Before starting to fix or troubleshoot a system, what we need to have is clear understanding or better we call it the feel or need to do this. We need to go to the grass root levels of the cause and effect analysis. And even prior to that we must know where we want to reach. Through this small piece of writing we will try to analyze the communal harmony status of India as well as see its different facets in order to improve upon the present situation.
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What do we understand by these two words, i.e. 'communal harmony'? What most people get from them in connection to India is peaceful coexistence of people having faith in different religions and predominantly between Hindus and people following Islam. Obviously it is one of the major issues when talking of harmony in India, but is not the only one. Our country can be divided into so many communities for different reasons, like on the basis of religion, as we are a country of the largest number of religions coexisting under the same roof and here lies the greatness of our country. All those religions are further categorized into different communities and are called caste. People have also divided themselves for the corner of the country they belong to and the languages they speak. People from one financial status segregate themselves from the weaker sections; here is where the gap is widening these days like never before. If fine tune our search for community divides we may even minimize to working/labor class and executive class or corporate sector community and public sector community. Following the 'major few and not trivial many' rule we should concentrate on the aforementioned major issues.
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Let the communities based on religion be taken first. We have suffered irreparable losses in the years past due to this disharmony cause. What we i.e. the youth of the country can do is to cultivate the basic human values all over again. We need to tell ourselves and to the masses that doing harm or hurting somebody just for the reason that one hails from a different hierarchy or ancestors is so very unjustified. No religion or holy book has ever advocated it. What religion do we follow if we keep on doing things which is so strongly detested by our own religion? There are two options one may have to one's disposal, either follow your own religious teachings honestly and truly and then try to be a good human (well following any religion truly always makes one a better human) or have the values of a good human being and then go for your religion.
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If we succeed in preaching and practicing this much we can surely establish harmony between followers of different religions, as each individual must enjoy the basic right to follow a religion of his/her choice but peacefully in our country.
Each religion is divided into several castes for the reasons which don't sound relevant enough in this modern era. It is seen these days that people are free to work in the domains of their choices and are not bound to follow their fathers and forefathers or what their caste implies for. When the fundamental basis of caste system has not remained relevant for which castes were made, I ask a single question to the readers, why follow it? We should encourage ourselves to be a disbeliever of caste system. Inter-caste marriages should be encouraged. We should feel and propagate the sense to the current generation and future generations that caste system is history and it no longer exists.
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Let us come to the regional divides. So many states and many more spoken languages and scripts, the world is talking of globalization then how come we Indians stick to issues based on small topographical issues? We used to be a bigger India but got divided on these issues, division doesn't strengthen a rope then will it ever strengthen a country? Division always weakens things. A Tamil runs his business in Delhi speaking Punjabi, an Assamese and a Kannad discussing matters in Gujarati in a conference room in Ahmedabad or a Bihari owning a South Indian café in Panjim wooing customers in Konkani et al, it should not be a great fuss. We should explore our whole country and then we will come to know that this country has far too many things to be proud of than selfishly singing the regional songs in our own backyards. At first we are Indians and then we belong to elsewhere, and this must apply to the whole population. This feeling of national integrity should be propagated, our feelings should be reflected through our social actions, and this is how it should always be like. Respecting people and their languages never costs anything.
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My readers may find my approach somewhat offbeat, as this bit of writing is devoid of facts, figures and examples. It really does lack them. But what I advocate is that the issue we have been discussing here has got a different purpose, its our duty to visualize and make others visualize the India we have always dreamt of, a country sans all disparities and difference, a country of love, devotion and harmony. Together we, the Indian youth who certainly have all the flairs needed to turn the dream into reality, come on, make our India!
