There was a time India was ruled by the British empire. Children today and for years past in schools have been taught of the atrocities committed on the citizens of this country and the oppression and slavery that was inflicted upon this country of ours. In explaining to us how it became possible for the British to effect such control over, what is today a vast nation, we often hear the phrase " Divide and Rule ".
In an effort to garner enough support and in an effort to divert attention of the people from real and pertinent issues like their freedom, the then ruling monarchy, used a system of creating social divisions on the lines of religion, caste, lineage and geography. Today, 60 years hence, Indian society continues this British tradition through its own people and its own politics.
You name it we fight over it. Religion, Language, Caste, Sex ... everything. As societies grow and develop they give rise to newer generations of people more open to new concepts and Ideas. The US for example at a time hated the Beatles and their brand of rock and roll. This was shortly followed by the hippie era and the Californication of America, mostly because of a generational shift in acceptance of this new music. This is a very simplistic example but similar analogies can be drawn with the abolishing of ideologies like slavery and womens rights in the states.
I see a similar generational shift in India at this point in time. The religious liberalization of India is afoot. Would your parents have mailed pink underwear to politicians 50 years back if they had been caught playing footsie in a restaurant ? ... such displays of defiance in support of personal freedoms were not non existant but were certainly rare. So why am i talking about this now ? ...
Because it disappoints me greatly to see a soft spoken, young politician like Varun Gandhi go out and spout the utter crap that he did in Philibit. I do not understand the need to make false statements, and engage largely uneducated people in such religious rhetoric which in todays times it is extremely easy and extremely pertinent to direct efforts towards more progressive ideologies like development, education, industry, infrastructure. In a day and time where these things were mere pipe dreams and the economy was in shambles i can see why people would chose to pick subjects like religion as the basis for their campaign. I am not surprised to see this from the BJP but i am very disappointed to see this from a young politician who is reportedly highly educated.
Lets look at some of the statements Mr. Varun Gandhi made.
"this is not a 'Hand' (Congress symbol), it is the power of the 'Lotus' (BJP symbol). It will cut the head of .......
Jai Shri Ram."
We need to move out of the dark ages Mr. Gandhi. The viability of decapitation as a solution to end religious differences has long since been debunked. Instead you could have chosen to say that a) you will aim to introduce a uniform civil law for people of all religions, thus enabling society to function under a secular uniform value system regarless of personal beliefs b) you will aim to separate religion from political agendas and manifestos thus forcing minority groups and parties to address real issues of their respective groups c ) you will strengthen law and order in your constituency thus preventing crimes regardless of the religion of the person who perpetrates them.
Instead you chose to focus on regilion and make false statements about Hindus being raped by people of other religions
You sir are not a Hindu, or an Indian in any measure ... you are an opportunistic politician who aims to rise to power by dividing a people who have the golden opportunity of uniting under a common banner of progress and economic upliftment. Shame on you.
The shiv sena, Bajrang Dal and the usual chorus of voices has risen in support. It is not their voice that matters ... it is my Vote that does.
I vote against division, I vote against being swayed by religous bullshit being spewed, I vote against decapitation and hand cutting and going back to the dark ages.
I vote for a united, uniformly governed and progressive thinking India.
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