The debate of intolerance has many hypocritical arms. Those who sound to be victim have shown tolerance by congregating in lakhs, vandalizing police stations, looting shops of majority and shooting toddler leader of majority community. In return, intolerant majority was a mute spectator. The so called intolerant community has proven to be a bowl of unprotected explosive, anyone can ignite (read incite) and blast them.
Malda was copied in Purnea.
After the protest against the statement of Hindu Mahasabha leader Kamlesh Tiwari in Maldaa group of people in Purnea district of Bihar went on a rampage. They torched vehicles and attacked the Baisi police station. There have been incidences of violence in Uttar Pradesh too, specifically in Kanpur, Lucknow and Bareily. Last week, about one lakh Muslims had gathered at Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh and had demanded that Kamlesh Tiwari should be punished with death penalty for insulting the Prophet. (source) More incidents of violence are expected in near future in other parts of the country.
After the Malda incident, Mamata Banerjee has declared that “there is no communal tension” in her state. At the same time Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has said that “Communalism is on a rampage in Malda. Police station has been burnt down, innocents are being attacked and there is mayhem… Those who are doing it are doing so under the protection of West Bengal government. It is not taking any substantial action”. We just hope the conditions are as the chief minister of west Bengal has reported (source).
All these incidences are counter reaction to the statement of Kamlesh Tiwari (in which he called Prophet Muhammad as homosexual) which was itself a reaction to Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan, who had called RSS members homosexuals. Tiwari had been arrested previously for demand of a temple in honor of Nathuram Godse, the assassinator of Mahatma Gandhi. So, these are the irresponsible actions of our politicians who fail to realize the impact they can make through their statements and never bother to give a second thought about them.
And the other issue which I want to project is the reactions of a community which has become hypersensitive and is going on a self-destructive path as this is not the first incidence of its kind. When we look back to July 2012 when the trailer of controversial anti-Islamic movie “The innocence of Muslims” was uploaded on YouTube. The movie was claimed to defame the Islamic prophet Muhammad and resulted in demonstrations and violent protests on September 11 in Egypt and spread to other Arab and Muslim nations and to some western countries.
There were hundreds of injuries and over 50 deaths of Muslims in the protests. This is how the community ended up in killing their own people in the name of religious sentiments. The so called Jihad (I would rather call it terrorism) is the same thing, killing your own people in the name of religion. Recently an ISIS militant killed his own mother because she asked him to leave ISIS. 26 years ago the community united in the valleys of Kashmir and forgot the brotherhood they shared with the Kashmiri pundits. They attempted the genocide of Kashmiri Pundits in an attempt to establish themselves as a majority over there which did no good to their community.
To be united is an advantage, but more important is the purpose for which you unite. It would be a blessing indeed if the minority community unites for a good reason, for discussing their issues and problems. Unite for the betterment of the community not for the destruction of the community. And to our politicians I would request once again to think before they speak.
Note: Image used in this post is only for representational purpose.
