Discontents of Secularism, Religion, Minorities-India and the World
India just celebrated its 62nd independence day on 15th of August, After 59 years of becoming a secular republic. India was blamed for being religiously intolerant. Is it true?
Is India that bad, Is women, people of various faith, minorities being oppressed under a tyrannic rule to be compared along with Somalia.
OK, The answer is a clear cut "NO", So I don't want you to read the rest of the essay in search of an answer.
First let me ponder about minorities.
Who is a minority in India, Let's take an example. ME. So, I can be a fair judge. I am a Male, Malayali, born to Hindu* parents. India's population is 1.192 billion, Kerala's 31million. It accounts for 2%. So, I am a minority based on my mother tongue, culture, state of Origin.
Having said that, I am a minority in the nation. Take the case of my own state, My parents are of Mannadiar caste which is a minor caste only present in the districts of south Malabar. I am a minority again. I am a male, In my state there are more women than men. I am a minority again. I went into the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu for my under graduation, The total number of Malayali was one(Me, though there were 3 others who could speak Malayalam) So the total percentage was less than 2%.
Am I a minority. Yes. If you call me that I am not, I am ready to argue and prove you wrong..!
Have I faced oppression, injustice in my state or my neigboring state where I have spent most of my life. The answer is NO.
So, there might be prejudices, views, and small set of oppression against different 1.192 billion group in India(Yes, proudly, The 1.192 group contains 1 individual each. That is the only possible way one can class Indians, or for that matter any person in the world. So I don't understand what minority is.If someone calls somebody a minority, by mere prejudice, then that person is either narrow minded opportunist for personal or political gain or is uninformed and ignorant.
Take a handful of sand, sort it based on anything(grain size, texture, color, smoothness, aesthetic values) You can classify and classify them to thousand groups. All are a sand grain. which may look similar but are different. It is stupid to call it different, but stupid to call it same either. Same applies to Humans.
Having said that, there are Darker Indians than Africans, Then there are Whiter Indians than Caucasians. Why am I mentioning it, Because, a person(celebrity named Neil Nitin Mukesh) was questioned of his Indian origin in the United states for being too white and Indian.
Is it absurd, stupid, ignorant or routine and normal? You decide!
There is an entire photo slide show(LINK) of celebrities being questioned and embarrassed in the United states Immigration for being of certain race, religion or country. If that is the case with celebrities, what about the poor common man.
If United States is called the land of dreams, I will call India where those dreams will ever get fulfilled, Slumdog millionaire was no accident, You can make it big in India, no matter what. Don't want to believe me, OK! Listen to what I have to say. I won't talk about Kalam, he is from one of the poorest districts of Tamil Nadu, Born Muslim went on to become scientist, Engineer, Indian president(People's President, India's Best president by a survey). I won't talk about him, because his faith or place of birth is no way disadvantageous to what he want to become in INDIA.
I won't talk about Azim Premji, he is a Muslim, in fact the richest Muslim in the world, richer than the oil czars in the Arab countries, he is humble, he travels in economy class, drives corolla, he is a Muslim, he is an Indian. The point is he made it big.
I won't talk about the women president we have, I won't talk about the women prime minister we had. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have had women head in their state. in less than 60 years of being a republic. How many women presidents have ruled U.S in their 220 year history. The answer is a sad zero. Japan-Zero, France- Zero( they have had a women prime minister, though the powers are with the president), Italy- Zero.
Notably, first women prime minister of the world was from Sri Lanka and the second from India.
!!!!
Surprised?(LINK)
I won't talk about the current chief justice of India, who is a Dalit, I won't talk about the Sikh prime minister we are having who is currently in his second term who is the most educated prime minister ever in any part of the world.
Being an Indian had never meant being disadvantageous, I hope it stays the same way. By telling this, I am not negating any fact of few anti-social, anti-human people who are roaming in every society in the world. India is no exception.
I won't talk about thousands of other proud Indians who have made it big, because the truth is loud and clear.
To talk about Secularism, first of all it is a loose term. For me, it is the absence of Government intervention in a person's choice of faith. So, Government of India is secular. For me the United States is a bit shaky in that respect. Don't believe me, just take a look at the Link(A reference cited in Wikipedia)
How did Indians fair against incoming religions along with being the birthplace of religions like Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. Jews came to India since 700 B.C, But a major emigration occurred when Jews came to South India in 70 C.E after their Temple was demolished.
Zorastrianism came to India in a similar manner to Western India when Sassanid empire was overthrown by Islamic rule.
Both the religion were fondly received.
Christianity came to India along with Thomas the apostle before it reached parts of Europe in 52 C.E.
Islam came to India much before the Islamic invasion through north west. Islamic merchants came and settled in southern India where they have settled and have molded the culture.
How can such a country be religiously intolerant. And how is any country judge of any other country especially when the judging country itself is not perfect. India had been a melting pot of cultures for eons.
When the USCIRF put India on the watch-list (LINK) , I was surprised and shocked, which even prompted me to write this. Yes, India had religious riots recently once in 2002 in the state of Gujarat and another in 2008 in the state of Orissa. Please read what information PTI has to offer(LINK) about US putting India in the watch-list based on violence in Orissa. Another sad part was that the panel of USCIRF consists of majority Christians, few Jews and few Muslims. None from outside the Abrahamic religions.
India is growing, healing itself from 3 wars, years of foreign rule and sad but horrible terrorist attacks. to be more safe, proud and spiritually elevated country. But U.S too needs to grow, just like by bringing Obama to power, shunting of the prejudice that US is a racist white dominated western power, US needs to grow more on moral grounds more on secular grounds, these kind of baseless remarks are not going to help in that direction.
-A proud Indian and a world citizen on the day after staying outside India for 365days, On the week after Indian Independence day, On the week after USCIRF put India on the watchlist, On the day after one of my best friend's birthday, On a Wednesday.
Is India that bad, Is women, people of various faith, minorities being oppressed under a tyrannic rule to be compared along with Somalia.
OK, The answer is a clear cut "NO", So I don't want you to read the rest of the essay in search of an answer.
First let me ponder about minorities.
Who is a minority in India, Let's take an example. ME. So, I can be a fair judge. I am a Male, Malayali, born to Hindu* parents. India's population is 1.192 billion, Kerala's 31million. It accounts for 2%. So, I am a minority based on my mother tongue, culture, state of Origin.
Having said that, I am a minority in the nation. Take the case of my own state, My parents are of Mannadiar caste which is a minor caste only present in the districts of south Malabar. I am a minority again. I am a male, In my state there are more women than men. I am a minority again. I went into the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu for my under graduation, The total number of Malayali was one(Me, though there were 3 others who could speak Malayalam) So the total percentage was less than 2%.
Am I a minority. Yes. If you call me that I am not, I am ready to argue and prove you wrong..!
Have I faced oppression, injustice in my state or my neigboring state where I have spent most of my life. The answer is NO.
So, there might be prejudices, views, and small set of oppression against different 1.192 billion group in India(Yes, proudly, The 1.192 group contains 1 individual each. That is the only possible way one can class Indians, or for that matter any person in the world. So I don't understand what minority is.If someone calls somebody a minority, by mere prejudice, then that person is either narrow minded opportunist for personal or political gain or is uninformed and ignorant.
Take a handful of sand, sort it based on anything(grain size, texture, color, smoothness, aesthetic values) You can classify and classify them to thousand groups. All are a sand grain. which may look similar but are different. It is stupid to call it different, but stupid to call it same either. Same applies to Humans.
Having said that, there are Darker Indians than Africans, Then there are Whiter Indians than Caucasians. Why am I mentioning it, Because, a person(celebrity named Neil Nitin Mukesh) was questioned of his Indian origin in the United states for being too white and Indian.
Is it absurd, stupid, ignorant or routine and normal? You decide!
There is an entire photo slide show(LINK) of celebrities being questioned and embarrassed in the United states Immigration for being of certain race, religion or country. If that is the case with celebrities, what about the poor common man.
If United States is called the land of dreams, I will call India where those dreams will ever get fulfilled, Slumdog millionaire was no accident, You can make it big in India, no matter what. Don't want to believe me, OK! Listen to what I have to say. I won't talk about Kalam, he is from one of the poorest districts of Tamil Nadu, Born Muslim went on to become scientist, Engineer, Indian president(People's President, India's Best president by a survey). I won't talk about him, because his faith or place of birth is no way disadvantageous to what he want to become in INDIA.
I won't talk about Azim Premji, he is a Muslim, in fact the richest Muslim in the world, richer than the oil czars in the Arab countries, he is humble, he travels in economy class, drives corolla, he is a Muslim, he is an Indian. The point is he made it big.
I won't talk about the women president we have, I won't talk about the women prime minister we had. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have had women head in their state. in less than 60 years of being a republic. How many women presidents have ruled U.S in their 220 year history. The answer is a sad zero. Japan-Zero, France- Zero( they have had a women prime minister, though the powers are with the president), Italy- Zero.
Notably, first women prime minister of the world was from Sri Lanka and the second from India.
!!!!
Surprised?(LINK)
I won't talk about the current chief justice of India, who is a Dalit, I won't talk about the Sikh prime minister we are having who is currently in his second term who is the most educated prime minister ever in any part of the world.
Being an Indian had never meant being disadvantageous, I hope it stays the same way. By telling this, I am not negating any fact of few anti-social, anti-human people who are roaming in every society in the world. India is no exception.
I won't talk about thousands of other proud Indians who have made it big, because the truth is loud and clear.
To talk about Secularism, first of all it is a loose term. For me, it is the absence of Government intervention in a person's choice of faith. So, Government of India is secular. For me the United States is a bit shaky in that respect. Don't believe me, just take a look at the Link(A reference cited in Wikipedia)
How did Indians fair against incoming religions along with being the birthplace of religions like Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. Jews came to India since 700 B.C, But a major emigration occurred when Jews came to South India in 70 C.E after their Temple was demolished.
Zorastrianism came to India in a similar manner to Western India when Sassanid empire was overthrown by Islamic rule.
Both the religion were fondly received.
Christianity came to India along with Thomas the apostle before it reached parts of Europe in 52 C.E.
Islam came to India much before the Islamic invasion through north west. Islamic merchants came and settled in southern India where they have settled and have molded the culture.
How can such a country be religiously intolerant. And how is any country judge of any other country especially when the judging country itself is not perfect. India had been a melting pot of cultures for eons.
When the USCIRF put India on the watch-list (LINK) , I was surprised and shocked, which even prompted me to write this. Yes, India had religious riots recently once in 2002 in the state of Gujarat and another in 2008 in the state of Orissa. Please read what information PTI has to offer(LINK) about US putting India in the watch-list based on violence in Orissa. Another sad part was that the panel of USCIRF consists of majority Christians, few Jews and few Muslims. None from outside the Abrahamic religions.
India is growing, healing itself from 3 wars, years of foreign rule and sad but horrible terrorist attacks. to be more safe, proud and spiritually elevated country. But U.S too needs to grow, just like by bringing Obama to power, shunting of the prejudice that US is a racist white dominated western power, US needs to grow more on moral grounds more on secular grounds, these kind of baseless remarks are not going to help in that direction.
-A proud Indian and a world citizen on the day after staying outside India for 365days, On the week after Indian Independence day, On the week after USCIRF put India on the watchlist, On the day after one of my best friend's birthday, On a Wednesday.
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Very very very well written... thanks for the links....
....a very proud indian
I agree on India being the melting pot of varied cultures/religions. I still don't get the point of mentioning celebrities being questioned at US immigrations! I feel like many others it was fair game he was questioned just like a common man....just a thought!(anitha)
@Anita,
hey thanks for the cmmt, yea sometimes the issue is blown beyond proportions wen celebrities are involved.. I am a sad victim of that..LOL
But the point which I forgot to add was the Kalam incident when U.S broke one International protocol(no need for former/current heads of state to undergo security check).
Once again thanks for strollin by..