---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Shiv Kumar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The march is the brainchild of journalist and Rediff.com editor Saisuresh Sivaswamy. Pl. spread the word. http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=38474398638&ref=nf&.php&_ecdc=false Calling all Hindu-Muslim couples from Mumbai Share Yesterday at 1:44pm Ever since the terror strikes of November 26-29, my mind has been in turmoil. We all know that those who have been entrusted with safeguarding the Indian State have failed miserably. That's nothing new, we have known it for many years. And we have ourselves to blame, for our complicity of silence that has enabled them to get away. What do these terrorists want? Obviously they want to bring India to its knees, hit us where it hurts us most, halt our economic march forward. But this is only the means they have chosen, not the end. Their end is something much more terrible, which they hope to achieve by spreading fear and mayhem among us. What riles the terrorists most is not our economic progress, but the very idea of India as a multi-ethnic, multi-religious secular democracy. What we are, what we strive to be, is anathema to their distorted ideologies and perverse thinking. They want Indians to kill Indians. They want Hindus and Muslims to wage war against each other, since they believe the two are two distinct nations. Never mind that question was settled in 1947 itself. India never accepted the 2-nation theory, and never will. It was, is and will be home for all communities. But the mind of extremists is not open to logic and reason. If it was they will see that Indian democracy is a work in progress; it has been built brick by painful brick over the last 56 years and will take many years of collective, painstaking effort to achieve near-perfection. Derailing it is not an option. But still, the extremists will not give up. They have repeatedly struck at us, at our nation and cities. And they will do so till we give them a befitting reply. I am not talking of armed resistance in reply; the security forces are there to do it. I am not talking of political response, our elected representatives will hopefully do it at least now. I am talking of what I as a citizen can do to counter the extremists' gameplan, rebut their diabolical propaganda. For by hitting at us repeatedly, hoping to provoke Hindus and Muslims to violence, they have not only violated my nation and my city, but also my home. My home, because I am a Hindu married to a Muslim, and I cannot keep quiet when they go about their evil design of pitting communities against each other. This flies against everything my home represents, the values we strive to instill in our child in these troubled times. To counter their propaganda that Hindus and Muslims cannot live together, I have decided to step out of my comfort zone, and rebut the extremists. I have always believed that one should leave religion at home when stepping out; in the public domain we are all Indians. I have always maintained a veil of privacy over my life. But I realise it is the silence of people like me is what feeds extremists of all hues. I sit at home, smug in the belief that I have done my bit. I pay my taxes on time, am a law-abiding citizen and, hey, what's more my home is multi-religious, what more can I do? I even joined in the citizens' rally on December 3. But that clearly is not enough, not when the idea of India as the land of synthesis is under threat from extremists. That is clearly not enough, when febrile attempts are being made to sow poison among communities, so the India we know and love will implode under the weight of its internal contradictions. As a citizen we cannot let it happen. So we have decided to step out. Not to protest the monumental failures on all fronts that enable extremists to strike at will in our country. The protest has been lodged. Not to condemn the political inaction but for which we would be a better nation today. It is too well known to bear repetition. We will step out, but in affirmation of this land's ancient ethos. Of living together in peace and harmony. We, whose home is a microcosm of India, will set off from VT station on December 13 at 5 pm, with the Indian tricolour, and walk to Metro cinema junction via Cama hospital; from there to Trident-Oberoi and then to the Taj Mahal hotel. No slogans, no posters, with only the tiranga. If you are a Hindu-Muslim couple from Mumbai, and if you too feel strongly about the need to affirm that Hindus and Muslims are one, join me in this march for India. If you know any Hindu-Muslim couple from Mumbai, please pass on this message to them. http://saisureshsivaswamy.rediffblogs.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. 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