I was shocked to read the horrible news about the murder of blogger Avijit Roy by a few Islamic fanatics in Bangladesh. Avijit was a writer and a blogger, what subjects he used to write or whether he was anti-Islamic or not is immaterial, the point here is he was killed for expressing his thoughts. This is another example of religious intolerance shown by fanatic groups. Such groups are present everywhere, they are part of every religion, culture, and country. In some places, they are more aggressive and active because of the political and social environment of that place and in some places, they are dormant as they don't have much support from the establishment and people, but the truth is that they are present everywhere.
The Internet has given an open forum for many people like me to express our thoughts fearlessly. Avijit was one of many bloggers who used this forum every day to express their ideas and thoughts, without the internet it was difficult to share our thoughts so openly and with a large audience. One can disagree with these thoughts or argue against them but to physically harm a person is a sign of primitive and intolerant mindset. Such acts should not go unpunished otherwise we will see many Avijits getting killed on a regular basis. Asking questions is a basic right of any human in any civilized society. A society that doesn't encourage open questioning is not yet completely civilized according to me. Humans have differentiated ourselves from other animals on this planet not only because of our ability to imagine but also our ability to question things. Our ability to question is one of the major reasons for our continuous progress in every area. But this ability to question has come under attack many times, even today we suffer from intolerance. Religious intolerance is one of the major factors which results in such violent attacks and such murders are the result of such intolerance.
The recent murder of veteran communist leader Mr. Govind Pansare was another example of such intolerant attitude of some groups towards people who dare to speak against fanatics of any religion. It would be terribly wrong to assume that such fanatics are part of only selected religions, they are part of every culture and community. It is very difficult for many to understand that some people don't subscribe to any particular ideology, some people question everything, and they dare to take a stand and be very assertive about it without being aggressive. Such people believe in freedom of expression, what is wrong with it? Why such people are attacked regularly? I don't mind intellectual attacks or questions, but such physical threats and hostile social attitudes don't make things easy for such people. It is not easy for everyone to be fearless and express their thoughts when there is a danger of losing your life because of it. Very few are brave enough not to care about such threats and I really salute their courage and conviction. Dr. Dabholkar, Mr. Pansare, Mr. Roy, and others like them, they died while fighting for what they believed was right. They didn't hurt anyone physically and were fighting their ideological battles by using peaceful methods but people who don't believe in peace or dialogue murdered them. These cowards didn't like the courage of people like Dr. Dabholkar. These groups were scared of the power and conviction of these people and that's why they took the route of physical attacks. As they could not fight their ideas they resorted to cowardice acts of murder to eliminate such brave people.
Such cowardly acts are a blot on humanity no matter where they happen. Someone getting killed for expressing their thoughts shows the primitive level of thinking in that society. These things need to stop, we can not keep on saying every time that it is easy to kill a person but not easy to kill their thoughts. If these things keep on happening regularly, there will not be enough people to express such thoughts. But getting bullied by them is not an option. We all need to stand united against such barbaric acts then only such groups will be forced to abandon such ways. The only way to fight them is to keep on expressing our thoughts fearlessly on every forum. We have to stand united against such barbarism to eliminate it from our society.
1. Anti-Islamist US blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh
2. Kolhapur bids farewell to Pansare
The recent murder of veteran communist leader Mr. Govind Pansare was another example of such intolerant attitude of some groups towards people who dare to speak against fanatics of any religion. It would be terribly wrong to assume that such fanatics are part of only selected religions, they are part of every culture and community. It is very difficult for many to understand that some people don't subscribe to any particular ideology, some people question everything, and they dare to take a stand and be very assertive about it without being aggressive. Such people believe in freedom of expression, what is wrong with it? Why such people are attacked regularly? I don't mind intellectual attacks or questions, but such physical threats and hostile social attitudes don't make things easy for such people. It is not easy for everyone to be fearless and express their thoughts when there is a danger of losing your life because of it. Very few are brave enough not to care about such threats and I really salute their courage and conviction. Dr. Dabholkar, Mr. Pansare, Mr. Roy, and others like them, they died while fighting for what they believed was right. They didn't hurt anyone physically and were fighting their ideological battles by using peaceful methods but people who don't believe in peace or dialogue murdered them. These cowards didn't like the courage of people like Dr. Dabholkar. These groups were scared of the power and conviction of these people and that's why they took the route of physical attacks. As they could not fight their ideas they resorted to cowardice acts of murder to eliminate such brave people.
Such cowardly acts are a blot on humanity no matter where they happen. Someone getting killed for expressing their thoughts shows the primitive level of thinking in that society. These things need to stop, we can not keep on saying every time that it is easy to kill a person but not easy to kill their thoughts. If these things keep on happening regularly, there will not be enough people to express such thoughts. But getting bullied by them is not an option. We all need to stand united against such barbaric acts then only such groups will be forced to abandon such ways. The only way to fight them is to keep on expressing our thoughts fearlessly on every forum. We have to stand united against such barbarism to eliminate it from our society.
Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.
[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]
Links:1. Anti-Islamist US blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh
2. Kolhapur bids farewell to Pansare
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