We all want a healthy secular democracy but how? The more I see people like Bal Thackeray and Raj Th bullying anyone and everyone they choose to, disrupting the peace of the once open-to-all city millions looked upon as a land of opportunities (something like the American dream) the greater soars my skepticism of achieving anything close to a free society. None of our so-called leaders condemned their actions. Who is going to stand up against them? How can the ground realities in Kashmir be improved? I recently read an article written by a Non-Muslim writer, a Kashmiri Brahmin who had left the valley some decades back. He returned to his village in Kashmir recently and observed blatant hatred for the locals(Muslims) in the attitude of the deployed army. We must not forget that the army has lost thousands in the valley. It may be easy for us to judge and disapprove such an attitude but who knows how would we have responded had we been in their place. In the north(specifically in Punjab), I have heard people complain and curse the valley for claiming the lives of so many North Indians/Punjabis. Living in our protected little cocoons it may not be possible for us to understand the grief of such catastrophic losses as losing sons, friends in their early twenties dying in everyday skirmishes. The same must be the sentiment on the other side (Kashmiris). How can we overcome such strong vendettas that have developed over so many decades. How do we erase the memory of the Gujarat riots or the 1992 bomb blasts or the riots of 1984 from the memories of thousands of victims? And how do we ensure that such blunders are not repeated? Is it even realistically possible to envision a truly free secular India? What can be done? Can we do anything? Some say the answer lies in education and eradicating poverty, making people self-sufficient. These are novel objectives, no doubt, and will definitely improve the state of affairs but are we working towards them? And if 'we' are not working towards them do we except the government to work towards achieving these goals. Can we trust the government? What options do we have? Do we even care? As long as things don't effect us directly we limit ourselves to the comfort of our safe lives but is this sustainable? I was watching a movie soem days back on the plight of the farmers in Maharashtra. A well made movie which totally exposed the attitude of the youth of India towards such problems. The movie ended with the quote that said that when a war is raging it is not possible to stay away from it .. sooner or later it will engulf you.
Gurcharandas says, "We must improve the reality of India and prove to ourselves that India is worth defending. "
I believe that India, the nation-state and the idea, is worth defending. But how?
