Indian’s back to barbaric times

The attack on the NDTV office in Ahemdabad for conducting a Bharat Ratna poll that included M.F Hussian shows how intolerant the Indian society is becoming. Being nominated for the poll was the reason for the barbarism being unleashed.

Cowardice is most suited to explain the character of the attackers. Why would any one who believes in what they are fighting for/against take up the disguise of anonymity. Or even worse, a mob? Why not stand up for what you believe in? If one strongly condemns the ‘Bharat mata’ painting by M.F Hussian, then they are entitled to their opinion. But this does not give them the right to vandalise a person’s property. And only because he was nominated for a poll.

This is not about a Muslim painter, but it is about Muslims at large. What is more intolerable to right wing Hindu activists - The fact that a Muslim dared to paint a ‘Bharat mata’? Or the fact that a Muslim did not understand the sentiments of the Hindus? But why do we forget that these are the same Hindu activists who did not think twice before scorching scores of Muslims only because they sought a place in a country they adopted as theirs after 1947 partition?

Is it wrong for Muslims to think of India s their own? Is it too much for them to ask that they be treated the same way as any other Indian? Why are they discriminated against on religion? India is most intolerant when it comes to caste and religion. We refuse to talk about it in the open, but we practice it in hushed tones.

A recent incident at Modi’s event in Kamaraj Arangam in Chennai was an eye-opener. This taught us that to be a Muslim at a Hindu function is the biggest crime a Muslim can commit in a secular country like India.

Two young Muslim boys who decided to attend the ‘Tuglaq’ magazine event on 14th Jan were in for a rude shock. They were taken to the police station and harassed only because they were Muslims. And one of them was not an Indian, but a neighbouring country’s citizen. The police accused them of being Muslim extremists who might have been at the event to cause communal disharmony.

When will we stop this unjustifiable act of discrimination? We are no different from the Americans when it comes to treating Muslims. The high-handedness and the arrogant way in which we portray that the Indian society seems like it is all about Hindu beliefs.

If a Muslim decides to make his presence be felt in any manner what so ever, he will be gunned down. Like an illegitimate.