It has been a very long time since I made a blog post. I have been rather busy with a lot of work and so I have really not had the time to make blog posts, though there have been plenty of subjects on which I could have written. But most of them could have been repetitions of the themes that I have already written about. This blog post is also a theme that I have written about in the past, but somehow my conscience tells me that I should take time out and make a blog post about this.
This blog post concerns itself with the bomb blasts that took place in my home city of Hyderabad. Last evening two bombs went of leaving several people dead and many injured, some of them critically. In all probability some more will join the list of the dead. The people who died are those who have nothing to do with anything about communal violence or with communalism itself. These are innocent people who were going about their daily life and have families that were waiting at home for them to return back in the evening after a day's work. There were also some who came to Hyderabad to attend job interviews and thanks to the blasts, have died. Instead of them going home alive, only their corporeal remains will go back. Families will be devastated. And the situation could be that some of the people who died may be the sole bread winners of the family. Some of them could have little children who will get deprived of a father and the love that the father would have given to them. Some people may have left behind young widows with children and now the life of all of them will become a huge mountain to climb. Time will heal their wounds, but the question is to what extent? The grief may come down with time but the hatred for those who have perpetrated this crime will grow.
The perpetrators have claimed that they are the Indian Mujahideen. And this means that among the public those who lost people and those who are stunned by the random act of terrorist violence, there will be a growth in hatred for the religion to which the terrorists belong. Since violence begets violence this will reinforce typical stereotypical notions of that community and outfits from the other group will want revenge. So one may see that there is an increase in communal violence at various different levels. Does Indian society require this? I know for a fact that most people, irrespective of their religion, live their life by being indifferent to other people and their religions. However, these kinds of terrorist acts will make people notice each other, but in a suspicious way and that will contribute to the overall growth of intolerance in Indian society.
What baffles me is that what do the terrorists think they can achieve by killing people violently? Acts of terrorism have been and are being perpetrated in India and other countries for many years now. Have the terrorists ever looked back to see if these random incidents of violence have achieved any results in terms of what they want? How does their cause get helped by these actions? That is the reason why I say this is mindless violence. If people were to think about the consequences of their actions, they will see that other than devastating a few families and ensuring that general hatred for people belonging to one religion and making them vulnerable to similar attacks, nothing else is achieved. As a peace loving person (and most of Indian society consists of people like me) and one with concern for the future of the country, I am dismayed that we are perhaps travelling back in time to the medieval period where religion based intolerance was at its peak.
I am deeply distressed by the fact that India is increasingly witnessing different kinds of violence on a daily basis. There are divisions in Indian society based on caste, religion and region. The caste division is something that is increasing exponentially with the passing of each day and this rate this division will only grow and not get wiped out. Region based intolerance is something that has been afflicting Hyderabad for a few years now. Due to this students who have been drawn into the movement have lost any chance of having some kind of a career. Religious intolerance which has always been the substratum of Indian society is breaking out increasingly into the open and the levels of intolerance have reached alarming levels. I shudder to think of the society in which I live becoming one where one does not know if someone who has gone out for work in the day will come back alive or dead. Will the people who wait for their loved ones to return find that they have become victims of anxiety since they do not know if their family members will comeback alive?
I am fully aware that writing a blog post does not really change anything. But I am hopeful that those who read my posts will at least start thinking about this issue as not an inter-religious issue but as something that is only connected with a few people who refuse to think and act as robots for the blood thirsty people whose minds are perhaps convoluted. I find it ironic, that in the land of the Mahatma (Gandhi) who strove for peace and tranquility, violence is becoming a norm. What legacy are we going to leave for the generations of the future. Are we going to leave a society in which violence and communal war will become the norm? Will we ensure that lives are lost over causes which are as empty as the heads of people who want to perpetrate violence? I would like to believe that there is hope, but you my dear reader decide if I am right in being optimistic about the future or if I am just living in a fool's paradise.
P.S: Not proof read. Errors of syntax and any other may please be excused. Thank you.
