Celebrating Harmony and Peace
Ram Puniyani
Communal violence is
the sad reality of South Asian states. India in particular has been witnessing
this violence more so after the coming of British. British in pursuance of
their policy of ‘Divide and Rule’, introduced communal historiography and sections
of population who wanted to preserve their feudal privileges, picked up this
version of History and used religion as a cover for their politics. Both Hindu
and Muslim communalism, in a way played a supplementary role to the British
policy of divide and rule. The communal violence, which has been stalking the
streets of India is due to numerous factors and is causing immense suffering to
the society. Many a social group and many an individuals are doing their bit to
ensure that the flames of communal violence are doused and amity prevails in
the society.
In this light, it was
heartening to note the observance of ‘Peace and Harmony’ day, on the
anniversary of Vasant–Rajab on 1st July in Ahmadabad. Vasant
Rao Hegiste and Rajab Ali Lakhani were two friends who were working for the
amity in the society. In the communal conflagration which broke out in
Ahmadabad in the wake of post partition tragedy, both of them went in the city
to restore peace and amity. The crowd, maddened by the feeling of hate, killed
them. The day of their martyrdom is being celebrated in Gujarat by various
groups. One recalls there have been many outstanding individuals, thinkers,
social activists who have sacrificed their lives on the altar of communal
peace. The name of Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi comes to one’s mind for his
selfless work in the Kanpur violence of 1931. For Gandhi, father of the nation,
the Hindu Muslim amity was on the top of agenda and when whole nation was
celebrating the release from the clutches of colonial powers he was doing his
best in the riot ravaged Noakhali and other places. His efforts were
superhuman, as he did not care for his safety, what was paramount for him was
as to how to restore the sanity amongst the violent mobs. It is because of this
that Lord Mountbatten the last Viceroy of British Empire and First Governor
General of Independent India called him as the ‘one man army’.
One is sure there must
be various glorious examples of such superhuman efforts in our community, who
need to be remembered with respect. One needs to learn a lot from their values
while celebrating their anniversaries. It is all the more important in today’s
India as communal violence is, unfortunately marching with relentless speed,
changing it’s form and nature constantly. One has seen that since the decade of
1980s the violence in many a north Indian cities, Meerut, Malyana, Bhagalpur
and Delhi was in a way revival of this horrendous phenomenon in the Independent
India. The massacre in Nellie and Delhi were too dangerous in their extent and
damage to human lives. Further down the Mumbai violence of 1992-93 gave us a
warning signal that things are worsening on the front of intercommunity
relations. This was followed by targeting another minority, the Christians, and
brutal murder of Pastor Stains and later the Kandhmal violence came as yet
another eye opener for us.
The root cause of the
communal violence is the politics in the name of religion. In this the
political, social, economic agenda of vested interests are presented in the language
of religion. Unfortunately in India this phenomenon is running parallel to the
process of global aims of Imperial powers that in pursuit of their control over
oil wells have promoted fundamentalism and terrorism in the name of religion.
The Imperial power has also demonized one of the major religious communities of
the World. This present era has been the one where the deeper process of
‘alliance of civilizations’ has been undermined and the flagship of the vested
interests has been the thesis of’ ‘Clash of civilizations’, which is a
falsification of the reality of the human history. One knows that human society
has progressed due to alliance of diverse civilizations and cultures. While the
rulers and affluent have been fighting for increasing their power and wealth,
the average people of the world have been allying, intermixing with each other
leading to high degree of synthesis in all aspects of human culture, be it food
habits, clothing, language, literature, architecture, or be it even the religious
traditions followed by people. Social interaction is the moving engine of Human
progress.
The divisive politics
in the name of religion begins by changing the paradigm of human understanding
from the socio economic differences to religious one’s. The core aspect of
human stratification runs around economic and social factors while the politics
in the name of religion presents it as if the differences amongst the practices
preached by clergy are the core points of difference. From last some time the syncretic
aspects of society are being undermined and the divisive aspects are being
highlighted. The communal politics has the base in the spread of Hate other
propaganda. This hate other sentiments are the foundation on which innocent
people are killed during the carnages. The carnages also polarize communities
along religious lines and ghettoization of minorities follows. This
ghettoization further traps the communities in to becoming inward
looking and being further demonized. Today we in India are witnessing
a very concerted attempt to marginalize the religious communities.
The way out is very
hard and a long struggle to restore the humanism of our society. We, people of
different religious communities have a common heritage and our aspirations for
better society are also common. What prevents our efforts for a better society
is the hysteria created by religion based politics. This hysteria is created
around the emotive issues. There is a dire need to change the paradigm of
social thought, the one from identity based issues to the one revolving around
the rights and livelihood of weaker sections of society. There is a need to
overcome the impact of prevalent myths about minorities and stereotypes about
them and strengthening the tradition of syncretism, which is our basic
hallmark. There is a need to uphold the values of Bhakti and Sufi traditions,
there is need to uphold the values of likes of Gandhi, Ganesh Shankar
Vidyarthi, Vasant-Rajab and their tribe. We do salute this spirit of peace and
amity in our traditions and hope this will show us the path to progress and
peace in the long run.
