Prayer for tolerance

There is a delicious irony in pointing a finger at the world outside India. For weeks and months, we have been made to feel like the pariahs of the world: our centuries-old record of harmonious coexistence between different faiths and communities has been questioned by those powerful opinion-makers and influencers who sit in judgment on every other society but their own. It seemed as if India was just inches above North Korea, Pakistan and similar countries in terms of human rights and religious tolerance.

Smug academics, many of them our own, influential media houses and self-righteous human rights organisations took pleasure in declaring that we were headed into a dark future. Look now where they are? In UK, Boris Johnson has been forced to resign as his own Cabinet and party members literally dragged the words out of his mouth. His list of scandals includes lying to Parliament, dubious political decisions, rising inflation and a mishandling of the pandemic. Across the ocean, another great democracy lies in tatters. The US, which prides itself on being the moral compass of the world and a free and liberal society like none other, is slowly coming apart at the seams. Their behaviour in Afghanistan was unforgivable and enough has been written about it so I will not repeat that litany here. The Black Lives Matter movement thoroughly exposed their ugly underbelly, with the uncovering of their social bias against coloured people and the complicit role played by their police force. Their faith in the rule of law was shaken when their Supreme Court reversed a landmark ruling on the right to abortion. Gun violence has reached frightening levels yet they are unwilling to pass a law against it.

How can we forget Europe as we speak of lapsed democracies? The war in Ukraine created a serious economic and moral crisis that has left several liberal democracies there show a different side to their societies. This is due not just because of the oil and food shortages that followed, but because many of them have raised their hands against accepting the waves of refugees that keep pouring in. They have neither the physical space nor the kind of large-heartedness that many poor Asian countries have shown in accepting destitute and starving refugees. Think of how the Middle East, richer and often responsible for playing dubious political games in Central Asia, has firmly shut gates for refugees from Yemen, Syria and Turkey, forget Afghanistan. Is this what they want us to follow?

My simple point is that every democracy has highs and lows and not all elected governments play the game fairly. Compared to the two oldest democracies, India is but a starter: so why hold it up to the rules that their own countries often don’t follow? Intolerance, whether against coloured people or those of another faith, should be unacceptable everywhere. Given the size and diversity of India, that we have held on to democratic values when many neighbours who achieved freedom at the same time have dissolved into military juntas and fascism, is in itself something to be proud of.

We may not have their resources but we have wise sayings that tell us: ‘Rehiman itna dijiye, jaa main kutumb samaya. Aap main bhookha na rahoon, sadhu na bhooka jaye.’ (Give me enough, O Lord, so that my family may never go hungry, nor ever turn a hungry man away from my door). The recent pandemic showed this wonderful doha in practice, when rich countries hoarded their vaccines while India sent shiploads to the poorest in Africa and elsewhere.

My next rant is against all those who use human frailties to promote social discord. To incite religious violence is a dangerous game and those who are playing it should be aware of where this will lead us. Almost with clockwork regularity, an incident that may offend some religion is planned and irresponsibly released into a combustible situation. Suddenly, everything else fades into the background as politicians, our television studios and social media handles swing into action. Some hapless victim is sacrificed and fresh waves of violence follow. Who profits from this cycle of action and reaction is unclear, but it gives all those moral policemen and busybodies who love to pontificate their moment of fame. There is a lunatic fringe in every religion and instead of ignoring it, if it starts to occupy centre-stage, then I guarantee you we will

have our own desi version of a Taliban and become another Afghanistan or Iran.

It seems a dream when countries such as Iran, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon were open and free societies where women were not forced to wear the hijab or the men a beard. I can well remember how beautiful women in short skirts and stylish hairstyles smoked and drank at giddy parties where they danced with men without fear of censure.

In less than four decades, all that has vanished. Even our nearest neighbour treated women with the respect they deserved and gave them equal opportunities. Look where they are now and remember that a society built over centuries of mutual respect and based on a feeling of genuine brotherhood can be dismantled if fundamentalists are not sternly kept in place. Let them occupy the fringes, never the vanguard.

Let us pray we remain tolerant.