Intolerance.
First Shahrukh Khan, now Aamir Khan, and a whole lot of others in between.
In the past few months we have seen so many people ranting about it. Celebrities, politicians, leaders, journalists, other famous people, even me at some point of time. For or against doesn’t matter.
Do you know what India majorly comprises of?
Common men. A huge section of which is not even there on social media.
What they feel about tolerance/intolerance?
I will tell a small incident which happened a few days back in my hometown, and you will get your answer.
I was having tea at Rahim chacha’s small tea stall, along with a few other gentlemen. It included the regulars, Rakesh Mishra (Pandit ji) and Harpreet Singh (Paji). Paji owns a general store and Pandit ji runs a salon.
Their regular discussion (Rahim and the other two) started off with Bihar elections, and gradually shifted on to religion. It went about like this.
Rahim – I have heard people are returning their awards and what to leave India, is this true?
Paji –Yes, they are doing it as a form of protest.
Pandit ji – Protest for what?
Paji – Growing intolerance in our country.
Rahim and Pandit ji together – What is intolerance (असहनीयता)?
Paji didn’t know the exact answer and how to explain them that word’s meaning. He hesitantly spoke, “People from one religion cannot accept people from other religions, and small communities are no longer safe.”
Rahim was surprised at this answer, he asked, “When did this happen?”
Pandit ji followed up immediately, “Seriously, when, why?”
Paji hurriedly replied, “Don’t ask me, how would I know. I am not the one who said this.”
I was just sitting there, sipping my tea and listening to their intriguing conversation. The discussion continued and they talked about how all this is pure politics and it has nothing to do with the ground reality. They concluded by saying that how people at the top are worried about irrelevant problems, and don’t care about the actual issues. And all they want is publicity and political mileage. I can’t agree more.
That is when I realized, an average common man doesn’t even know the meaning of intolerance.
They know that sometimes people fight in the name of religion and clashes happen, but all this doesn’t question their safety in India. In India, everyone feels at home. He/she maybe from any religion, caste or community. The aam aadmi doesn’t worry about this. They have other serious issues to deal with. Issues like getting a roof on their head, having food to eat and providing education to their kids.
I need not say more about the existence or inexistence of the so called ‘intolerance’. Whatever has happened in the name of intolerance, be it meat ban, Dadri, returning of awards or statements by famous people, all had a political angle or was sensationalized by media or both.
These incidents nowhere reflect the thoughts and ideologies of a common man, because they know the real situation of the country, where they stand and what the actual problems are.
