Love begets love and respect, and hate generates greater hate and enmity. This can be seen writ large on the Indian scene after the change of guard in New Delhi. The hate mongers, unfortunately, appear to be increasingly emboldened in their destructive activities.
There has been a long history of victimisation of Muslim community. Now the circle of darkness is expanding at a high speed. We come across hate crimes against the citizens of North Eastern States in cities like Bangaluru, Gurgaon and even New Delhi. This enhances the need of taking urgent and corrective steps of zero tolerance against all hate crimes against any citizen or any community.
America is a nation of nations. Similarly, India is a vast congregation of religions, ethnicities and cultures. We cannot safeguard its unity and integrity unless we cooperate, adjust, accommodate or at least tolerate. This fundamental principle must be understood by every person who claims to be a nationalist and especially by those who think that they have monopolised the love of the nation.
Many such people had been spreading hatred against Muslims since the Independence and even earlier. They were responsible for more than 50,000 communal riots after Independence. The world knows who the perpetrators were and who the victims. It would not be an exaggeration if it is asserted that government after government had been guilty of not doing its Constitutional duty of protecting the victims and punishing the culprits. Besides, this is the general impression that judiciary also failed to act as was expected from it.
Now the rot is spreading like cancer. This was manifested by a recent case in Bihar when a 15-year old Scheduled Cast boy was burned alive in Mohanpur village in Rohtas on 15 October. Earlier, on 9 October, six defenceless poor Dalit women were raped by three high cast desperados, and in another case more than 150 Dalits were forced to flee their village in Gaya after a member of their community was killed in the last week of September.
Rumours, hatred, murders, rapes and riots are dangerously expanding. They threaten to destroy the inter-community relations and undo all our plans for progress and development. Let the powers that be take a serious note of this ever spreading hate-wave of communalism. Development and hatred cannot move together. Humanity cannot co-exist with inhuman, irrational and insensitive behaviour. Let the government declare that justice would be done to everyone and no room would be left for humiliation and hate mongering. A moratorium on these negative trends is not enough, complete elimination of these cancerous growths is a must.