While I do believe the vast majority of people are strong votaries of religious freedom and social harmony, this section of the population has failed to raise its voice against all those indulging in divisive politics that lead to unrest and conflict. Further, the government's failure to rein in rabble-rousing leaders has helped fuel the (mis)perception that there is implicit support from the top for those who are creating an atmosphere of religious divisiveness.
The article is well worth reading, but in a way does not, I think, quite get to the heart of the problem, which pervades and poisons the whole of Indian society. Without wishing to pay undue attention to those who are the current chief perpetrators of this divisiveness (because it is an ongoing, age-old, not to say insoluble problem) - those who Vankatachalam refers to as 'this section of the population', my reading of his article brought forth, not to say provoked, my following thoughts:
It is Hinduism itself that promotes divisiveness - by divine sanction, apparently! Really, the caste system, or system of Varnas and jatis - call it what you will - has no basis either in reason or true humanity, and is incompatible with democracy. It is the imposition of power by a privileged minority - a privilege established merely by their parents' intercourse - and maintained by the uncritical acceptance of the Hindu shastras. If the Hindu shastras are seen for what they truly are - the product not of divine sanction or divine inspiration, but of superstitious human minds intent upon the maintenance of power and privilege - then the whole wretched system would fall to the ground. This is not to say that the Vedas and Upanishads are without beauty, but that to regard them as emanating from a deity whose existence rests not in reality but in human sentiment, is at the most charitable interpretation, simply ignorance or foolishness, and at the worst, sheer wickedness. Why, for instance, does the Indian government persist in categorising, labelling people according to their caste, instead of, for instance, by their income? The labels such as OBC (other backward classes), to mention but one example, are demeaning and unworthy of contemporary civilised society. One would have thought that the whole idea of higher and lower classes would have been regarded with abhorrence by the compassionate Indian people, especially with their experience of the worst aspects of the British Raj - not that the Raj was entirely without merit. But no, it seems that certain sections of Indian society are even more attached to class (and caste) than ever the British were! Intelligent Brahmins, repudiate the shastras, burn them and emancipate the rest of the populace from their psycho-spiritual yoke! Words have meanings, and tend to perpetuate habits, attitudes and understandings. Words and language are the tools by which one starts to liberate humanity. Both the use of skilful words such as compassion, humanity and so on, and the clarification of the real meaning and even avoidance of words that categorise people into unreal divisions, are the means. Those who use words to divide people unjustly may be refused entry at the heavenly gates of divine morality.
Such were my thoughts - and of course they are far from being original - of the root cause of the problem of divisiveness in India. Divisiveness is endemic in India precisely because of Hinduism itself. It requires a major shift of consciousness to remove that divisiveness, a shift of consciousness that Dr.Ambedkar, the first Law Minister of India, came to refer to as the dhammakranti - a revolution, and, it must be stressed, he intended it to be a peaceful one - by means of Truth.
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