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Religious Harmony

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by Viswamitra, Jun 7, 2022.

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  1. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    The ancient Indian scripture Rigveda endeavors plurality of religious thought with its mention “eKaM sadvipraa bhaudhaa vadanti” meaning wise people explain the same truth in different manners. It is an Upanishadic statement from the yore which signifies that “One God is worshipped in different names”. Religious harmony in India is a concept that indicates that there is love, affection between different religions in India. The Indian constitution supports and encourages religious harmony. In India, every citizen has a right to choose and practice any religion. According to Dalai Lama, India is a model for religious harmony. He mentions that “in the last 2000-3000 years, different religions traditions such as Jainism, Islam, Sikhism, and others, have flourished here in India”.

    The Hindus being people belonging to the majority religion, has a duty and obligation to make the people with faith of any minority religion safe in India. At the same time, the minority religious people have a duty to live in perfect harmony with the majority religion in India. Most importantly, the government of India has a major obligation to establish perfect harmony among all religions and to avoid religious tension among the religions. The leaders belonging to the political parties especially the ones in power should do everything possible to establish religious harmony.

    Recently, a young and upcoming politician made a remark in her television appearance something derogatory about Prophet Mohammad which attracted attention nationally and internationally. The Indian Ambassadors in Iran, Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia were called by the respective governments to protest such an incident. Now, there is a call among the Gulf countries to avoid Indian goods in the market. None of these countries protesting this remark by an Indian political leader has any history of religious tolerance in their respective countries but India has set high standards for years establishing religious harmony. The government of India should make every effort to not to deteriorate this high tradition by their political statements or actions.

    Credit to the ruling party for deciding to suspend/dismiss political leaders involved in the television program even though it might have been forced due to international pressure. The political leader responsible for this derogatory statement has unconditionally apologized for her statement which should close the matter. However, the minority religious wings have issued a Fatwa against her and her family endangering her and her family’s life. Despite being suspended from the ruling political party, the government is providing all security needed to protect her life and the Home Minister personally handled threat to her life and inquired with her about the security.

    While the majority religion has duty and obligation to ensure the safety of the minority religious people, The minority religious people shouldn’t take law into their own hands threatening the life of an individual political leader who has publicly apologized for her statements in her television appearance. Historically, there is an instance in 2006 of a famous painter of a minority religion painting the nude Hindu Goddesses who has been given citizenship by one of the countries protesting the derogatory remark against Prophet Mohammad. The religious tolerance should be practiced by all the religions without which religious harmony can not be established. Any action that would jeopardize the religious harmony should be strictly avoided and the government of India should make every step to immediately stop any such religious tensions.

    The fact that so many religions coexisted side by side for thousands of years in India is a great sense of pride for India and that is the reason why other democratic countries look up to India for learning this important lesson.

    Note: This is the opinion of the author of this article, the ILites are requested to post their views without any personal attack on anyone. Let us set an example here as to how to promote religious harmony. To avoid heated debates, I request all ILites to post only their individual opinion without any comments about opinion of others. I will not be responding to the comments here either.
     
    Last edited: Jun 7, 2022
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  2. chanchitra

    chanchitra Platinum IL'ite

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    Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, who has often taken a firm stand against Islamic fundamentalism in his country, has spoken in support of BJP’s former spokesperson Nupur Sharma. Wilders, in a series of tweets, stated that Nupur Sharma’s statement is a fact and not some false allegations.
    Nupur sharma in her Apology also mentioned that constant insulting of shivlings for a month provoked her to make this statement.

    All the countries Protesting against Nupur's statement has never shown any religious tolerance in their respective countries.

    All countries are co dependent. India also exports food,clothing, metals to these countries. India imports oil from these countries.

    These Islamic countries have been silent on china's killing of ulghur Muslims. Human lives are more important.

    No God is so weak that a statement by a person brings a religion down.
     
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  3. HariLakhera

    HariLakhera Platinum IL'ite

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    The prime need of the hour is to keep religious harmony in place, and as you said, the Government has to take responsibility. I would add they should act by example—enough of polarising the country on communal lines to garner the votes of the majority.
    As for the apology by Nupur Sharma, it is not the first time that she has been impolite to other panel members. As a spokesperson of a large party in power also, she should have known her boundaries. Suspension is no punishment.
    Had it been some Muslim guy making such derogatory remarks against our Gods, he or she would be behind the bars by now. That would be the best security arrangement for her too. Why should the country pay for her security?
    It is sad that the country has to pay for the loud mouths of a political party just because they are in power.
    As for the minority community staying calm and on good terms with the majority, the basic responsibility is on the majority community. That was our tradition, which is being lost in translation.
     
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  4. HariLakhera

    HariLakhera Platinum IL'ite

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    India is a country of 140 billion people with centuries of history of community harmony.
    The responsibility is ours to keep it. We can not hide what happens in other countries because in that case there will be no difference between us and them.

    There may or may not be God but there are Faithfuls of Gods. Religion is made of people and not the other way. When a God is insulted, the faithful are insulted.
     
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  5. chanchitra

    chanchitra Platinum IL'ite

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    Come on. Lots of maulanas have been making derogatory comments on hindu gods in India.
    I personally have seen numerous anti hindu tweets by Indian Muslims. None of them are in jail. Lol.
     
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  6. chanchitra

    chanchitra Platinum IL'ite

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    Yes. Isn't it applicable to all religions?
     
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