The recent killings and attacks in Bangladesh, the continuous barbaric acts of ISIS in the recent years, rise of extremism in our country in fact in many parts of the world are the alarming tones to: Where are we heading towards? as a society, as a country, as a world we live in. Jeopardising the world by the fundamentalism and extremism of all kinds.
Religious extremism neither confined to a particular place nor a particular time. All over the history its devastating outcomes impinged the whole world. Many arose from both within and outside the religions , and fought against to the extremism. For some time their efforts seem invincible but none sustained for a longer life. No religion is an exception for the extremism: Sematic races, Roman tyrants, Muslim invaders, Protestant crusaders, handful of sects within the Indian subcontinent, so on and so forth. The insolent might strike the world at hard. The neo versions of them are in uprising since few decades. How can a man on onside says God is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient and on the other tries to confine Him according to a book or to a particular belief and fight in the name of it ? Politics entered into the religion or the other way ? both seem to be true, not only in the current times but at every instance of the history.
The recent chants of Nationalism, exploiting the emotions of the countrymen is an another jeopardy. Nationalism in India had invoked in the late 19th century but the seed was sown with Bengal renaissance. Raja Ram Mohan Roy went against to the society to stop the social evil practice ‘Sati’. Swami Dayanada Saraswati revolted against the superstitions in the Hindu religion. The stubborn attempts of Easwarachandra Vidyasagar in the north and Kandukuri Veeresalingam in the south for window marriages, abolition of child marriage and education of women followed the path. These social reforms started the period of renaissance and lead to the advent of Nationalism. Indian National Congress was founded with an idea to represent Indians in the British Indian government and later it lead the Indian freedom movement upfront. Swami Vivekananda inspired young India of that time with his words and deeds. Though he was painted with only religion in the present days by the extremists and cynically vested political opportunists but he spoke more about inspiring ideologies and less about religion on Indian soil and he worked for the same. Mahatma Gandhi united the then sub-continent which was dived on caste, religion, region, so on and so-forth as one nation with a powerful weapon non-violence. He and his comrades lead the fight for the freedom. The journey from the Renaissance to the National movement to the Freedom movement to the Independent India is a century long path. But the nationalism in the imperial Japan, Hitler’s nationalism with racial supremacy, fascist Mussolini’s regime during the same period lead to the world war-2. The idea of nationalism in the context of self-respect, freedom from the oppression, love towards fellow countrymen was a need of hour and the driving force for the colonial countries to fight against the tyrant imperialists while the other one yielded the insolent might. The contemporary world is with all independent nations, nationalism is an age old idea now, clinging to it or invoking the idea teaches to hate other nations and take pride in the achievements in which we had no part. In India (for that matter in many countries) right wing extremists are playing the card of nationalism for their petty politics, mis-owning and mis-using the fore leaders, denouncing the religious pluralism of the country. Nehru wrote “Nationalism is good in its place, but it is an unreliable friend and an unsafe historian. It blinds us to many happenings, and sometimes distort the truth. I dislike joining in game of praising my own country at the expense of others. I believe that India has a certain individuality, a certain genius of its own, as many other countries also have. Each can give something to others as well as receive from others.”
Circumstances give opportunities for new ideologies, taking up and leading the front produce colossal changes. They are like a pair of binoculars that enables us to see far. Certain ideologies are useful for that instance of time; they should be denounced once the necessary change has reaped; after the building is finished the scaffolding should be taken away. Some have a longer life but one should mind that ideologies are for us not we are for them, they should be rejuvenated, evolved and even reformed with time according to the needs of the world, failing to which leads to fundamentalism and they for sure now turn other way and become pair of blinkers which stops our vision to see even that which is at hand. Present men and women should come out of this narrowistic ideologies of caste, creed, religion, region, political and so on, should develop a higher path of knowledge and wisdom, expand their self, be one with the universe and work for the well-being of the whole world.
satta king