Why India needs to call the Left-liberal's bluff
From what I see on my social media timelines, we are tolerant as long as the other person speaks what we want to hear; If not, then we are either a "Sickular" or a "Chhaddi-wearing Sanghi".
Both sides claim that theirs is the true path. Both sides share well-edited videos, biased articles and well-crafted stories that push their points of view forward.
Neither side is willing to question such points of view if they are in line with what it believes is true. But if such stories and articles are from the other side's perspective, neither side would waste time in impugning them and the moral character of the writers.
Both sides take extreme positions, while calling each other extremists. They see the world as "us versus them".
There is a Facebook group called Aam Aadmi Party Punjab which have put up posts/comments in which people have announced death threats to Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.
I know Badal is not the best chief minister the state has had, but issuing death threats to him is as wrong as a RSS/BJP leader issuing death threat for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal or JNU Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, or calling the woman who threw ink on Kejriwal a "Sanghi whore".
A left supporter commented on a Facebook post on Union HRD minister Smriti Irani's recent speech, "She was showing letters. She should have shown us the love letters received from Modi too."
These loony elements have not received their fair share of the limelight.
The right-wing is full of such lunatics too. But, mainstream and social media have focused on them so much that I don't think I need to.
For the right-wing groups, I would suggest education.
Your opponents are very well-read, which you are not. You use force and that always backfires on you. Rein in your motormouths who say anything without thinking.
You are passionate, but you must complement it with education that will broaden your thinking. We were very liberal once in our views on sex and women empowerment. The caste system was never so rigid. Read Chanakya Neeti and read the old scripts properly. Read more. Know more.
There are so many versions of our mythologies, because we accepted the other person's point of view; we accepted that people can have different point of views. That is the core of the Hindu religion. We have the largest pantheon of gods, because we wanted to give people more choices. We imagined a god for every need, for every situation, for every person. We should be suing Amazon India for using the "Aur Dikhao" line, because we created the phrase when we were imagining our gods.
If 3,000 used condoms are found at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus, then be happy that the kids are aware of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and are protecting themselves against unwanted pregnancies.
Finally, the reason why I hate you, the left-leaning, self-proclaimed liberals more is that while you claim to be intellectually superior and better (and you are well-read, no doubt); you are still doing the same thing as your opponents, as for instance:
1. Peddling an extremist point of view.
2. Pointing fingers rather than showing solutions.
3. Dividing the country by saying "you" caused this; instead of saying "we" will rebuild this together.
4. Not listening to the other person's point of view.
5. Playing the victim card at every opportunity.
6. Calling upon freedom of speech whenever it suits you.
7. Washing your dirty linen in public.
8. Comparing everything the other side does to fascism and Hitler?
These are not traits of someone who thinks he/she is better than everyone else. These are traits of those who would rather look for excuses.
There is an anecdote from the Mahabharata where Yuddhisthira gives the harshest punishment for murder to a Brahmin. The logic was that being the most educated and the most well-read of the group, the Brahmin's sin was the most severe, because he understood better.
And I would like to conclude with this:
The country needs both sides. But more than that, the country needs people who are willing to look at the truth from every possible view; research on a topic before commenting and know the complete details before sharing. The country needs people who are willing to give equal opportunity to everyone and look beyond caste, creed, sect, sex... beyond the vote bank politics that still decides for us.
And finally, people who would work towards a better future for the country and the society; not point fingers and disrupt.
Sadly, I don't see this happening. Hence this rant.