I have always maintained that the Hindus of Bangladesh can’t
be compared with anyone else. They have all the right to be Indian citizens but
were denied that basic right earlier – they were not allowed to enter India as
a fallout of the ill-conceived Nehru-Liyaquat Pact, which is again a totally forgotten
episode now – and that resulted in them being the second largest victim of religious
persecution after the Jews (2.5 million of them were killed by the Pakistan
Army between 1947 and 1971). If I’m the citizen then they too are, and I (a
second generation of someone who just managed to enter India at the nick of
time) too could have been one of them who couldn’t enter India, or rather not
allowed to enter India. The partition made it mandatory for India to accept all
willing non-Muslim people from both East and West Pakistan – everyone from West
Pakistan was allowed to enter and only a part from East Bengal was. So the
Hindus of Bangladesh can’t be mixed with anyone else.
Something which seems default to me is not easy to explain
others. And there lies the chasm between the two sides – one who doesn’t oppose
the CAA and the one who does. The Jews have been rehabilitated worldwide. But
the second most persecuted religious community in the world is still not being
rehabilitated and we are still debating. That’s really painful. And isn’t it
just amazing that despite such level of persecution not a single of them have
yet become militant or even taken to any form of violence, both in Bangladesh
and also in India.
You may not be convinced about rehabilitation for past
wrongs at the cost of others who are very much in the present. It could be also
argued whether the Hindus not taking to militancy is amazing. You could think
of various reasons. Divisions within Hindu society, lack of leadership, lack of
support from rich diaspora from across the world, nonintervention of India, who
knows.
But still, there’s a persecuted community who were ready to
adjust to anything that came along and struggle to do whatever best they
managed to get. And today, many successful Bengalis worldwide are among those
persecuted people. It’s indeed something to study for the whole world. But they
never came to the radar of anyone. No one is asking to do any wrong to others.
I’m just saying, keep them aside and create rules for others. Don’t mix them
with other persecuted people at all. Isn’t it ironical that we are ready to
understand why someone can become militant but we say “don’t know” when there’s
an example of such a huge persecuted community who stayed away from militancy? The
Parsis and Tibetans too never became militants and they too were not less
persecuted. It’s indeed worth studying why certain people – Sri Lankan Tamils,
Maoists, Kashmiris – took to militancy but many others didn’t.
It could be argued that we could keep on theorizing about
this stuff. But the pain and suffering that people and kids are going through
right now, today, is something we are all complicit in. Just as our parents
were complicit in Nehru's mistakes. In our times if there is something I can do
to raise my voice against injustice that moves me, I will. But it should be
also agreed I can't do it for everyone. So the argument of what about the
community X in such and such place doesn't hold for me. We are not super humans
that we have to stand up for every injustice. If we raise our voice for any
cause, we believe in, I think we are being good citizens, irrespective of what
side of the debate we are on, as long as it is sincere and not agenda driven.
But, I stand for something doesn’t mean that someone else
can’t stand for something else. And “my standing” is the only high “standing”
is also not acceptable. Today’s problem comes exactly from this attitude. I
love Gandhi like a God and always hated Nathuram Godse but when I read what he
told to the court in his trial I was firstly so shaken that I couldn’t sleep
for [a] few days. Not that my love for Gandhi came down, rather it increased,
but I learned a very big thing – that the other perspective is also equally
strong as mine, and that the ethics and moralities are only relative. At the
end, Nathuram Godse took arms, very much like a Kashmiri terrorist, and the adamancy
and arrogance about the absoluteness of my ideology never allows to pardon a
militant, come what may. Hence, at the end I can’t take Nathuram’s side though
he also stood for what he felt was right. All our standings are like that. If I
stand for Gandhi I must demonize Nathuram, and if I stand for Nathuram I must demonize
Gandhi. But in reality, both sides become demon – the Gandhians might feel
appalled at the thought that Nathuram could be right, and vice versa.
The moment you demonize one side too much, there’s a
retaliation and in most cases it’s very severe. There are very solid grounds,
supported by facts and figures, that Hindus have been wronged in many ways. But
that’s normal – anyone could be wronged. So there’s perhaps no exception about
the wrongs done towards the Hindus. But for a very long time the side that
stood for the Hindus were demonized so much that one day they retaliated. If
the demonization didn’t happen, perhaps the retaliation also wouldn’t have happened.
Terrorism is also one form of fascism. In fact, fascism is terrorism. So if you
think why the BJP has such enormous support base in what one side refers to as its
own form of “terrorism”, it’s perhaps because of the same reason why Kashmiris
have also come to support terrorism – the feeling that they haven’t been heard
enough, that they have been demonized in many ways. So basically the problem is
always in demonizing the other side. Whenever I call someone fascist or
communal I’m demonizing him, not understanding why he’s behaving like that. For
the sake of argument, it could be said that there’s no difference between a
Kashmiri terrorist and may be Amit Shah or Modi or another Nathuram. One has
more power so he’s doing more harm. So unless this looking down on others,
taking a moral high ground that “my stand is higher than yours”, this will
never end. As I told, BJP will lose, Congress will come, they will also do some
other form of harm and then again BJP will come and it will go on and on like a
vicious circle – unless we learn to listen otters, stop demonizing others.
So, I say again – I support the CAA and I don’t hate Muslims
and I’m not a demon either. I don’t devour humans.
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