One of the most important and unfortunate discoveries of current election campaign going all over the country has been Varun Gandhi, a Gandhi less written about and less known to us a few days back. He was the other Gandhi, a not so prominent one, a Gandhi with the political identity crisis in the renowned Nehru-Gandhi family.
He had been there in BJP recognized by his mother Maneka Gandhi's identity. The Present election brought before him a chance to create his own identity when he got the opportunity to contest the Parliamentary election. Devoid of the Gandhi Karishma which his cousin and the past members of Nehru Gandhi family had, He found himself unable to carry an election campaign to victory on his shoulders alone. He required to produce something different within himself which could instantly bring him in limelight and take him to new political heights. Faced with a dearth of options he produced that extra thing in the form of speeches he delivered while addressing election rallies in his constituency.
The venom he spitted against a particular community was not new to our country where eve after living together for six decades after independence majority of the people of different communities still see one other with suspicion. But, the magnitude and the manner in which he did it was unprecedented and shocked every responsible citizen.However what followed next was equally shameful with every political party trying to gain political mileage over others. Instead of arguing now over whether he said such things or not and whether it was a political conspiracy to malign him as alleged by him, everyone should look within himself . Even after such unfortunate incident there were many people who were trying to project his theory as the right one. Any such attempt was absolutely ridiculous. Now, time is ripe for a thorough honest introspection finding out if interstices of our mind contain the dangerous seeds of communalism.
A careful analysis of such introspection will surely reveal a dangerous trend of such seeds being already converted to plants in our mind. People should also assess the fact that given the same opportunity we won't commit the same mistakes as those committed by the likes of Varun Gandhi.
The constituent of our country declares it to be secular and majority of us take the pride in calling ourselves secular. But It is sarcastic to say Incidents like Varun Gandhi get so much attention and support. This shows the height of hypocrisy of our thinking. The hyperactivity of pseudo seculars which form the masses ensure that such incidents constantly remain in People's attention while the basic governing issues take the sidelines.
The cause of such uncivilized behaviour are hidden in the way the present society exists and the solutions are there in itself too. The present myopic viewpoint and the increased intolerance in our society due to historical reasons and some present unfortunate incidents are not only hindering our present progress but also blocking our future prosperity. The society is threatening to go from where it began. The solution to counter such trends lie in the opening up of society and increasing amalgamation among people of different communities. Intellectuals will have to come forward strongly taking responsibility for the welfare of people and promotion of tolerance among the people. The society requires complete makeover with focus on collective well being. Somebody has rightly said, “United we stand divided we fall”. If everybody stands together for harmony there is no doubt it will never be lost.
Mr. Shashank, from my point of view whatever you have written is perfect in this context.
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