Prevent communal and cultural atrophy Eugene Correia P rime Minister Narendra Modi's admonition to the people to shun communal violence comes not too early in this 68th year after Independence. To have asked for a " moratorium" is akin to pleading with adults to behave whereas the problem is both systemic and endemic to the Indian society. Though there are instances of communal violence in other parts of the world, India has been a victim of this malaise so frequently that it seems to be part of the Indian life.
Whereas Modi's focus is on industrializing India to a degree that " Made in India" is stamped on all goods around the globe. It may be a pie- in- the- sky dream and that would be overtaking China. A near- impossibility for at least another two decades. Modi's dream may not be fulfilled in his lifetime but it's a goal that he's set for generations to come. What's required now is societal reforms where Indians treat each other with respect and understanding. Indians should be away from each other's throat and, in fact, be in each other's embrace. Society moves faster when the second option is allowed to frame the mind and hearts. What one sees in present India is an ugly picture of social discord. Women have been treated with scant respect. It's shocking to see a woman fight off men while two personnel belonging to the public security forces stood mute and motionless. To watch the brave girl cry on TV made me hang my head in shame. The financial reward, though well- deserving, will not erase the collective memory of a nation humiliated and begging to be spared of such an incident in the future. This is not the India the people asked for when fighting the British. What they demand and got is a " proud" nation and a forthright political state in the comity of nations. Goa too came into the Indian federation on strong bonds of communal harmony unheard and unseen in the rest of India. Though there were few incidents in post- Liberation Goa, they are to be forgotten as minor irritants in the developing society free of foreign bondages and rising up as a new entity. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has acted in a sensible way to put a barrier to forces that would bring back the fear of communal hatred. His banning Sri Ram Sene is advisable but the ban must stand Constitutional validity. However, good intent matters and hope things will fall into place and Goa will be saved from such a disturbing force. What's happening in UP, besides the women being he targets, is not a feature Goa would like to import and be bogged down in fighting it off. Goans anxiously wait to see this fight royale between the two stalwarts, one a BJP strongman and the other a BJP crusader. Remember, just after India's Independence, the RSS was banned because of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination. In post- Independent India, it was banned twice, once during the Emergency and after the Babri Masjid attack. The Gujarat massacre reverberates unpleasantly in the body politic of a nation sitting on a communal time bomb. Time to move forward, as Modi envisages towards the industrial path and not fight cultural wars or haggle over " pub culture", " bikinis" and " tiatrs". The latter stuff is important but needs more deft handling rather than the loud- mouthing platitudes from politicians who themselves not above board in their lifestyles. One is alarmed and shocked that India should consider a Communal Violence Bill in this age and time. One can see the children play together without any barriers of religion but the grown- ups indulge in religion warfare that tears up the social fabric of the nation. When he was India's home minister, the late YB Chavan spoke from his heart in the Rajya Sabha on November 24, 1969, " When we say that Indian Muslims require to be Indianized, it means you presume that they are not Indian Muslims. And creating this type of feeling against a large minority of India is the great crime that can be committed in this country. There may be individuals here and there, who are unpatriotic; I do not say there may not be. There may be unpatriotic people among the Hindus also. We all know that. May be there are some Muslims too who are unpatriotic. But are we going to take these exceptional cases and brand a whole community as unpatriotic and anti- national." Undoubtedly, politics has fueled the communal tension in the country. Unfortunately, the BJP's success and coming to power has added power to right- wing forces which are bent on shaping India according to their ideology. Campaign rhetoric is something that must be taken for granted. The reality of it all is now coming to the surface. The BJP and the Congress courted the Inams with equal zeal and magnanimously to woo the Muslim votes and now the BJP top- brass isn't brave enough to control the vitriolic against the Muslim community in areas where the BJP is significantly more powerful and influential. In these years since Independence the idea of India to be a whole nation un- segregated and un- divided on religions lines, forget class and caste, is getting diluted instead of firming up. A modern India is what the young generations of India wants but the goal of reaching such a state is pushed further through the communal actions of communities acting on what Alexandra Pope observed " die of nothing but a rage to live," quoted by the Nobel laureate, Amartya Sen. India needs to be saved from descending into the hell of barbarity. ( Eugene Correia worked for The Hindu and The Free Press Journal) Eugene Correia) ---- eugene
