Sunday, August 16, 2015

THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH


सत्यम् ब्रुयात , प्रियम् ब्रुयात, अप्रिय सत्यम् ब्रुयात। 
This inadvertently means that The Inconvenient Truths need not be spoken. Geeta has two distinct words. श्रेयस and  प्रेयस I The word श्रेयस means what is GOOD and Credible for the people and प्रेयस means what is convenient and or Palatable.
Can the Convenience gain immediacy over Credibility and or Truth.
A news from Neighbouring country i.e. Nepal has made me indulge in this drivel. In Nepal about 80% of the Muslims have expressed their desire that Nepal should opt for a Hindu Rashtra concept and reject secularism.  The word SECULARISM means that matters of Religion must not influence issues of State i.e. Governance.
Religion being a personal affair should never ideally be a subject of state. Yet the Muslims in Nepal have shown pragmatism and dared to speak out “The Inconvenient Truth” i.e.  the अप्रिय सत्यम्  or is it a mere submission to Majoritarianism.
Ideally Secularism must hold sway over any form of State’s allegiance to a subject that is private between an individual and his/her God. It is a cry from a child directed to his/her mother seeking HIS attention.  No reason for state to get itself involved in such private matters.
Yet state matters need a Reality Check and not an idealistic drool.
India has three principal streams of religion vying for it’s people’s attention. Hinduism (that includes Sikkhism, Buddhism and Jainism) followed by approx. 82%, Islam (Shia,Sunni,Ahmedias all included) approx 14% , Christians about 3% and smaller sects like Parsis, Jews etc., make up the rest.
When we practice secularism, we treat all religions  at par and give equal importance to each of them. We have EID and Christmas celebrated as Public Holidays. 
If state is declaring Holidays on religious festivals it can not be ideally said that State is not involving itself in the matters of religion. Ideally State may give 10 or 15 optional Festival Holidays and allow each individual to avail holiday as per his option. No compulsory holiday on Diwali or Eid. Indian style of secularism means giving equal importance to all religions and not ignoring any. Christians with a miniscule population of 2 to 3% have several designated holidays under N I Act.
In the matters of reality check, let us examine the basic tenets of each and try to understand where do they support the Nationalism of it’s nationals.
Whereas Christianity:: Pope declared while traveling in India that “Conversion is a basic tenet of Christianity”. I have seen several Christian Dharm gurus on TV emphasizing that indeed there can not be any restriction on Conversion as it would mean a restriction on one’s conscience.

Basic Tenets of Islam:: Shahada and Caliphate

"There is no god but God (and) Muhammad is the messenger of God."
Caliphate again another fundamental concept of Islam is alien to Modern society and concepts of Nationalism.
Hinduism:: " जननी जन्मभूमिश्च स्वर्गादपि गरीयसी"  depicts that Hinduism is close to Nationalism. The basic tenet अहम् ब्रह्मास्मि means ascendancy to Godhood by good deeds. No room for sectarianism unlike other two religions.
THENCE THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH
My belief a TRUE HINDU Rashtra would have Real Secularism as it’s core philosophy instead of the current pseudo secularism, wherein Christian NGOs peddle conversion and Islam that is competing for establishing of a Caliphate.