Stop attacking, hurting Hindus’ sentiments

Recent attack on the Amarnath devotees by the Pakistan agents in Kashmir has resulted in death of eight Hindus from Gujarat and several others were injured. Pakistan with the help of jihadi elements succeeded in achieving its goal and a strong message went out to the global community that Hindus are attacked and the devotees of Lord Shiv are murder ed. But the next day, undeterred by the ghastly, the number of Amarnath Yatris increased attack to take the blessings from the holy shrine. There are innumerable examples in our proud history that suggest that Hindus are never coward. The symbolic attack could never demoralise the strong will of the Shiv Bhakts. In our society, people from all religions have always given food, shelter, medicines and other supports to devotees in the   month of Shravan. But as the holy cave is in Kashmir, so the coward Pakistan, as usual, is carrying out a proxy war on our countrymen but its intention to keep Kashmir on boil will never be successful. Our people are always very sentimental to spiritual issues and Pakistan intends to exploit the situation so that the country is engulfed with divisive sentiments. Therefore, as Indian government is engaged in destroying Pakistani terror modules in Kashmir, it has to deal it with an iron hand. I think it is appropriate what our writer Vijay Dutt says: “True, one can say Divine wrath will end the long run of the ungodly. But before the divine intervention, Delhi must abrogate Article 370. Nothing more can happen than one has been witnessing for quite sometime.” To change the demography of the Valley will take time but this Narendra Modi government should start the process. Last week, a nine-year-old girl died in Pakistan firing. Of course, our soldiers are now getting more freedom to handle the enemy with zero tolerance, but enough is enough. How many soldiers can we sacrifice in Kashmir? How much money can we spend in Kashmir? Time has come that Delhi should take a final call to erase the root-cause that is eating into the vitals of Kashmiriyat and Jamhuriyat.

Conspiracy to divide the Hindus and Hindustan is not new. We have been facing it since ages. Hinduism has always propagated the theory that the whole universe is one family. It has been our tradition to support and strengthen the welfare of human beings. But we cannot afford to let others divide our age-old traditions and religious ethos. Hindus have never attacked the Haz pilgrims or have never attacked any Church. It  has been in our blood to live and let live. And the divisive elements have to understand this.  The alien thoughts from across the border have always tried to afflict our composite society with their parochial tenets. In our country, some sections of the Muslim and the Christian communities have many a time tried to divide the Hindus. The poor Hindus fall prey to them because of their economic conditions, but they have ultimately proved they are not cowards. Attacks on Hindus in Kerala are beyond any community’s tolerance. The rule of law becomes a big victim of the ruling government, owing to its vote bank considerations. Now the demography of Kerala is changing fast as the Muslims, who are staying abroad, are buying hundreds of acres of land in Kerala. The Muslim mafias are murdering the Hindus in Kannur in broad daylight and attacking the Hindu leaders, who are active in the area.

The point is in some states there is political patronage against Hindus, and Kerala is one of them. Take the case of West Bengal. For more than three decades, the communists ruled the state. The communist  government was literally running for the welfare of those citizens who were their cadres. Otherwise, the neutral citizens were never allowed to take benefit of the government schemes. Then Mamta Banerjee won and assured the people to provide good governance to all. But now, if one looks at the ground realities, one can see that Sonar Bangla is burning. Mamta is again playing the politics of appeasement and there is no governance in West Bengal. Take a small example: In monsoon season, rainbow appears in the sky, and in Bengal it is called Ramdhanu. But a section of the Muslims strongly opposed it and demanded to change the name. So, Mamta Banerjee changed the name Ramdhanu to Rangdhanu. Thank God the BJP government is not there in the Bengal and the name Ramdhanu has been used by Bengalis for ages.

So, after Independence, the Indian political parties have always exploited and divided the Hindus in the name of caste and religion in this country for mere political gains. Pakistan is attacking Hindu pilgrims; China closed the Nathula Pass, the gate to Mansarovar pilgrimage. In India there is always attack on Hindu festivals–be it in Kolkata or in Kerala. Hindus are always soft targets by our own political parties and by the alien forces. But the concept of Hinduism that believes in staying together with a human touch to all has made all Hindus stronger and braver. But one should never test their tolerance, because Hindus are not cowards.

Deepak Kumar Rath