Faultlines exist in almost all societies. India is no different. India faces various fault lines ranging from economic and social status, to faith, to castes, to languages. If we have to make a comparison – India is equivalent to Europe, with multiple small countries with their own distinct languages, that differentiates them from each other. However, Europe being majorly Christian doesn’t have a faultline based on faith. India is a very different story. (Create an introductory background for the article in the first paragraph) This Faultline is now only getting wider and deeper causing a paradigm shift in the socio-political dynamics of India. secularism is the major reason for the fault line to expand.
In context to India the fault line emerged in 1940 with Lahore Resolution setting the stage for partition of India on religious lines. This finally culminated in Muslim League winning 429 out of 492 seats reserved for Muslims in 1946 elections with 89.5% votes (31 million votes). Only 4.4% Muslims voted for Congress. This electoral verdict of Muslims in Undivided India accorded the legitimacy to Muslim League and Jinnah to become the sole spokesperson for Muslims and push for the partition of the country. This election was particularly very important as it was kind of Referendum for creation of Pakistan. The more astonishing fact is only 8 million migrated to Pakistan, rest 23 million stayed back in India. The fault line was not creation of Pakistan, it was the 23 million who stayed back with having hatred or no desire to stay in India. This was the first fault line created for future earthquake.
India was divided in two parts only on religious grounds with 90% Muslims deciding in favour of Muslim country Pakistan. Islam was a religion that was voluntarily adopted by natives of India. Islam was forcibly imposed by Muslim invaders and conquerors and those who refused to convert to Islam were killed and women faced even more painful destiny, including becoming sex slaves of invaders and their muslim soldiers. So, it only makes sense that with Independence, the descendants and the followers of the invaders should leave the country they didn’t want to live in and voted for creation of a new country for themselves. The logic then should have been India is a Hindu country as it was predominantly before. Hindus being tolerant, would embrace all religions and allow the adherents of those religions to practice their faith without fear. However, the next dynasty of Nehru-Gandhi suddenly decides to please the 23 millions, who were already united as a fault line and termed India as a secular country. This is the second and the biggest fault line created which has its impact of earthquakes and volcanos now on regular basis.
This fault line is further “strengthened” with legal and education tools. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board practically defines way to abuse the general law of the nation and undermine secularism that is cited in the Constitution. To site an example, if a Hindu girl marries a Muslim man, unless the girl converts as Muslim, the marriage is not considered valid and she has no right over the property or marital status over her husband. The child however is assumed as Muslim by birth and has all rights. The very foundation of the word secular is defeated here.
The word secularism means the separation of government institutions and persons mandated to represent the state from religious institutions and religious dignitaries. In India it was changed to with more emphasis on tolerance rather than separation. This has led to another fault line as tolerance has been misused to the extent of forming different legal structure for Muslim.
The next level of fault line was using the word minority. How is it possible to be minority in a secular country? Secular means respect of all religions and people equally. If you create a term -minority it means everyoneis not equal. This lack of equilibrium gave the minority (in this case Muslim) to always remain under the shadow of the brain washed thought of being victim. This has led to fanatism and extremism in the community. The creator of secular country could never define if Hindus were in minority in Kashmir or Muslims as Muslims are termed as minority group in India and similar in North Eastern states where some states have more Christian population than Hindus.
The parallel level of fault line was the education system. With many faults in the education system that was carried till few years back, one major fault was to pour in millions of Rupees in thousands of madrasas that has not produced a single notable citizen or professional but has only produced most of the terrorists in India. This has not only hurt India but also had a huge negative impact on the Indian Muslim who never progressed in life and remained mostly poor and brainwashed living each day burning in hatred and regressive thoughts.
It is a miracle that with so many fault lines India is still prospering and is a global leader in many fields. It is although unfortunate that India still must live with these fault lines which is only getting more widened with each passing generation. The spine of the fault line lies with the Congress party and in particular Nehru-Gandhi dynasty who for their hunger, greed and gluttony for power devised many ways to ensure the fault line remains widened for their benefit. This phenomenon is further accentuated by Congress importing millions of migrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh, who are 2nd and 3rd generation of Muslims who opted to live in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
When someone says now you don’t like India or the people go back to Pakistan, is it entirely wrong? Didn’t they vote for it in the first place?
In my next article I will try to bring in my thoughts on how to reduce the fault lines.