An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind!

India has always been in a religious tumult initiated by political rationale. Religion based riots are nothing new in Indian context. We have been witnessing it ever since India became independent and even prior to that. The violence that these riots unleash is both chilling and mind-numbing. In an orgy of blood-letting and murder, thousands die, are injured and lakhs are rendered homeless. The religious riots let the strident fascism rise to the surface. The two communities Hindus and Muslims hanker for each other’s blood. Hindus thirsting for Muslim blood. Muslims thirsting for Hindu blood. Revenge begets revenge, begets revenge.

These religious riots are triggered by radical authoritarian nationalism that tends to distress both the communities. We have seen in the past how an idea of religious extremism gravitate to more violent means of proving one’s religion better than the other. How some religious leaders assemble a squad of gullible and credulous individuals who once brainwashed just crave for a simple excuse to kill others. People in this country are either too busy or pretending to be too busy to disregard such critical complications that could bring our country to ruins. They take no interest in discussions which will open our mind to reasons why such things happen in our country every now and then.

Now, it’s not about blaming any religious community for broadcasting such schemes. Islam and Hinduism are and have always been in confrontation. They don’t need excuses to hate each other. Most of the riots have been between these two communities. Be it the all-India riots of 1947, or the Bombay riots of 1992 or the Gujarat riots of 2002, one of these communities’ radical conception have been the major reasons for its launch.

Talking about the 1992 riots which resulted in the Bombay stock exchange blasts in 1993 was majorly triggered by the political impingement in religious matter of Ayodhya Ram-janmabhoomi babari masjid conflict. Many kar-sevaks from all over the country under the leadership of RSS and Shivsena and also BJP climbed on the 460 years structure and demolished it. The excuse given for this action was that the place where the Mosque was built was the same place where Lord Ram was born and that it monument was just a structure and not a mosque because the Muslims never offered prayers in it. Maybe it’s true, and maybe it’s not. No one amongst us was present at the time of Lord Ram to scrutinize this statement. This action by the hardcore Hindus was followed by the riots all over the country when the Muslim community retaliated. Thousands of Hindus were murdered and tormented by the people from Muslim community. The Hindus were no less. They too murdered and injured thousands of Muslims all over the country. Muslims being a minority in India got both media and political sympathy. It finally resulted in the Bombay blasts of 1993 which was regulated by some Muslim leaders who swore and oath to show the world the strength of Islam under the guidance of Dawood Ibrahim. Thousands of innocent people lost their lives and were rendered homeless after the blasts.

In 2002 Gujarat riots, it all began with the incident that trembled the whole nation. 57 Hindu returning from Ayodhya in Sabarmati express were burnt alive by the people from Muslim community. Burning alive is the worst death anyone can suffer. The agony and rage that materialized in the Hindu community was immense. They retaliated. Gujarat being a Hindu dominant area and with a Hindu nationalist leader at the top made life miserable for the Muslims. They were killed everywhere in Gujarat. But then it was all a result of the 57 people burnt alive by the Muslims. This matter was greatly politicized and every political party in India went after the then chief minister Narendra Modi. He was blamed to be responsible for even beginning the riots. Muslims being in a minority in Gujarat again found political and media sympathy. Many documentary movies were made which explained how genocide occurred in Gujarat that year. All were sympathetic to one community. I saw a documentary which says,
“59 hindus die in a clash with Muslims at Godhra on their return journey from karseva in Ayodhya.“ “Hindu mobs raid Muslim settlements killing over 2500 people.” Now are you kidding me? Is burning someone alive dying in a clash? Really?

Point is that it’s all about the involvement of political and media people in religious matters that result in such devastation. I can very easily say that the rage is not yet over. There is still some pain and agony which can be felt when you think about our past. Our present is very precarious. Any day now there will be another riot. No city in whole of India can preclude itself from being involved in it. I don’t know any solution to this problem. But what if we can overlook all that took place in the past and try to amend our present in a hope of propitious and amicable future. We don’t have to forget that AN EYE FOR AN EYE MAKES THE WHOLE WORLD BLIND!