Can Religion and Language be enough for Human Survival? Let’s answer the question in the Globalized setting with reference to domestic setting.
The division of lands is a common affair in India as lands pass from the father to the sons. What is uncommon however, is the division of society, Political Boundaries, Regions, National Boundaries and above all Human beings. The Ironic state of the day demands a call from the Human intellect to persistently provide a logic to this unruly attitude of men towards men and at the same time justify the very acts that cause and tend to cause the many divisions inflicted upon Humanity by them.
The latest in the fray comes due to language. A recent row over English language has caused the law and Order agencies to patrol the streets of North Delhi. The row is over the demands to scrap the second paper from the preliminary state of the Civil Services Examinations being conducted since 1926 by UPSC.
The initial demand of scrapping English only took a sudden different form as agitators looked upon the Political parties to garner support. From the demand for scrapping English Comprehension, the demand moved to scrapping the second paper altogether. The politicization of the matter began after the podium was seen being shared by leaders of many political parties whose existence merely exists as Recognized Political Parties. When the ‘Opposition’ in Parliament saw the water simmering, it took to fan the steam to the boiler and the matter further intensified due to political ruckus in both the houses of the parliament. Important days for Parliamentary legislations seemed to getting wasted while highly important matters and bills remained pending because somebody in the neighbourhood could not read and write an exam in English language.
Another important cause to effect the division are the Iraqi and Gaza Crisis, which though regional crises, seem to be attracting attention from every nook & corner of the Globe. While the parliament was rocked first on the issue of Indian Nuns and Nurses in Iraq, the issue took a drift towards India’s stand with regards to Israel and Palestine. While the former seems a genuine concern, the latter seems to only divide the nation on religious lines.
The foreign policy, as everybody knows, aims at satisfying the national interests. Now, taking a stand and choosing between Israel and Palestine is just not going to help the nation. While Israel is an important strategic partner as far as defence technologies go, Palestine helps maintain a rapport with Arab states which otherwise would shun away India and Indian Oil supplies due to Pakistani interventions. Not taking a stand not only helps India keep cards up its sleeves, it keeps the door shut for any aggressive Global diplomacy from taking shape as happened with Libya Issue in 2011. A few Political parties, instead, decided to hold rallies in Delhi to show solidarity towards a community ignoring the fact that the community can prosper only when India prospers.
While language and Religious tension in some distant lands might tend to inflict domestic injuries, a sudden blow is provided by our own domestic setting. The religious setting provides a base that reverberates and continues to change direction in the Political setting. The analogy of religion and Politics is not new to deal with. In fact, the Political setting and religious setting try to dominate the social setting in Toto besides influencing and affecting each other. How can a religious man develop without electricity at home? How can a linguistic man develop without intellect? How can a Political Organization develop without a Nation?
What irritates the most is that the smoke signals from a far-off place seem to be polluting the domestic atmosphere. Justification and Confrontations seem to be becoming the most vital tool of domestic politics. The national interest having been kept at the backburner, suddenly is overshadowed by the quick demands because we have either a ‘Religion in Danger’ or a ‘Language in Danger’ or ‘Pseudo-discrimination’.
The aspect of national identity seems lost as we usher into a tomorrow that unwraps for us the hope for a nation supposedly for a strong and powerful one. However, the hope is blurred amidst the myriad of our own expectations and desires that troubles our today thereby endangering the very roadmap of tomorrow. The aura of Religious fanaticism seems gaining ground as one sees the Political developments that tend to dictate the Political environment making it filthy.
The idea of India as a nation is lost because we further are busy choking ourselves in the air-tight compartments of Language and region unknown to the fact that the identity of the region and Language is well protected only under the identity of a nation. We tend to prefer ‘the easy way out’ because we don’ like challenges that dictate our settings. We instead prefer to be in a setting dictated all by ourselves whether the man standing next to be likes it or not because he is just another member of the society that we would wish to dominate.
A nation is imploding. We are divided. We tend to hire the weakness of ours beyond the facade of nationalism. It is no sooner that the same walls might see leakages. And when they will begin to leak, there would only be foods with ‘Red water’ all around.
Chirag Goel's Blog 