By Syed H. Hashmi
We have come a long way from the times of Gandhi, Nehru and Azad. It was their unflagging devotion to the cause of India’s independence from the yoke of British imperialism that won us our cherished freedom and self-respect. This glorious trio was our guide along the path of our national freedom. They inculcated in us a sense of national pride and responsibility. It was through their guardianship that we learned the skills of statecraft and governance. Post-independence, the country and the nation both were put on the path of growth and development. What followed, be it in the field of industry, commerce, education, communication and geopolitics, was the result of their dedicated love for the country and interest of the nation. We grew as a nation and our strength was our ‘unity in diversity’. This was as long as our national concerns were driven by our sense of national brotherhood and community. Our national character was secure and so was our sanity.
Over the past few years India has been descending into the abyss of communal hatred and intolerance. This has happened because of necrotic deterioration of community consciousness in the nation. It is a symptom of grave sickness. We are afflicted with a mad disease. Our sanity and our moral sense both are threatened. This sickness gets rapidly metastasized in an environment of ignorance and bigotry. The agents of this communal infection are an extreme fringe of virulent goons who are out to wreak destruction on history, culture and civilized humanity. We, as a nation, are descending into an authoritarian mire. Modified frenzied bhakts are roaming around in their bloodthirsty zealotry. They wreak their vicious rage on that section of community that upholds and practises customs of civilised culture and behaviour.
Their acts of destruction and vandalism are rampant and unabated. The wicked ideology of hatred and ill-will that they support and promote drives their behaviour and attitude. This fiendish fury has not only taken hundreds of innocent lives but inflicted destruction and irreparable damage on our historical tradition. Their beastly acharnement against minorities and the destitute section of our society has been on the rise without remorse and contrition. The vandalism that started with the mutilation of memorials of our historical figures like Gandhi and Azad has now even included our beloved first Prime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru. This is nothing but a conduct steeped in sheer diabolical envy and hostility.
All this is being done in the name of ‘rashtravad’ and faux patriotism and this ‘national’ discourse is being carried on in a language strewn with phrases of apparent sincere ‘national’ fervour spatchcocked between blatant expressions of hatred and abuse. There is no regard left for the sanctity of places of worship and devotion. Clamouring voices for the destruction of mosques and shrines flagrantly violate historical truths. Not only this, they are busy in obdurately rewriting and falsifying the very facts of historical truths. History is being replaced with tendentious and highly biased anistoresy.
The very foundations of human civilization are being undermined and human rights and civic liberties eroded by vicious stealth and design. The egregious conduct of these rightwing vandals is a morbid sign of a social malaise. This is a phase of serious affliction of our moral as well as rational behaviour. There is a need for corrective intervention or else we as a nation are doomed to destruction. Not only our moral and rational being is affected but also our survival as an independent nation is threatened. The very foundations of our economy are irreparably shaken and we are plummeting into a fiscal abyss.
All this misery and affliction is because of this fringe of regressive bigots. Only a rational segment of our society seems to be concerned about this socio-moral decadence and economic deterioration. They are in constant struggle with this prevailing ignorance, hatred and hostility. Their hope is that a day will come when the afflicted bhakts who seem to have lost their moral sense, and even sanity, will return to the citadel of civilisation. Perhaps a spiritual healer or a phreniatric expert can save us from the impending damnation.