the population consists of Hindus, but even after 60 years of independence, not a single political party has been able to provide effective leadership to this community. The BJP which came in power twice also failed to deliver on the core issues which led the party to power. I am not touching the Ram Mandir issue here but on other fronts like Uniform Civil Code, removal of Article 370 from Kashmir are such issues that an ordinary voter felt cheated. BJP might have their own explanations for that but the issue remains that these things could not be done.
Conclusion
The political class of this country must understand that there is a growing frustration among a class of Hindus and this issue needs immediate attention. Leaders like Digvijay Singh must understand that appeasement of one community may lead to anger in another class. The government of the day must try to reach out to this section of the society rather than just discrediting them by calling them RSS agent. And I am concerned and afraid that if this is not done soon, we may see more such incidents like what happened with Prashant Bhushan. Tomorrow, it may be Digvijay Singh and a day may come when BJP leaders may have to face the anger of some people for betraying them. I really hope sanity prevails and we become a better nation in the days to come.
By Sumit Nagpal
It was such a hectic day coming to an end when I was moving towards my office after doing the story from Delhi High Court. Suddenly I got a call from someone that Prashant Bhushan has been attacked. Immediately, I rushed back to Supreme Court to see what is happening. We got the news and everyone got something to talk about. From Anna to Digvijay, all condemned attack on Prashant Bhushan in one voice.
I also tweeted that I condemn this attack on a lawyer. But the next moment, I got a question in my mind! Why? Why is that the some of our youth are behaving like fanatics? What has lead to the frustration among our youth that is so extreme that they are ready to break law in their own hands? Why is that they are no more deterred by law? I was surprised to see that all the political parties and leaders are condemning this attack but not a single one offers a solution! Not a single one tries to analyse that what is the reason behind this frustration.
I kept thinking about it and soon I realised that this is a problem which, if not looked upon, will create such a situation that we shall not be able to handle. Our political class is not realising that we are sitting on a pressure chamber which can explode anytime.
Reasons behind growing intolerance among Hindu youth
Appeasement of minorities
India is a victim of vote bank politics. The same results in appeasement of minorities. Every party wants to encash the votes of minorities and to do that the Hindu youth gets to hear the statements of likes of Digvijay Singh. In his visit to Azamgarh after the Batala House encounter took place, Digvijay Singh hinted that the encounter might be 'fake'. What impression would this statement have created in the minds of young people who saw Inspector Mohan Chandra Sharma losing his life in that encounter? Was Mr. Digvijay Singh an investigator to know this?
What would have a young Hindu boy thought when he would have heard the Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh saying that Muslims have first right over the national resources of the country? I want to ask the PM, Is the agony of a poor Muslim is better than that of a poor Hindu? Why to make such a distinction? Can't we say our national resources are for poorest of poor no matter what is their religion?
Alienation
Another major reason of rise in the frustration is a feeling of alienation from the ruling party. Whenever someone raises his voice for Hindu cause, his voice is immediately discredited by terming him as communal, RSS agent etc. In addition, there is almost no effort on the part of the government to reach out to people raising these voices. Shouldn't the political class of the country, specially, the ruling party try to reach out to these people and try to convince them that the interests of the majority community are also being taken care of? Will their voices end by just calling them, RSS agent or people of communal mindset? Why only Hindus are accused of being communal? Are Muslims of Kashmir not communal who had thrown out Kashmiri Pundits from the valley? Why this tag only for Hindus standing up for their own cause?
Tolerance
We all know India is a tolerant country, but should this tolerance be absolute? Why our government fails take action when likes of Arundhati Roy, Prashant Bhushan and Geelani openly express their voices that Kashmir should be given independence? Similarly when M F Hussain insults Hindu Gods and Goddesses, why the government remains a mute spectator? Could M F Hussain have survived if he had painted the Prophet in an Islamic country? I don't say that we should have hanged Hussain, but he could have been asked to tender an apology! Why are we tolerant to everything? Why our government remains a mute spectator even if the separatists from Kashmir come and spit on our faces in the heart of the capital? Why there is a FIR against Subramaniun Swamy and no action against Hussain? Are Hindus not entitled to protect the honours of their Gods and Goddesses? I must say that the political class needs to look into this aspect too!
Leadership vacuum
India is a country where more than 80% of the population consists of Hindus, but even after 60 years of independence, not a single political party has been able to provide effective leadership to this community. The BJP which came in power twice also failed to deliver on the core issues which led the party to power. I am not touching the Ram Mandir issue here but on other fronts like Uniform Civil Code, removal of Article 370 from Kashmir are such issues that an ordinary voter felt cheated. BJP might have their own explanations for that but the issue remains that these things could not be done.
Conclusion
The political class of this country must understand that there is a growing frustration among a class of Hindus and this issue needs immediate attention. Leaders like Digvijay Singh must understand that appeasement of one community may lead to anger in another class. The government of the day must try to reach out to this section of the society rather than just discrediting them by calling them RSS agent. And I am concerned and afraid that if this is not done soon, we may see more such incidents like what happened with Prashant Bhushan. Tomorrow, it may be Digvijay Singh and a day may come when BJP leaders may have to face the anger of some people for betraying them. I really hope sanity prevails and we become a better nation in the days to come.
