Omkar Dattatray
India and Indian culture is everlasting and perennial and even its tolerance and brotherhood is a distinguishing feature of Indian culture and there is no threat to it. Elections come and go but India and its secular fabric and plural ethos is ever fresh and its fragrance is worth to inhale. India is not secular and tolerant from the days its sacrosanct constitution was adopted but India is a tolerant and secular from centuries, thanks to its vibrant and immortal cultural heritage which dates back to 5000 years. So there is no need to worry about the secular tenets of India as the President of National Conference party Dr. Farooq Abdullah has wrongly projected threat to secular fabric. Former J&K CM has said that this election is a battle to save India.
He also said it is a battle to safeguard religious freedom. One wonders how because Indian is a secular dispensation irrespective of who rules it whether leftists', rightists or other regional and national parties and all have to abide by the tenets of secularism, secular ethos and plural character of India. This election is significant in more than one way but to say that this election battle is to save India is basically an election gimmick and has nothing to do with secularism.
Yet it is a bigger battle and every election in India after all is a bigger battle to install a new government and people vote to elect government of their choice. There is freedom of religion and belief in India and everyone is free to profess and practice religion of his or her choice and there is as such is no threat to freedom of religion. One does not know how Farooq Abdullah sees threat to secularism. It is not threat to religious freedom but under its guise he feels the threat to his party's poll prospectus and thus to entice voters he gives such statements, otherwise there is no threat to religious freedom in India and this religious freedom irrespective of which party rules the centre. India and its culture goes on and one while other world cultures have vanished.
Therefore, there is some intrinsic strength and vitality in our culture which lives in spite of the hundreds of years of foreign onslaught. The politicians are baking their own breads by giving selfish, unfounded and unsubstantiated statements only to gain the sympathy of the electorate and they can go to any extent. Farooq Abdullah President of NC has said that 2019 election battle is to save India and let us remind him that Indian has the intrinsic vitality and strength and it is ever rustless and restless and can go on forever like a liver and therefore there is no worry on this account. Let Farooq Abdullah take care of his party and not give controversial and unnecessary statements just to come in the lime light and hog the headlines but instead put his efforts, energy and guidance together to make NC really a people's party and people's movement. Through constitutional guarantee secularism has been accorded constitutional backing but Indian has remained tolerant and thus secular throughout centuries before secularism came into birth in the western democracies.
Therefore, there is no threat to India and Indian secularism irrespective of fact which party or combination of parties comes to power after the Lok Sabha elections of 2019. India is secular and tolerant more because of its vibrant and flourishing culture and constitution has given it a political, legal and constitutional guarantee and therefore irrespective of which political party comes to power India is safe and sound because its very foundation are very strong and can absorb any shocks and so there is no need to worry on this account. BJP is as secular as congress and other parties as the country is the cradle of secularism and no political party is un-secular and thus India is safe in hands of all parties though the way of working of the political parties and their governments differs from party to party. But in the ultimate analysis it is the people who vote and give the reins of power in those hands which will take India to new heights as a growing economy and a technological power.
It is in the fitness of things to quote poet ‘Iqbal' who has said in urdu and I quote,”Kuch baat hai ki hasti mitite nahi humari. Sadiyo raha hai dushman daory zamma humara”. Though it is a fact that this election is of monumental and historical importance as it will decide, are the electors with BJP and its leader Narinder Modi or are they with the congress and its allies? It seems that inspite of the Mahagathbandhan which Modi rightly calls Mahamilavatigathbandhan and anti-incumbency, there is likelihood that Modi led NDA government will retain power this time as well because Modi government is the savior of the people & it has provided succor and relief to the middle income group and the poor.
Take the case ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Avoushdi Kendra', the ailing people are provided life saving medicine at very cheap prices and this is really a revolutionary step and is hailed by the people cutting across political spectrum. Its Jan ‘Dhan Yogna' is also a commendable scheme for the citizens under which crores of accounts were opened by the people living at the bottom of the society. The list of achievements to the credit of BJP led NDA government it is very long and therefore there are less chances of anti incumbency to affect the poll outcome. So this time as well in spite of the cobbling of all the opposition parties against one Modi, there is the possibility that Modi may come back to power to give a place of pride to India a big economic and technological giant. Coming back to Farooq's statement that his election is a battle for secularism and secular ethos, let me remind the senior most leader of the state that India is not secular because the BJP, Congress, NC, PDP & leftists and rightists but because it has a strong cultural and religious sanction behind it. Therefore, it is better for the Farooq Abdullah & their leaders to mend their own political houses and not indulge in giving controversial statements time and again only to be in the limelight. Long live Indian secularism.
(The writer is columnist and a social activist)
