AYODHYA – THE BATTLE FOR INDIA’S SOUL
URL: http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2012/12/ayodhya-battle-for-indias-soul.html
Indeed,
it is the battle for India’s soul. I wrote a commentary on Egypt’s new
constitution, and one of the paragraphs stated, “The Civility of a
nation is measured by how she treats her women, children, the ones in
ditches, the minorities and the voiceless” an Australian professor shot
back and wanted to know India’s record.
Neither Indian nor American system will score 100 in civility, but
certainly it has the structure to contribute towards that goal, and the rule of law prevails. As a solution, India has offered reservations in jobs, education
system to those economically backward and those in the ditches to uplift them,
we still have Sachar Report’s recommendations to be implemented to uplift Muslims.
We have to pull every one up from the ditches to a point from which
they will be competitive.
Harassment and Oppression of women continues, female infanticide is a
daily occurrence. However, India’s laws are equitable, the
knowledge of which has not permeated into the whole society, but it is
happening. Thanks to the internet and social media, the society will
eventually monitor itself. You can be who you want to be in India. Its a
tough battle, but legally, your path is paved.
About Shia killings in Pakistan, I wrote, “Like all minorities around the world, the Shia, Ahmadiyya,
Hindu and the Sikh minorities in Pakistan are constantly harassed and
hounded. As I reflect upon it, the issue is much bigger than Shia-Sunni, it is
the majoritarian arrogance that wants to feel superior by pushing the “others” down and oppress them in everywhich way. It takes a violent form in Pakistan, but takes
different avatars in different places including our own United States, Israel, India
and other nations. Even though we are a blessed country, we still have bigots
running and saying things that don’t make sense. Thanks to the founding fathers
for making this nation respect the rule of law, which ensures every citizen, a
relative safety.
Thanks for the founding principles of India that value every human, the law is about equal justice, however we are not there and I hope Egypt will be on a similar trajectory, once their constitution is modified and revised for all people to live freely.
It does not matter what other nations do, as Indians, India should matter to us. We have
several items of unfinished business, that needs to be resolved where all
parties would walk out with a sense of Mukti from the tension. Things will
simply not go away until there is a national dialogue on these topics: The
exodus of the Pandits, Sikh Massacre, Gujarat Massacre, treatment of Dalits,
female infanticide, reservation system, safety and justice to women, economic
inequity and social justice, and of course Babri
Masjid.
Each
one of us need to shelve our prejudices towards fellow Indians. If you
have it, others have it, if you drop it, others are likely to drop. You
cannot blame others, if you are not free from the blame. A
good society is where no one claims priviliges over others. No Indian
is above the other, nor your opinion is above mine or vice-versa.
I
hope to write the the piece unfinished social business of India before
the end of the year, if someone else writes it, all praise to him or
her.
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| Click on the picture to enlarge the maps |
I will be writing a full piece on Ayodhya, I did an extensive Radio talk show on Ayodhya on the10th Anniversary and again in 2003. the Dallas Observer had published a lead article on the show then. If any of you have a good solution, that all parties feel justice is served, write a note to quote in the article. You can do so in the comments section below.
Jai Hind
Mike Ghouse
Committed to contributing towards cohesive societies
www.MikeGhouse.net
Courtesy of Wall Street Journal
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/12/03/ayodhya-the-battle-for-indias-soul/