The dictionary defines intolerance as an unwillingness to accept the beliefs or behaviour of someone different from you. No one likes to have such a personality trait that leads to indiscrimination and hate crimes. We Indians claim to be the most tolerant and peace- loving country in the land of Buddha, Guru Nanak and Mahatma Gandhi. India lives in the unity of its diversity of multifarious cultures, races, colours, regions, castes and creeds. Yet over this synthesis and fusion of ‘live and let live’, there is intolerance of sorts.
India has about 1.25 billion people of which about 80% are Hindus, 14% Muslims, 2% Christians, and 4% followers of other beliefs. Until the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a Hindu nationalist party, assumed powers, India was noted for a high level of religious tolerance. Religion, nationalism and politics can be positive influences on a country if the separation of religion and state is maintained. Integration of religion, nationalism and politics can have a devastating effect on religious freedom. While Christian missionaries have set as their goal the conversion of large numbers of lower castes and marginalized Hindus to Christianity, Muslims follow them alike. Such acts eclipse the majority’s way of life leading to religious intolerance.
In 1992, the BJP, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), all Hindu Nationalist outfits, demolished the Babri Masjid, sparking communal riots and killing many. In 1993, Hindu-Muslim riots in Mumbai caused deaths of over 800 people. Then there have been 58 deaths of Hindus in a burning train in Gujarat state in Feb 2002 and Muslims were blamed for the carnage, but later evidence proved it was an accident. There have been scores of other incidents of communal violence against Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians. The gruesome lynching of 50 year old Mohammad Akhlaq in Bisada village, in the western Uttar Pradesh village of Dadri in the national capital region (NCR) over the alleged beef eating and the abandoning of a cricket match in Cuttack recently are the added incidents of increasing intolerance. There are endless and countless incidents of numerous forms of intolerance and many are not reported.
What about gory incidents of rapes, abductions, extortions, kidnappings, political brinkmanship among the BJP, Congress, Aam Admi Party (AAP) and other smaller/regional outfits, corruption, intolerance & poor governance? It is a dubious example of political intolerance that the winter session of the Parliament was totally stalled by the Congress-led opposition despite the fact that the BJP has 2/3 rd majority.
Since the Modi Government has no explanation on the murders of Mohammad Akhlaq, rationalists Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and MM Kalburgi, human rights activists, intellectuals, film personalities, artists and literary figures all over the country voiced their concerns over the rising intolerance in the country and the silence of the central BJP Government over the issue. Many returned their national honours and awards in utter disgust. Also, Modi’s BJP government at its core is always at odds with non- BJP state governments.
While India is rated as the fastest growing developing economy, one newspaper, in its New Year edition gave the shocking news that 410 beggars in India have post graduate or technical degrees. Is this uneven distribution of wealth one of the reasons for Maoist/Naxal intolerance?
Intolerance is not a new phenomenon. It existed since mankind and civilizations flourished. Historically, the abduction of Sita, Lord Rama’s consort by the devil king Ravana and War between Pandayas and Kauryas were the earliest manifestations of intolerance. What about conquests and intolerance of Alexander, Muhammad Ghazni, Timur, Genghis Khan, Muhammad Ghori and Aurangzeb, who were some of Indian history’s most brutal butchers! And what about the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai in November 2008, killing 164 people and wounding at least 308? What about wars with Pakistan and the ignominious defeat in the 1962 Sino-Indian debacle all due to Indian, Pakistani and Chinese intolerance against each other? These are the nagging questions with no straight answers.
During his November 2015 visit to the UK, to a question on growing intolerance in India, Prime Minister Modi replied that India is the land of Buddha and Gandhi and its culture does not accept anything that is against the basic social values. This has significant aspects as the past track record of Modi as Chief Minister of Gujarat was tainted with intolerance. Though in 2012, Modi was cleared of complicity in the violence by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court of India, the three days’ communal riots in Gujarat in 2002 were triggered by the burning of a train in Godhra killing 58 Hindu Karsevaks returning from Ayodhya. The riots resulted in the deaths of 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus while 2500 were injured and over 200 were missing. The then Chief Minister Modi was accused of initiating and condoning violence. A prominent think tank says India ranks 143 among 162 countries in the Global Peace Index (GPI). The reasons attributed to the low ranking are the Maoist movements, corruption, terrorism, regional conflicts and sporadic conflicts with its neighbours.
President Obama, after his India visit in January 2015, said that the “acts of intolerance experienced by religious faiths of all types in India in the past few years would have shocked Mahatma Gandhi” infuriating Indian intelligentsia and political leadership in the backdrop of “Blacks vs. Whites” intolerance in the US. All these minor and major aberrations are serious issues needing detailed deliberations along with political, racial, economic and caste-ridden intolerance creating divides as “might is right” and “haves and have nots”!
To my mind, most citizens, intellectuals, politicians and educationists seem to be equally responsible for the visible and invisible intolerance, communal violence, bad governance and corruption. Our democracy suffers from “castocracy” the caste divides. It is a deliberate, systematic surgical appeasement of the minorities, poor and “have-nots” everywhere. Only degrees vary.
The intolerant Iran‘s moderate Shia President Hassan Rouhani, at an International Conference said, “It is our greatest duty today to correct the image of Islam in the world’s public opinion. Did we ever think that, instead of enemies, albeit a small group from within the Islamic world using the language of Islam, would present it as the religion of killing violence and injustice?”
Who are more intolerant: Hindus, Muslims, Christians, atheists, Indian, Pakistanis, Chinese, Japanese, Whites, etc.? Intolerance is not India-centric only. Leaving aside a few countries, it is prevalent all around the globe. But that is NO solace for the Indians or anyone else the world over. Briefly, I will cover India and some neighboring countries, plus a few others across the globe to emphasise my beliefs.
War-torn Afghanistan is the world’s poorest, most underdeveloped, violent country governed by Quran based Sharia Law, Hadith and it’s tribal chiefs’ whims and fancies, where women are oppressed. Extreme Muslim Fundamentalist Taliban ruled the country for a while, perpetrating religious intolerance and militant theocracy on its Muslim population. Elections, womens’ education and rights or democracy have little meaning in this remote terrorist-stricken country. Afghanistan is an Islamic state governed by Shariah, Quran and the Hadith. Sudan, Syria, Iraq and Yemen also fall in line with Afghanistan.
Pakistan is a nation without nationalism as it was created as a Muslim homeland partitioning India but a larger Muslim population stayed in India. The Pakistani Army, supported by the dreaded ISI is the state within the state and sycophancy of the bureaucracy towards these two powerful Punjabi dominated institutions actually run the country. According to Christophe Jaffrelot, there is neither democracy nor autocracy in Pakistan and in half of its existence, the army has roasted the goose. There is always sectarian violence- Sunnis killing Shias and both killing Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Ahemdias and Boras, both declared as non-Muslims.
On 14 Dec 2014 in the Peshawar school attack, the Taliban massacred 141 children. The intolerance of Punjabi Muslims towards Baluch, Sindhis, Mohajirs (Indian Urdu-speaking Muslims who migrated to Pakistan) and Bengalis of erstwhile East Pakistan is well known and the latter’s revolution led to dismemberment of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh. Women are not at par with men and the feudal system of divorcing the wife on mobile phones or Facebook and other human rights abuses like holding on to India’s 54 POWs of the 1971 War plagues the nation. Pakistan has fought numerous wars with India and aligned with other Muslim countries and China to isolate and weaken India.
It suffers from an extreme psychological disorder and intolerance against India and parts of South Asia and clamours to be the eastern part of the Middle East. Unlike India, which is a vibrant secular democracy and the fastest growing economy, Pakistan is heading more towards the status of a failed state. As I am writing this article, 4-6 alleged Pakistani LeT/JeM militants and 7 Indian security personnel were reportedly killed in a terror attack at Pathankot Air Force Station on the early morning of 2 January 2016. The Pakistani terrorist attack comes days after PM Modi’s surprises visit to Pakistan. Unconventional and undiplomatic gimmicks of PM Modi making an unscheduled visit to Lahore on his way home from Kabul to wish a happy birthday to Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif on 25 Dec 2015 cannot pay a dividend till irritants between the neighbours are removed forever. We need to fight together against poverty and ignorance and not with guns.
PM Modi’s new found friendship with PM Sharif is fraught with risks till bones of contentions are not removed and permanent peace ensured. Also, it proves that it is the dreaded ISI and Pakistani Army that calls the shots and not PM Nawaz Sharif..
Bangladesh was liberated over the intolerance of Pakistani Muslims and politicians not letting Bengali Muslim Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from East Pakistan become the prime minister after winning massive majority seats in the National Assembly elections. After Bangladesh was created, an exodus of Hindus and tribal Chakmas continued unabated due to conservative Muslim intolerance. Recently, the brutal and cowardly murders of freethinkers and secular writers like Avijit Roy and Rajib Haidar and fatwas against exiled women and human rights activist, writer and free thinker Taslima Nasrin reflect the psyche of conservative Muslim fundamentalists of her country. Also, Bangladesh provides a safe haven for terrorists operating in northeast India. Political violence is another issue plaguing the country. On New Year’s eve, Bangladesh had recalled its High Commissioner from Islamabad amid diplomatic intolerance over the 1971 war crimes.
Burmese military rulers have jailed thousands of people in their continuing efforts to crush all dissenting views. Till recently, detained Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been peacefully fighting for nearly two decades for the restoration of democracy. Burma provides ideal sanctuaries to Indian North Eastern rebels in its thick underdeveloped mountainous terrain.
The land-locked country of Nepal wedged between India and China is in turmoil ever since the monarchy was overthrown. After its worst earthquake, it has plunged into political crisis following the adoption of a new constitution where hill tribes got undue political advantage over the plains, Madhesis.
The Sri Lankan Civil War was fought between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) for over 25 years. They were defeated in May, 2009. Sri Lanka has been accused of acute human rights violations. The 2014 anti-Muslim riots by violent Buddhists and other intolerant aberrations persist on the island nation.
In a horrifying incident, Saudi Arabia executed 47 militant- linked criminals including Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr-al Nimr, who was opposed to Saudi Arabia’s Sunni royals, much to the grief of Shiites globally, while Iran pledged wiping Riyadh’s royals in retaliation.
Intolerance and war-like situations in the Middle East continue to grow as violence spreads from various flashpoints that include Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Yemen and Iran. Petro-dollars of oil rich countries fund terrorist activities and the dreaded ISIS.
Turkey fights Kurdish insurgency in its east and is struggling to prevent ISIS’s violence from spreading from across its border with Syria. The Turkish Army has been fighting with the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) and pro-Kurdish HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party), resulting in militants bombing the Ankara railway station. The recent shooting down of the Russian aircraft exhibited Turkish intolerance towards Russia.
According to Mail Online, the UK’s violent crime record was worst than any other country in the European Union (EU). Official crime figures show the UK having the worst rate for all types of violence, even more so than the US and even South Africa, widely considered one of the world’s most dangerous countries! The figures come on the day the new Home Secretary, Alan Johnson makes his first major speech on crime, promising to be tough on loutish behavior. As Muslim refugees flock to the EU, the long-term demographic, security, social and economic implications would lead to violence in the times ahead. While most of the European Union (EU) countries & the US have stringent laws on the influx of Muslim refugees, German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the influx of refugees is an opportunity.
Meanwhile, ISIS leader Baghdadi has reiterated that ISIS was gearing up for a final war on West.
One of the US magazines voted Russia as the least friendly country on earth. The Orthodox Church is highly against Western churches, which are Russia’s least tolerated religious minority. Intolerance against Ukraine all Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) reflect political and social intolerance in Russia.
China is a ruthlessly intolerant country. It has denied independence to Tibet forcing its spiritual head, the Dalai Lama to live in asylum in India since April 1959, much annoying China to the extent of igniting the 1962 Sino-Indian War. Tensions and political unrest have been growing during the past many years in ethnic Tibetan, Xinjiang and the Uighur Autonomous Region in China and about 20 people were killed on 29 Dec 2015. China has been bullying Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and India ever since aiming to be a superpower and over oil explorations in South China Sea.
Latin America is the world’s most violent continent, accounting for nearly one in three global homicides and the region whose economy runs on gun totting drugs and crimes. Out of the world’s 50 most dangerous cities, 43 are in Latin America and the Caribbean. Obviously, tolerance must be the first causality in this region.
Finally, let us discuss the US. The American War of Independence was anti- Catholic. The rift between whites and blacks is wide and there is hardly any social intercourse. Like India has four castes, the US has an invisible two classes: the whites and the blacks. If not for Martin Luther King’s Civil Rights and Black Liberation Movement, Barack Obama would not have become President of the United States. The US leads the world in mass shootings. In a shooting incident a few weeks ago, 10 people at an Oregon college were shot dead asking for stringent gun laws. As the US gears up for the presidential election, many questions have emerged, such as gender equality and if the country was ready for the first woman president! Meanwhile, the Republican candidate for president, Donald Trump wants to expel all Muslims from the US. He also called Bill Clinton one of the greatest abusers. So what type of tolerance is this in world’s oldest democracy and the only super power?
The tiny mountainous country of Bhutan, between India & China has lots to teach the entire world. While we struggle for gross domestic product (GDP), Bhutan has maximized its tolerance with its concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH). The whole world needs to learn this concept to imbibe tolerance.
After this kaleidoscopic review of intolerance globally, India suffers from it in varying shades but is not in such a hopeless state as it is made to be by the media! In so-called intolerant India, in Hyderabad a Muslim couple performed a Hindu wedding for their adopted Hindu daughter recently. Kudos to that Muslim couple! According to Claude Arpi who wrote in the Pioneer of 1 Jan 2016, “India, with a population of over one billion souls, has obviously some fools, some big-mouths and even some intolerant individuals, but in my 41 years in this country, I always experienced a very, very tolerant country, only a bit too tolerant to corruption and dirt.”
