Monday, January 7, 2008

Gujarat Riots: an old post

I was moved by what I saw. So many faces, so many stories, so much agony , pain, insult, anger, revenge, senseless barbarism.. no reason no rhyme. Pure hysteria grips people in the name of religion.. Sitting afar we cannot even imagine what is it being a liberal while being a victim. Pain makes one forget one’s beliefs, revenge overpowers all other feelings…the revenge is taken.. not again the actual perpetrator but against similar victims of similar crimes with similar stories as their own. I watched a movie about Gujarat Riots, it is called the Final Solution.

One has no control over one’s birth I was born a hindu, I could as well be a muslim. Being a hindu has not changed my identity, my thinking, my stand in society.. being a muslim wouldn't have done that either. I would sure have hated all these torch bearers of the safforon brigade.. who are so wrong yet so strong had I been a muslim, but I do so even now. The chilling concoction of religion and politics has worked well for them. Inciting violence, garnering support by abusing Pakistan, an easy target, has been easy as well as effective. Modi and his ilk are trying to make sure, Hindus and Muslims never live in harmony. Either they are so clever, that all this is being masterminded by their foolish brains, or they are so insecure that they have to safeguard their religion as if it were an entity, not a sentiment.

It is hard to imagine the plight of a person, whose family has been wiped off the face of this earth because of someone else’s beliefs. These women, children had no political role to play. They would have never understood the meaning of politics, they would have had nothing to do with anyone, except a wish to live peacefully with their families.. the families which were taken away from them, burnt alive in front of their own eyes, their daughters being raped, their sons being lynched.

They saw it all. And I salute them..because they are still waiting for justice. They still believe there will be justice. These are true Indians, not those with a saffron bandana on the forehead, shouting insane slogans, trying to built a Hindu nation. These Muslims had a choice to either stay in India or go back to Pakistan. They stayed back.. showing allegiance to India. And what did we do? Flaking Pakistan has become fashionable.