Where are we going wrong?

No society or community can remain great unless it follows the path of continuous improvement. Today, we are increasingly hearing voices of intolerance and consequent insecurity. It is definitely not good for the society.

However, instead of finding out why these persons are feeling insecure, analyze its causes and then take corrective action if need be, we just want to kill these dissenting voices!

Those who are saying that such dissenting voices should leave the country are, in fact, making irresponsible statements. By such reactions, we are only going to lose a possible opportunity to improve our society. The issues which are currently being raised by some persons of the majority community, and the government’s action on it, need to be deliberated upon. To open up the debate, let me build up a scenario with an example.

I am a vegetarian while my wife was a non-vegetarian. It was her personal choice. This fact in no way made me superior to her. Should I have become intolerant to her on this count? Absolutely not. In fact, I used to bring meat/ chicken for her, to be cooked in the house.

In one of my earlier articles ‘Where PK missed the point’, I had brought out how Hindus

I AM A VEGETARIAN WHILE MY WIFE WAS A NON-VEGETARIAN. IT WAS HER PERSONAL CHOICE. SHOULD I HAVE BECOME INTOLERANT TO HER ON THIS COUNT?

moved from religious tolerance, to religious acceptability, to religious inclusivity and beyond. The religious intolerance and ban on certain practices was left way behind in Hinduism. That is what which has made Hinduism a great religion and different from other religions. Should Hindus take a retrograde step today? We need not quote other countries and justify introduction of regressive policies to ban certain practices in India. However for those who are perhaps imagining ‘unbearable intolerant’ conditions today, their assessment of the situation appears to be unfair to the other community.

While the government should evaluate and take appropriate actions to stop any intolerant act or behaviour, it is also the responsibility for those who have proclaimed the atmosphere of intolerance to reflect and see whether they were correct in their assessment.