Its all over the media. The anniversary of 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai is still fresh in our memory. It wasn't the first or most gruesome terrorist strike in India but it was definitely the one that held our nation to ransom for the longest time. It was also the one that made us all introspect our own systems. Media is full of the brave stories of those who sacrificed their lives, those who were innocent victims, those who had a miraculous escape, those who are left behind and the agony of each overwhelms you with grief.
What gives birth to such heartless, ready to kill themselves terrorists? Could be oppression, could be poverty, could be the greed of power, could be the anger out of seeing your community being tormented but can definitely not be religion. Which religion in the world advocates such a bloodbath? Which religion says not to respect other religions? Yet why do most of the religious leaders advocate such strong jingoistic ideas? Only because they can benefit from the power they achieve by such means?
I can understand a poverty stricken Kasab joining a terrorist group for money but I cannot understand a well educated, well to do Headley doing the same. What possibly can be a motivation for him? How can anyone who has read a Koran ever think that it is Allah's will to kill innocent people? Same goes for any other religion and religious groups. Which Krishna or Ram tells Bajrang Dals and VHPs to kill innocent nuns? Which religion advocates forcible conversions?
When will people stop being blinded by a handful of leaders who just want to gain power by using the name of God. I read 2 heart whelming stories of a waiter of Leopold Cafe and a taxi driver both killed in the 26/11 attacks and both leaving behind a widow and 5 and 4 children respectively. The first thought that crossed my mind was that how could a waiter or taxi driver raise 4 children? Should not the religious leaders be teaching that first. Rather they do exactly the opposite. Preach people to multiply so that their folk can increase. But what kind of community are you going to breed if you cannot afford to raise them.
I am upset because I only have questions. I don't have any answers. I feel helpless that why I cannot change things and why the leaders who can change do nothing about it. Why the whole saga of religion and humanity has just become a long question paper that no one can answer? And tomorrow if I want to become a leader then will I also have to take a similar path for making people listen to me? A path which preaches hatred towards other community.
Posts
many people feel helpless i know and i used to feel this way too. but what is happening in name of religion is wrong and has to be brought in control. how do we do that??
ReplyDeleteby increasing population of people who belive in religion but not in casticism and such other factors which devide us.
when i was in college, i enjoyed. less on studies high on beer. and then i had to share my hostel room with this new guy after living like a king in it for more than a year. he was muslim. there was always a tension of hindu boys and muslim boys in hostel which was more like a cold war. but my new roommate changed my view on this. he liked his room clean, first thing to go were my ciggarettes. i also knew a muslim will not like me drinking in our room. the day he entered my room i stopped drinking in my room and my friends followed suit. what i did for him i did because he was my roommate and i didnt want him to feel unconfortable. he was equally concerned about me and we both sorted out all our differences. what i initially thought will ruin my rest of hostel life actually made me a better person in real life. he was smart and intelligent and we used to hang out together, individually being opposed by even our close friends for being hindu and muslim. as time passed we both were well recognized senior boys in hostel and new joinees looked upto us for help. our juniors were like all juniors, fresh out of school, assignment not done on time used to be a problem. and now they had better thing to be worried about. with us, they mingled together like us.
so what happened? as our power and ability increased, we saw an oppurtunity to set a wrong thing right, and unintentionally. we encouraged our junior to come together and play and talk and do all the masti together.
answer was simple, cold war ended for as long as we both were there and our juniors did their part after that too. its been a long time now and i wonder if thing are still like that.
even today when i see any of my present friends or friends of friends, when they say something offensive in this context, i only clarify this much.......
"not all muslims are wrong, those who are, were directed in wrong directions when they were helpless and needed an exit. poverty or family problems or being tortured in childhood for wearing pagdi or whatever the reasons were, those who chose to be anti-social elements were actually just following where life or their ideal leader of that time took them.. it also includes HINDUS. i had a muslim roommate for 3 years and we turned out to be frenz for life. i know more than one muslim i can adress as my elder brother. and i also know of hindus who blindly say badi batein about muslims kyunki kahi se sun liya aur dialogue achha lag gaya. aadmi galat hota hai, uske liye pure community ki to burai karna theek nahi."
all we need to do it doing our bit. awareness will increase at its own pace.
hi ritika
ReplyDeletei am a little late in following ur blogs...but must say tht u write well....
i agree with u when u say that no religion propogates bloodbath.....but thn religion is sthg which can unite people like nothing else....so the moment ppl feel that their religion is under attack, or they r being singled out, thn they react...nd unfortunately react in a wrong way.....for example when countires start profiling or treaing people in a certain way, just because their name or their appearance conveys their religion, thn ppl start taking that as an attack on their religion.....i agree that the response towards it cannot be violence...because nothing can justify violence.....but at the same time thought should be given as to why people resort to that violence? if rootcause is addressed, thn reactions will stop on their own...