He further added: “… the world is waiting for this great idea of universal tolerance. It will be a great acquisition for civilization. Moreover, no civilization can exist for long unless this idea enters it. No civilization can grow if fanaticism, bloodshed and brutality do not stop. No civilization can begin to lift its head until we look at each other with charity; and the first step towards this much needed charity is to consider with charity and benevolence the religious conviction of others. Much more, to understand that we must not only be charitable, but also positively useful to each other, however different our ideas and religious convictions may be. And that is exactly what we are doing in India as I just told you. It is here in India that the Hindus built and are still building churches for Christians and mosques for Mohammedans. It’s the right thing to do ”.
Now, in several parts of the BJP-ruled states, right-wing forces representing Hindutva are attacking churches and Christians. Parades organized in some areas inhabited by minorities to raise funds for the construction of the Ram temple have witnessed violence against Muslims and destruction of their homes. Such deliberate targeting of Muslims in the name of building the Temple of Ram is a manifestation of “bigotry, bigotry and its horrific descendant, fanaticism” in 21st century India.
In the process, the Hinduism of Swami Vivekananda, which Vajpayee preferred to Hindutva, became a victim. Can India’s constitutional view prevail and detoxify the community ecosystem created by the forces of Hindutva? We hope that it is in the realm of the possible. Let us remember the enlightening words of Swami Vivekananda who marked the integrated vision of India by combining both Hinduism and Islam and by celebrating religious pluralism which remains at the heart of our Constitution and secularism. He said, “” Practical Avaitism … has yet to be developed among Hindus universally … Therefore, we are firmly convinced that without the help of practical Islam, the theories of Vedantism, too. fine and wonderful though they are, have no value for the masses. of humanity… For our own homeland, a junction of the two great systems, Hinduism and Islam – the brain Vedanta and the body of Islam – is the only hope… I see in my mind the future perfect India emerging out of this chaos and strife, glorious and invincible, with a Vedanta brain and an Islamic body.
It is such a vision of India that is in danger and we must save it by invoking Swami Vivekananda and the Constitutional Idea of India.
Views are personal
