Humanity Needs No Segregation

Tanvir Khan The latest round of serial blasts has completely rocked the cradle in which this nation’s capital was swinging. Five blasts, four defused bombs, 24 deaths and over 125 injuries were way more than sufficient to rip apart the heart of the nation. The entire nation’s police is on its feet, ministers in the affected areas delivering scripted sermons, terrorists in the hiding and common people like you and I glued to news channels or websites to keep ourselves updated or to post views and opinions.This is a democratic country and each one of us has a right to expression on any matter under the sky. A cursory look at websites and one knows that there has been an outpouring in terms of responses especially when it comes to sensitive matters linked with terrorism and religion; however most seems to be out of anger and disgust than reasonable analysis. This is not the time to point fingers and accuse other people or religions. It will not help. This is the time for all Indians to unite and not divide, to combat terrorism as a nation and not fight amongst ourselves which will only help terrorists succeed in their intentions. We need to take a calm but hard look at facts and analyse the situation rationally. As far as my personal feelings are concerned, I strongly feel that religion is something that is manmade. I believe in a super power that governs the world, but religion is something that I think only causes rifts in humanity. Humanity, I believe, needs no segregation. I have been to a temple and a mosque; I have also been to a church and a gurudwara many a times in my short life. You may not agree with me, and would I respect that, but for all those out there who make religion a big issue and play with it, I have just one question to ask. Hinduism says that Manu and Shatrupa were the first people who came to this world. Islam and Christianity believe it was Adam and Eve (pronounced differently in both faiths). And they were in most probability of the same creed. That means we are all their descendants. So how on earth is it possible that a world that started with ONLY two people following the same statement of belief is now divided into uncountable sections and sub-sections? How exactly? There were bomb blasts and then there were bomb blasts. There were names like Abu Bashir, Tauqeer and Atif amongst others that were involved in the atrocious deeds. Yes, they are Muslim names. But are they really religious? Do they follow a religion? Do they care for humanity? The answer to each and every question up there is a b-i-g NO. This is a country where we can find followers of every religion and faith. We are the ones who chant Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Isaai, hum sab hain bhai-bhai, and then we are the ones who talk about Islam being backward and the ones who are involved in terrorist activities. Terrorists are not human, they are very similar to animals; they follow no religion. Their ultimate motive is to divide the nation – the same that happened to us before independence – Divide and Rule. The more we remain united, the more difficult it will be for the anti-social elements. The more we part in the name of religion, the more at risk we will be. It is always ‘WE’ when the situation is normal, but it becomes ‘THEY’ when the need is to be ‘WE’.I would like to cite a couple of examples here. Examples of what people of this country think about Muslims in general. I was talking to a friend of mine when she told me her grandfather’s perception about Muslims. The day when four terrorists were arrested (21st September) he said, “All Muslims are the same. A few areas are like mini Pakistans in India.” Imagine how small one’s thinking can be! The other day the same friend of mine was going to college in an auto when the driver started condemning the blasts. He said that no Muslim is different than the other and that he never stopped for a person who ‘looked like a Muslim.’ What can I say to that? And then people condemn opposite religions. Phew… Recall the Gujarat riots. Did that do anyone any good? It was just that the politicians cashed in on it too. They cashed in on the deaths of hundreds of innocent humans. What did the citizens get out of it? Did the problems of the country vanish? No. People who get involved in terrorist activities or deeds that rattle the calm of a nation or humanity belong to no religion. They are not Muslims or Hindus. They are just terrorists. Terrorism is their religion, bloodshed their faith. There is no point dragging in religion. Religion is not the terrorist. It is those who have misinterpreted the teachings of a religion. Let us refrain from pointing fingers at any religion to maintain the communal harmony in the country. This is the most sensitive issue in our nation at this point of time. It is easy to comment and insult a particular community. But the question that arises is why should the entire community suffer? Why should the peace loving followers of Islam face such criticism even after being staunch supporters and lovers of their motherland? What are the Muslims of this country, who are Indians first and Muslim next, going through? What about them who celebrated India’s win in Kargil? How about those Muslims who cried for martyr MC Sharma? What about those who died protecting their motherland? What about the Muslims serving the country in the Indian Air Force, the Navy, Indian Army, CRPF and the BSF? What about those who celebrated when India won the World Cup in 1983 and 2007? What about those who love this country? Are they less Indian than anyone else? No religion supports unfavourable activities. Islam doesn’t say planting bombs and taking lives is Jihad. Islam doesn’t support terrorism. Islam doesn’t support illiteracy. It is said that Muslims are one of the most backward communities in today’s world. Illiteracy prevails; there is poverty in the religion, so on and so forth. Fine, agreed. But aren’t people of other faiths also illiterate? Aren’t they poor and backward too? Aren’t they involved in mischievous activities? In a country where about 80% of the population follows the sacred religion of Hinduism, how on earth can the reasons like - ‘Islam is backward and illiterate’, ‘Islam is terrorism’ and ‘Muslims are poor and unsuccessful’ - be a hindrance in the development of the country?Moreover, the terror e-mails (going by the language and logic used) that were sent on the days of the serial blasts show they had nothing to do with illiterate Muslims. The e-mails were in fluent English and sent by hijacking the Wi-Fi connections. The technicalities involved in conducting these blasts show that they are not uneducated. Therefore, associating illiterate Muslims with terrorism is complete injustice. It is just that they are weak in the head and terrorism is a kind of business for them. They get promoted when they execute a task to perfection. They are paid more money and this drives them. If only the terrorists followed a religion or were Muslims, they would not be bombing Pakistan or Iraq, killing hundreds of people. I am NOT trying to prove one religion a winner and the other a loser. What I am trying to say is that religion is too small an issue for the people of this country to fight over. It is something that is a weapon of the weak. It is the politicians and terrorists who hide in the garb of ‘religion’ and try to divide the common man. Fighting in the name of religion and faith is what terrorists and corrupt politicians do. If we do the same, we would be no different. Creating the great divide is their ultimate motive, and if this happens, terror will be the winner and humanity will suffer a setback. People first state that these obnoxious inhumane creatures have no religion and then turn around to relate terrorism to a religion – Islam. They have a tendency to form a firm opinion about all terrorists being Muslims. Point well taken. What about the terrorists in our political structure? Murderers and goons run our estate. Is it ever pointed out that they are Hindus or Sikhs or Muslims or whatever? Who was Bunty? A Muslim? Who are these corrupt politicians who can sell the nation for making money? Who are these policemen who prefer a hundred rupee note over taking some stern action against the wrong doer? Nobody asks them their religion. Why? These bomb blasts are a result of the holes that have been formed in our political structure. Politicians are corrupt and security is fragile. Politicians who engage in creating divide for vote bank politics are not just Muslims. People who compromise with India’s security are not just Muslims. It is an issue which is far more complex and trivializing it on basis of religion will mean adding fuel to an already burning issue. The Constitution of our country, regarded as one of the best in the world, says that no person can contest elections if he has a criminal background and cases pending against him. But it is people with very much these backgrounds who contest elections and emerge leaders. What we need to do is strengthen our base. We need to instil a sense of nationalism in our countrymen. We need to explain that Islam does not mean terrorism. We need to fight it out as a nation and not point fingers at other religions. This will only lead to deep divisions in our society. We need to be one and exterminate corruption, illiteracy and terrorism at all levels. What we do not need to do is fall in the trap of divisiveness set by politicians and merciless terrorists and help them succeed in creating a cleft in the religion of ‘Humanity’.