Being an Indian 2

From wrongfully venting anger by some to peeing in the pants by others! The Taslima Nasreen issue is truly an embarrassment for the UPA government. "A secular state is a state or country that is officially neutral in matters of religion, neither supporting nor opposing any particular religious beliefs or practices. A secular state also treats all its citizens equally regardless of religion, and does not give preferential treatment for a citizen from a particular religion over other religions." But this government seems to bend to every whimper that a particular organization , claiming to represent a minority, produces. I would have expected the government to stand up to the insane protests by certain biased groups, and assert it's initial move to keep and protect Taslima in Calcutta. But it is evident from recent developments that this is just another spineless bunch of politicians! She is not a terrorist! She is not a criminal! She wrote some anti-islamic stuff( which i think is mere personal opinion - applaud it or condemn it - don't run around hunting for her blood!)! She has also retracted some portions of her book after incessant protests over the years! And she can't lead a normal life in a free democratic country like India? What utter nonsense. Are we really the great democratic nation where everybody's rights (not their outrageous wishes) are respected and protected? Add to this the violent protests and innumerable court cases against actresses expressing their personal opinion about pre-marital sex! it is like we have the freedom of speech as long as we say what some people want to hear! condemning a statement is perfectly fine! But all this effigy burning, violent rallies, lawsuits, 'fatwas' etc? Maybe Saddam's regime was fairer?

Being an Indian

I was always proud to be an Indian. It always fascinated how such a heterogeneous society survives as a nation despite all differences in language, religion and views! But of late, i've got my doubts if India is the happy 'Unity in Diversity' nation that has always been projected in our textbooks. We have so much hatred in our country! North vs South, Hindu vs Muslim, Tamil vs Kannada, Upper Caste vs Lower Caste and many others! Every nation has it's differences.But the differences in India seem to always cross the words sphere and spill out onto the streets and affect the common man. Politics is not an easy job. Governing a group of people,be it of any size, is a momentous task. But many politicians seem to play petty mud slinging games to garner votes. They don't understand the horrific implications of their words and actions. The Godhra incident is one such example. A train full of innocent people was burnt. It was full of hindus! Till today nobody has effectively proved who did it. But since the victims were Hindus, it was assumed the perpetrators were muslims. Then all hell broke loose. The handful of miscreants , muslim or any other, might still be roaming the earth. But hundreds of innocents had no idea what was going to hit them when an politician brain washed army of saffron came and slaughtered them. Many politicians and educated youth, till date, shamelessly support this action as a fitting reply to the Godhra incident. They think this will silence the islamic militants once for all! What they don't understand is that while the actual terrorists have not been punished , they have successfully turned hordes of innocent people into extremists. They have just played another bloody episode of the vicious circle of violence! We might have to witness many more of these insane retaliations and counter retaliations which will result in huge human casualties. I don't know how the hindutva feel they are any different from blood mongering terrorists like Al Qaeda! The biggest shame is that the people who participated in this crime, are considered to be true guardian angels of Hinduism! Is this what they learnt from the Bhagvad Gita? I think a murderer in any guise is still a criminal! Let him be Hindu or Muslim! I salute all the doctors who save lives regardless of caste, creed, race or religion! Taking lives is very easy. Saving a life is extremely difficult. When you lose respect for a fellow human being's life your religious beliefs & education come to a naught and you cease to exist as a human. Today in our country, we're so busy defending our religion, caste, race, language, community, that we have lost any sense of Indianess! God, whom we don't see, is able evoke such emotions in us which are not stirred a bit looking at our fellow human beings who are very much visible! Why? Like in the movie , 'Apocalypto', THE END OF A CIVILIZATION DOES NOT COME FROM OUTSIDE BUT FROM WITHIN! We have supposedly the most learned civilization on earth! But witnessing these horrors, I'm afraid our golden ages are over!