India's Growing Intolerance

The world's second most populated country India is home to at least nine recognized religion. We have approximately 880 languages among which 31 have received the status of official language and 21 languages have been recognized by the Constitution of India. Dear readers this is not a article about India's diversity and the greatness that binds us all Indians, this is about the growing intolerance in India, which has become a major problem now a days. A lot of readers may disagree with me and it may hurt some of us, for which I am extremely sorry but the truth needs to be spoken.

Let us first take a look at the preamble of our constitution:

"WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN, SOCIALIST, SECULAR, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;

IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION."

So,we are a secular,republic country. But some recent activities does not support this. Does it?

Lets see some events that have occurred in the past few months:

1.An doctor in Kolkata was unable to rent a home because he is muslim. Many agreed to rent him a house but after knowing his name some made excuses,some behaved like a uncivilized person.

2.In Dhulagarh(A village in West Bengal),the procession to mark the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad, had arguments and apparently stones were pelted on them. After that homes of the local hindus were attacked by the people who were taking part in that procession. The following days a massive tension spread across the village and even though the police and RAF forces were deployed, nearly 100 houses were looted and burned to the ground, which were caused by the Hindu-Muslim riots.

3.Environment ministry under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government called for a nationwide ban on the sale and purchase of cattle from animal markets for slaughter. Which gave birth to the 'beef ban' controversy

4.On June 28th, a 15 year old boy Junaid Khan was stabbed to death in Haryana by an angry mob, who mocked his skull cap and called him a beef eater after an argument over train seats.

Before continuing I would like to share something about myself. I was born in a Hindu family but grew up to be an atheist. Yes I judge a man by his character, not by his name. I believe religion is the root of all the problems and we are better without it.

So looking at all these events you can definitely see something is not right. All those people who died in the name of religion did not deserved it. Our government can't decide what we eat. As it is my right to eat rice or roti, whichever I like, it is my right to eat or not eat meat. Yes I know in Hinduism there is a special sentiment for cows,but we are making a fool of ourselves by saying that cow is our mother. We need to be rationalized. After beef ban, a storm just passed through India and people of all religion protested as it was a violation of the right,given to the people by the constitution. Since beef ban there has been killing in the name of cow. So we are killing people because they ate an animal. Beef is globally accepted. There has been 17 attacks in the past 22 months because of this cow thing. In which era are we living in? killing people in the name of Hinduism. The death of that 15 year old child really made us think are we really a secular country? Does not feel like it. While Junaid's murderers are still not captured, the good people of this country are protesting his death in every major city in India. A campaign named "Not In My Name" have now started and people from all over the world are supporting it via online. We have seen people from different religions protesting this lynching in the name of religion. But protests like this comes and goes, meanwhile people are getting slaughtered everyday. This killings in the name of gods needs to be stopped and I have faith in the good people of these nation. I believe one again we will establish an environment of harmony, a nation where people can have the freedom to choose their food, where no more innocent child will be killed for being a beef eater. Jai Hind!!