Anything about a countries political scenario has to have a resemblance with the country’s CONSTITUTION. And when we talk about Indian communalism the constitution itself is questioned. It is an interesting fact that the country that boasts of being secular in the international forum did not define themselves in the same way till 1976, which is till thirty years after independence. And funnily even after the forty-second amendment the word was mentioned only in the preamble and nowhere else.
So does it reflect some kind of hypocrisy that a country was based on principles of secularism and did not have the word in their constitution for thirty years, and when it was finally introduced the word was singularly restricted within the ambit of the preamble only? These facts are enough to give rise to a sense of insecurity and confusion for many who still loves to think that “Mother India” loves all her children equally. But the sense of pessimism has been encouraged again and again. Sometimes through the Sikh riots and sometimes through the incidents like Babri Masjid.
And horribly enough even with India stepping in the 21st century with a never before economic growth rate elections in India can be easily won by playing the “hindutva” card. Narendra Modi a person who brought so much development to the state of Gujarat was not assured by his hard work but was satisfied with the knowledge of strategic communal politics in order to ensure that he will be called back in the state legislative for the next five years again. In very vivid words it is a matter of shame how the legislature and the politicians have been cheating the common Indian for a prolonged period.
Corruption and all other issues are undoubtedly black spots on the nation but compromising with the very principles on which the nation was built is simply unacceptable. More so when the compromise is invited on grounds of humanitarian ethics. The only places where a lot of communal harmony could be seen are places like Goa , West-Bengal, Kerala and Tripura and few more. What is to be noted in this regard is that barring a few exceptions these states have never recorded much of communal violence.
But while highlighting on the peace procedures, one can easily make out the amount of communalism hidden. In Bengal for instance a large amount of discontent is growing within the mass as the government in order, not to disturb the peace has given unofficial relaxations to the religious minorities. For example the police department will make sure that no Hindu festivals use sound boxes after a time span, where as the complaints regarding the namaaz readings on mike round the clock has gone un-attended.
So this is a clear situation where the government trying to portray secular ideas end up giving rise to communal dis-satisfaction. It is indeed a rosy picture to see that a Sikh Prime Minister who was sworned in by a Muslim President is ruling the nation which is massively Hindu dominated. It gives people a sense of superiority when someone says India still has a bigger Muslim population than Pakistan which separated from the mainland with an intention of raising an Islamic nation.
But the key point to be addressed is, are we doing enough to safeguard the principles that once encouraged our freedom fighters to risk their lives for the liberty. A time is coming when people will start recognising that their constitution shows them what they want to see and sheds of its responsibility after that without truly believing in them. The only hope is even if the legislature, the politicians and the executive keep on showing traits of communalism in their actions, the common Indian is still secular from deep inside.
