- Not for nothing, our Constituent Assembly forefathers envisaged extending equal rights to every citizen of the country while giving shape to the Constitution irrespective of caste, class, creed, faith, religion, and ethnicity. The overwhelming emphasis on according equality for every citizen was a profound thought well ahead of time. Note that Indian history is replete with diverse traditions, cultures, legacies, beliefs, and practices but commonly associated under one umbrella of Bharat. Yes, India is also afflicted with the labyrinthine caste calculations that have only exacerbated courtesy of the vote bank politics of leaders hell-bent on consolidating their hold over the masses. Have things changed in the altered modern-day world for the better? Let’s delve.
PC: iPleaders
- Of course, the secular versus communal angle always plays out in the Indian contest. Unfortunately, the polarization of society is only becoming more prominent since the political class always wishes to fish in the troubled waters to whip up an emotional/communal frenzy. As a consequence, identity politics rules the roost. The latest concern is the othering of any identity group that doesn’t hurt it alone since the whole society is endangered. The nation has two broad sets of identities. One is a modern historical creation or an imagined community. Two, that it has an authentic pre-modern, pre-political identity. As dramatically different as the two are, ultimately both must grapple with the same core issue: how will the nation progress and prosper?
- Together, is the only possible answer. That is also the brilliance and far-sightedness of our Constitution-makers. Our fundamental rights are uniform across our differences. The epidemic of creating outsiders versus insiders’ narrative afflicts far and wide within the country gnawing at this togetherness at the core. The concept of collective punishment of an identity group, instead of an individual, should be remembered for it was used to serve the colonisers quite well. It hurts Indians’ interests just as deeply these days. And the idea that one group is collectively the enemy of another group is not more natural today than it was back then. It is engineered by vested interests, most commonly of an electoral nature.
PC: Tribune India
- For instance, a spurt in cow vigilante attacks in Haryana is not unconnected to poll season. But no matter the political rhetoric, the lawlessness these attacks represent undermines the interests of all communities, instead of just the one being explicitly targeted. As the mother of the killed Aryan asked, mistaken for a Muslim, are Muslims not humans? To be more mundane, are they not Indians? No one is safe until everyone is safe, is cliched but true. The Us vs Them mentality that builds contempt for some citizens’ rights and liberties weakens all of society. Any disdain for equality and the law is hydra-headed, spreading its dreaded tentacles to usher in harm and vice all along the way. We need to be wiser to thwart any such moves that divide society.
