How to deal with hateful comments on social media?

Some people must have personally experienced or witnessed some of my recent blunt comments on social media, either on Facebook or WhatsApp. I am very blunt to call on people who express implicit hatred towards a particular religion, especially Islam. I do not have many Muslim friends in my friend list and whoever is there does not post any communal posts, at least I never saw anything implicitly or explicitly hateful posts directed towards Hinduism or any other religion from them. If I see anything from their side I will be equally confrontational and blunt towards them as well, there is no doubt about that. But I see many such posts targetting Muslims in general from some of my Hindu friends, this is also a statistical phenomenon, many of these posts are factually wrong and are specially designed to target Indian Muslims. 

Posting comments or posts targeting any particular religion is not new on social media. This has been going on since social media-originated. However, the frequency and vitriol of this post have definitely increased in recent years. I do not normally react to such posts. But if they become regular in WhatsApp groups where I belong or I see such comments on my own posts from my Facebook friends, sometimes, it's hard to ignore. I directly confront such commentators and ask them to explain their comments. If they can't provide any logical explanation, I ask them openly if they hate that religion or have some bias against people following that religion, and can they explain it to me. I would definitely appreciate their honesty in accepting that they dislike some religions rather than posting implicitly hateful comments targeting people of a particular religion relentlessly. It's very simple, if you dislike something, have the guts to say it openly.  Many of these people show symptoms of xenophobia. Many become very defensive and try to explain that they don't hate or dislike any religion, however, they fail to provide any justification for their hateful comments. I ask very simple questions. Why do their posts consistently target only one religion for things that are common in most religions including their own? Why do they justify or defend when it is pointed out that people from their own religion are engaged in the same acts? Why do they target people of that religion rather than those practices or rituals? Many such people become mute when even one of these questions is posed. Some resort to personal attacks and try to call me names by using whatever superlative terms they can. I have unfollowed many such people if their behavior doesn't change and they keep on spreading communal hatred on my Facebook wall, I don't miss their posts as I don't need a daily dose of communal venom. They are still free to comment, but I don't see their posts on my wall, and I am very blunt in replying to biased comments as I know from where they are coming.

The feeling of communal hatred is so deep-rooted. For example, when I pointed out to one person that "all" his posts targeting Indian Muslims were factually incorrect. He didn't feel bad for posting lies, rather, he asked me why such posts are there only about a particular religion on social media. I was amazed by his ignorance. Actually, such posts are available about every religion on the internet, and people get regular feeds about the posts in which they are interested. There are silos on social media where people constantly share and consume content only related to topics of their likening. This is a disturbing trend, but it's growing day by day and it seems there is very little one can do to stop this. I know that my attitude may not be able to curb any such type of behavior in general, but it has definitely reduced such content significantly on my Facebook wall and in WhatsApp groups, people are more cautious when posting such things as they know that they will be exposed. People know that there is at least one person who might challenge or confront them. This is not a solution, but I don't see any other way as I have tried discussing with these people a lot and I have realized that it's not my job or even in my capacity to change their mind. There is a cost associated with this, some people are bound to get hurt and feel bad, and this is unavoidable. If I can reduce their opportunities to spread such hatred then I think I have done my bit to curb this nonsense. 

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It is in their blood

How many of you have heard someone saying "It's in their blood" while referring to some undesirable social or criminal behavior by some individual to blame that entire community, religion, race, or country for that one person's behavior? This is a deeply prejudicial and biased statement, full of underlying hatred. I have heard it many times since I can remember. This line is often used to insult a particular community, religion, or country rather than for anyone's praise. I heard people using it against Muslims, Christians, Hindus, and within Hindus so-called upper caste people using it against so-called lower caste groups, and so on. Recently, I heard this line while attending a social function sometime before India was expecting a major decision from its supreme court in the Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid land dispute case. This dispute dragged on for decades and was used by the BJP and some other political parties as an effective political pool. Finally, when the Supreme Court of India decided to declare its judgment about this dispute, there was a concern about the effect of this judgment on the communal harmony of the country. During this social gathering, the discussion drifted toward this topic, one of my friends sounded pretty sure that there would be communal riots in India, and I asked him what made him believe that riots would happen for sure. He thought that Muslims of India wouldn't take the count's decision in the right spirit and start rioting. My next question was why was he so sure that Muslims would initiate the riot and not the Hindus? What if the decision goes against the Hindus? My question was more theoretical than practical, it was clear to everyone in whose favor the court would rule, but I wanted to know why he was so sure to blame Muslims for communal riots. His quick reply was that it was in their blood to do such things. I was stunned, not because I heard this for the first time, but because of where I heard this. So far, I have not heard such a statement from some literate person who knew quite a few Muslims and someone who lived in the US and some other countries for many years.

Even though it was shocking that someone could make such a statement about some community, it should not have surprised me considering I had some of these biases until my college days. Over a period of time, I also realized that for many people it is impossible to get rid of some of their prejudices and biases. This is the reason why the politics of hate still work, why some religious leaders from all religions can propagate hate and still get many followers. Why do some organizations openly propagate race or gender supremacy and still find many who subscribe to their bigotry? Also, anyone can be a bigot, starting from an illiterate to a Ph.D. or a Nobel laureate. I did not feel anger or frustration but felt pity for my friend that he is living with such a deep prejudice against Muslims. However, I couldn't do anything to cure it, I tried it but I failed. This friend is just an example, I do not want to single this person out for such behavior, there are many who think and believe in such things. Any social trait or criminal behavior is not in anyone's blood, people act in a certain way for a variety of reasons. It is not only wrong to accuse someone as a born violent or born criminal, but it also shows how screwed up our own thinking is. I wish such people a speedy recovery from their prejudice and bias. To a certain extent, we all are affected by certain prejudices and biases and we all must try first to consciously find them, and make every effort to overcome them by continuously educating ourselves. It is not easy, it is not comfortable, but it is necessary. If we dream of a peaceful and tolerant world, we need to eliminate our own biases as much as possible. My own journey in this direction is quite rewarding and fulfilling and I hope everyone who reads this will start their own journey to de-clutter their mind to remove things that act as a poison for our consciousness.

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Population growth - a glaring problem which India needs to tackle urgently

India's recent census data reveals continuous growth of its population. The trend that was observed in all previous census data has continued in this one also. With only 2.4% of the world's surface area, India accounts for around 17.5% of its population. Obviously, this puts an enormous strain on the available natural resources and infrastructure of the country. The only relief from this data is that the population growth rate among both dominant religions of India (Hindu and Muslim) seems to be reduced compared to the past which is a good sign. Actually, it is wrong to look at the population data from the perspective of any religion, but anyone knowing about India and its politics understands that whenever this data is released it is aggressively used by political parties to reap political benefits by creating communal divide by polarizing sections of society. Religion definitely plays some role in deciding family structure and social behavior of people, but it would be utterly wrong and stupid to account growth or lack of growth of a particular section of society only to their religion. Many newspaper headlines also report census data in the form of Hindu growth or Muslim growth, this type of interpretation or presentation is utterly misleading and doesn't help in educating people about the population growth problem.

Uncontrolled population growth and declining male-to-female ratio are among some of the very serious problems India has been facing for decades. A lot of efforts are being made on the government level to deal with these issues without much success. Actually, in one way large population can be an asset as it creates a bigger consumer market and large workforce. But if this asset is not managed properly, then it can create liabilities like unemployment and the need for govt support. The current PM, Mr. Modi, always mentions India's huge population, especially its younger people as the nation's asset and he is right in doing so. But this asset, if not engaged in meaningful activities, can cause a lot of chaos and disturbance, one recent example of this is the huge unrest caused in Gujarat by the demand for reservation by youths belonging to the Patel community. Ever-growing population means an ever-growing demand for infrastructure, food, and energy. The problem is by the time infrastructure projects are finished (say in 10 years or so), the population growth makes that project inadequate, so, the purpose for which that project was started is not normally met. This is the problem of India's government-run schemes and projects, the burden of population makes most of them useless or ineffective.

Spreading awareness about the use of contraceptives and communicating the benefits of family planning effectively are the only options to control population growth, many previous governments have done a good job in this sector, but this needs to be a continuous process. Blaming any particular community, caste, or religion is not going to help, this attitude might benefit politically certain political parties, but it is definitely not going to solve this issue. Actually, there are certain issues on which all political parties should work collectively as these are important issues for India, and population control is definitely one of them. I hope that this data is used to make good governance policies and programs and not to play some dirty politics to win some elections. If properly analyzed and studied such data can be very useful in formulating and implementing various types of social and educational programs which can produce long-term positive results for all sections of society. Such data is a very important tool for any government, but the unfortunate part is governments rarely use it effectively for this purpose. Population growth is a very serious problem, and very important for India if it wants to transform into a country with proper infrastructure and better opportunities for all its citizens. The burden of an ever-growing population can derail many ambitious plans and projects. If we are at all serious about the welfare of their country, then we need to tackle this glaring problem with all seriousness and honesty, otherwise, no matter what we build the unbearable weight of the growing population is bound to brush it.

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[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Links:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Census_of_India

Hashimpura Massacre case - Justice delayed as well as denied

I read about this gruesome incident very recently when the court verdict on this case was delivered after a long agonizing wait of 27 years. The Hashimpura massacre happened on 22nd May 1987, when 42 Muslims were brutally massacred by police during communal riots. It was the Congress party government in power back then, that government and all the subsequent governments did nothing to pursue this case seriously so that the culprits are punished. Rather, they all tried each and every method to protect the culprits and the ultimate result of all this was that the court acquitted all sixteen Uttar Pradesh police officers who were accused in this case. So even after a long agonizing and painful wait for justice relatives of victims and survivors received a tight slap on their face from our judiciary, investigating agencies, and all political parties who claim to care about these victims. It seems no one killed those 42 people, that massacre happened on its own. If this is not a sad and pathetic state of affairs, then I wonder what it is? And please make no mistake of assuming that there is some particular political party that is to blame for this shameful episode, all of them are equally involved in sabotaging this investigation and protecting the culprits.

The scariest part of any riot is when police start taking sides based on the identities of the people involved in it. Police are supposed to be impartial and perform their duties of protecting citizens of their state. It is always dangerous for any state when its police force or investigating agencies become communal or racial. When they start taking sides then one side is bound to face some dire consequences irrespective of what they have done, and this is what we see in this case. Police turned their guns on those innocent people whom they were supposed to protect. The justice system should have been more diligent when one of its departments is accused of committing a serious crime like murder, but it failed miserably. Also, this is not the only case that failed to deliver justice to victims, there are quite a few cases like this some of them were not even reached to court, and they were not even reported in the media. This is such a horrible record of human rights violations. When political parties (in power as well as in opposition) and investigating agencies form an illegitimate alliance then no court can punish culprits as it won't have enough evidence to punish the culprits. In this particular case, no political party whether in power or in opposition bothered to pursue this matter seriously. Most of India was not even aware that any such massacre happened, it was ignored to that extent.

There is no point in playing the blame game here, it is a useless exercise, and it only benefits political parties. They just love to play the blame game, it happened in the 1984 riots case and the 2002 Godhra riots case both were covered widely by national and international media. Most culprits, especially state employees (policemen and politicians) accused in such cases are released for the lack of evidence. This is terribly sad and shameful but this is the bitter reality. Even after so many people get killed for no fault of theirs no one gets punished for these heinous acts. Where is the justice and where is the law? I don't think there will be huge public outrage like it was in the case of Jessica Lal murder case. Unfortunately, such massacres fail to generate widespread public sympathy as people react based on who got killed by whom. Nowadays, people choose their sides based on their own religion and this really makes me feel sick. Many also justify such killings directly or indirectly just because people who got killed didn't belong to their own religion. I hope someday we all learn to respect every human life irrespective of their age, gender, race, or religion. Until that day, we have to bear the pain and frustrations of reading about such incidents and the failure of our entire political class to do something to control such incidents. I hope families of victims and all survivors of such tragedies get some type of closure so that they can forget these horrific incidents and move on with their lives.

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. क्यों हार गया हाशिमपुरा?
2. A Young Muslim's Take On Hashimpura, The Forgotten Massacre
3. Hashimpura killings: 10 of those freed still in UP Police

Story of my attachment and detachment with BJP

While I was watching the documentary "Ram ke naam" by Anand Patwardhan I remembered the tension and turmoil of those days. Back then (between 1989-1992) I was a teenager with a very confused and impressionable mind. Along with me Indian politics and society were also going through a transition phase. Political and economic discourse was changing for the first time after independence. The central government was thinking of opening its economy, radical reservation policy was announced to increase the participation of backward sections of society. During the same time there was a new emerging star on the horizon of Indian politics in the name of BJP. The actual party was formed in 1980 but it could make its presence felt only after it started Ram janmabhoomi aandolan.

The propaganda and highly charged speeches delivered by some excellent orators of that time (like Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Bal Thackrey) attracted many people to this movement. It was said that as Babur and the Mughal king destroyed a temple and built the mosque (Babri mosque) now it is our (Hindus) turn to take revenge. We Hindus should destroy that mosque and build a Ram temple as that was the very place where lord Ram was born. I don't know what archaeological evidence they had to claim that the site of the mosque was the exact spot where Ram was born but this was what was propagated very aggressively. It was also told to us that it is not a legal matter but it is a matter of faith and when there is a question of faith then all laws and courts should stay away from this as it is a matter of faith for 80% of the population of India, if they all think this is right then it is right and the court has no authority to say anything about this. The logic and oratory skills of many speakers who were propagating these ideas very aggressively attracted a lot of people to this movement. Young kids like me also felt that it was very logical to reclaim our heritage and build a temple by destroying a mosque. There was huge polarization in Indian society with a lot of tension, this polarization worked in favor of the BJP and it slowly became a major political force in many states as well as in the center.

After listening to all these speeches and watching some videos made by VHP and related organizations about why it was necessary to destroy that mosque I had many questions in my mind. Some of them were, what problems that one more Ram temple would solve? What evidence do we have that Ram was born at exactly that place where the mosque stands? India was facing many serious problems back then (many of them still exist) what purpose does this temple was going to serve to solve any of those problems? If Babur broke any temple back then and now we go and break that mosque then what is the difference between him and us? No one from my immediate surroundings was willing or capable of answering those questions so I decided to get more information and study the issue myself. After much research and reading I discovered that all this movement and polarization was purely for political gain. It was all done to get votes and grab power, no one was actually interested in a temple there but everyone was interested in using that issue as a political tool to polarize voters. That was the time when I got detached from the political philosophy of the BJP. I was attracted to it because of my young and impressionable mind but when I realized that it was instilling communal feelings in me, making me hate Muslims for no reason or for something that happened centuries back, I moved away from it. Since then I have seen some leader or other belonging to BJP trying to make use of this brand of politics to serve their political purpose. This type of brand spreads divisiveness and hatred among different sections of society. There is no doubt that this polarization helps to consolidate votes based on religion or caste, and win elections but I feel this is really bad for society as it sowed seeds of divisiveness among different sections of society. It encourages hatred and demolishes trust between communities. It destroys the social fabric of a country by creating a rift between different sections of society, especially, the majority and minority. This is the main reason why I stay away from their brand of politics. This is a very simple story of my attachment and detachment from the BJP. I don't oppose BJP blindly but I oppose their brand of politics. I oppose each and every attempt by any party or politician to create a communal rift in society. It seems that the BJP is trying to improve, they and their supporters claim that it is a secular party and believe in taking all sections of society together but so far it doesn't reflect in their actions. The day they really start practicing all-inclusive politics, I am sure many more people from different communities and religions will join them to take India forward. Until then, they may win elections and stay in power, but their brand of politics will only polarize India. 

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. In the Name of God - Ram ke Naam (1992 Documentary on Babri Masjid Demolition)
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQaV2cWL1D4

What is this Love Jihad?

When I heard the term "Love Jihad" for the first time a few weeks back, I thought it was from some movie based on terrorism or something like that. I didn't know that this was the term coined by some members of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. When I came to know that this is a political issue, then I got curious, and I read more about why they are using this term or what is the logic behind it. I also came to know that this was not the original creation of UP's BJP unit, but it was also used previously in other states like Kerala, Karnataka, and Gujarat. So, what does the term "love jihad" refer to? Currently, it is used to propagate that there is some group of Muslim young boys who get trained in some institutions especially to target young girls from other faiths (especially Hindu girls) and convert them to Islam by luring them into a love trap. This is the whole concept behind this love jihad political drama. Yes, it is a purely political drama, that is why it is specially used in states that are prone to communal polarization. 

Forceful conversions of people from one religion to another religion is a serious matter, and there is a law against such forceful conversions. So, forceful conversions are already illegal and there is a law to prosecute people who engage in such activities. I wonder what this love jihad stuff is going to achieve apart from religious polarization and harassing people doing inter-religious marriages. At the same time, we should also know that the Indian constitution gives every citizen the freedom to choose their own religion. Every conversion is not forceful but it is also true that forceful conversions do happen and this issue should not be taken lightly. It is really sad to see that this issue is getting heavily politicized. If any issue gets heavily politicized many other unrelated dimensions are added to it and then it becomes very difficult to find any solution to it as involved political parties don't want to settle the issue for their own political benefit.

The word 'Jihad' means struggle or resisting according to Wikipedia. It seems this word is mentioned many times in Quran but I wonder how people managed to link love with this word? No doubt that many times there is struggle or resistance involved in a process of winning someone's heart but this term is definitely not referring to that process. It seems the purpose behind the creation of this phrase was to attract media attention and target Muslim youth. Concealing one's social or religious identity to win someone's love is not a new phenomenon, there are many movies where central characters do these things and during my teenage and college years, even I have seen many people doing such things. The point I want to make is that this is not something new or something associated with only a particular religion or community. People do all kinds of silly things in love, it is even said that "everything is fair in love and war" but forcing anyone to change their religion is neither love nor jihad. 

Forceful religious conversions or cold-blooded murders of people because of inter-caste or religious marriage are very serious issues. Forcing anyone to change their religion against their will or killing anyone just because they married someone out of their community is a crime. These things should be dealt with under respective laws. Politicizing these issues to create communal tension is not going to help anyone but political parties. So let's look at the real problem and try to solve it rather than make it another unresolvable political dispute that only divides people based on religious lines.

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[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Communal politics and hate speech

During the past month or so countless speeches have been delivered in India by various leaders from various political parties. 2014 general elections for Lok Sabha are still going on, and many political parties are engaged in a fierce political battle to win seats in the lower house of the Indian parliament. Mostly these political speeches are full of emotional calls, crude jokes, and personal remarks, rarely they contain anything substantial or useful. The main aim of these speeches is to highlight their party's agenda, engage the audience, and challenge them emotionally to vote for their party. Even though these speeches don't contain much authentic data and are normally full of impossible promises they influence voters. Many people get inspired after listening to them, and it can also mobilize the masses if required. That is why any hate speech or inflammatory speech is very dangerous, because like other inspirational speeches that can have a positive influence these speeches can have a negative impact on people. It doesn't matter who is delivering that speech and where it is delivered, such speeches can instigate feelings of hatred among people against certain castes, religions, genders, communities, or groups. This feeling of hatred then can manifest in some ugly forms like communal tension, social boycotts, or even communal riots killing innocent people.

I wrote a blog post somewhat related topic after that infamous hate speech by MIM (Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen) leader Akbaruddin Owaisi. BJP leader Amit Shah and SP leader Azam Khan have been already warned for the hateful remarks they made during election campaign speeches, note these are some of the top national leaders. Recently few more similar instances happened, surprisingly most people involved in these incidents were related to BJP or its allies. In one recent incident, Mr. Praveen Togadia from VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) talked with some groups about how to get rid of Muslim neighbors, the content of his speech was disgusting and full of hatred towards Muslims. This was not the first time he delivered such hateful speech, he is a serial offender in this area and so far no action has been taken against him in any case. Another instance was when Giriraj Singh, BJP's candidate from Bihar, told all Modi opponents to leave India and go to Pakistan. In another instance, Saharanpur Congress candidate Imran Masood threatened to kill the Bharatiya Janata Party's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. The most recent one that I saw was the more serious incident where in the presence of Mr. Narendra Modi Shiv Sena leader Mr. Ramdas Kadam threatened revenge against Muslims and also said that Modi would destroy Pakistan within six months of assuming power. All these speeches have something in common, a feeling of hatred towards some community or person, such a deep hatred that people are willing to go to any extent to attack that person or group. This is not a democracy but fascism, in a democracy, people criticize each other, argue, and debate but don't threaten to kill each other just because of differences of opinion. Another common thing among all these incidents is that none of these people faced any action from their own party for making such statements. Rather, they became more popular and prominent faces in their respective parties. There is no strong deterrent that can stop them from making such statements or using such tactics. Freedom of expression should not be curbed under any situation, all these people have the right to express their opinions, and it's up to voters to respond to such statements. Obnoxious statements like these should be challenged as shutting these people up is not an option. Freedom of expression comes at a cost but communal violence is not that cost. People need to decide if they want such people to represent them in the assembly or parliament. As long as voters vote for such people even after delivering such speeches they will use such dirty tactics to achieve their goals.

Words like "secular" and "communal" are used very frequently and casually in Indian politics. Every party claims to be secular and accuses its opponent of being communal. BJP, Congress, or any other regional party (like BSP, SP) all play this game with each other. They all try to fool voters by playing this game. AAP is a new entrant in this field and it will be too soon to say anything about them in this area, so I will wait and watch before making any conclusions about them. According to me, there is no real secular political party in India, some are less communal than others, that's the difference, they all use equations of caste or religion at their own convenience. Some even don't hesitate to use means of communal violence to achieve their political goals which is more dangerous. In fact, I don't even expect any party to be completely secular. In a society like India where religion plays such an important role in people's lives, it is practically impossible to keep religion and politics completely separate. But to spread feelings of hate and animosity between different groups purposely, and create division among people for political benefit is a dangerous exercise. Communal tension, frequent riots, rampant gender discrimination, casteism, and regionalism, are the results of such divisive politics. Because of a lack of awareness about these things political parties make use of these ugly tricks to fool people. There can be several other reasons for this lack of awareness about this divide-and-rule policy, after all, the British used a similar policy to rule India for many years. Because of the proven track record of divide and rule policy in India, these political parties can't avoid the temptation of using it for their own political gains. It is for people to recognize this trap and avoid it.  Only voters can diffuse this deadly weapon, these parties are not going to stop on their own.

Hate speeches are as dangerous hateful acts, they deserve strong condemnation and people should demand answers from respective political parties for such statements. We cannot ignore these things anymore, these things have already done enough damage to our society, and now the time has come to put an end to such divisive politics. This type of politics already resulted in the division of our country in the past, if we can't stop it now then we don't know what problems it might create in the future. Politics should be based on issues and topics related to development and governance, it should not be based on hate and revenge. Religion should not be mixed with politics as much as possible, and hate speeches should not be encouraged at any cost. Communal politics and hate speeches are different sides of the same coin and they should not have any place in civilized political discourse. I hope all political parties and voters understand the danger that lies behind the use of such tactics and behave accordingly. The time has come to change the direction of political discourse in India and only we the people of this country can do it. Let's hope we recognize this and act responsibly before it's too late.

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[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Links: 

3. Saharanpur Congress candidate threatens to chop Narendra Modi into pieces

1. Hate politics..let's not encourage it anymore..

2. Praveen Togadia's recent hate speech

3. Shiv Sena leader Kadam shares stage with Modi, makes hate speech against Muslims

4. Hate speech: Election Commission censures Amit Shah, Azam Khan
5. Saharanpur Congress candidate threatens to chop Narendra Modi into pieces

Communal and Secular trap

Politics is a subject of my interest along with many other subjects, and as the major part of my life was spent in India I am interested in Indian politics more than American politics. As far as I remember Indian politics revolves around these two terms, "communal" and "secular." BJP was already an active player in Indian politics when I started taking an interest in it and the use of these two terms has been very common since then. The oldest and largest political party in India, the Indian National Congress or Congress (I) takes immense pride in calling itself a "secular" party and they (and many other parties with similar ideology) love to label BJP and most of its allies as "communal" mostly because of their involvement in Ayodhya Ram Mandir issue (which gave them chance to come in power) and pro-Hindu stance in general. This blame game has been going on for decades. Both sides try to fool voters by using these two labels that's why I call this a "communal and secular trap" for Indian voters and we all are badly trapped in it so badly that many other important issues like corruption, good governance, development, job creation, women empowerment, and social security, hardly come into discussion during elections. Secularism and communalism always become major electoral issues. Electoral battles are always fought on communal or secular grounds and voters are emotionally challenged and lured into one of these traps. Political parties also know that this strategy works very well and that's why they are using it again and again in every election. It will be interesting to see how long Indian voters keep on falling into the same trap.

Religion and caste are integral parts of Indian politics. Most parties select their candidates based on these two criteria, therefore, many times candidate's religion or caste becomes his/her biggest qualification. I have seen educated voters voting exclusively based on these things, they just vote for a particular candidate because he/she belongs to their caste, and don't even check the suitability of that candidate for that particular post. These people fail to understand that politics and religion are two different fields and should be treated separately, but because of so much clever blending of religion with politics, people fail to separate them. Both (political parties and religious institutes) like to control people by controlling their thought processes and they both use similar strategies that's why it's not surprising that they take the help of each other to keep their control over the masses. 

I wonder how a country where your caste and religion are asked on every official form, where a movie or a minor incident could trigger communal riots and ethnic violence can call itself secular? The spirit of secularism has been on the verge of dying by multiple cuts in the last many years. The word "secular" has become like an abuse and people ridicule anyone who dares to associate with this word. So-called secular parties blame communal parties for majority appeasement and accuse them of minority intimidation and in turn, so-called communal parties accuse secular parties of minority appeasement and blame them for the negligence of the majority community. This blame game has been going on for years and because of this, there is a polarization between the majority and minority communities. In reality, both the majority and minorities are struggling with neither of them getting any benefit. The real beneficiaries in this fight are the political parties, poor voters are still struggling with their day to day problems, still waiting for good governance, but as long as they don't come out of this deadly trap their wait will continue.

Thanks for reading and please share your views about this topic. 

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)