Incorrect Understanding Of Shri Ram

Here's a news article from 2019: https://www.ndtv.com/kanpur-news/muslim-boy-thrashed-for-refusing-to-chant-jai-shri-ram-in-kanpur-2061440

What a complete lack of understanding of who Shri Ram was and what he stands for! Such a shame!

I'm not surprised though. I happened to be in Ranchi for Ram Navami in 2019 and felt nothing but a deep sense of shame at the way my fellow Hindus were behaving. Roaming around on the streets in the night with swords drawn, the smell of alcohol on their breath, and aggressively shouting Jai Shree Ram, Jai Shree Ram, ... Almost felt as if some demon had taken possession of them and the word Ram coming from their mouths felt more like an insult and abuse than a blessing. And being a devotee of Mother Sita and Lord Ram myself, that hurt! (Would be really good to see that whole drama exposed through a sting operation one of these Ram Navamis.)

Growing up through school, college, and now in my profession: I have several Muslim friends, Christian friends, Sikh friends, ... They have never ever pressurized me to go to a Mosque, or a Church, or a Gurudwara, and I have never pressured them to come to a temple. I don't need to say Inshallah, Amen, or Waheguru, to be accepted by them, and they don't need to say Jai Shri Ram to be accepted by me.

If we can't even behave with this much common sense, then where the 21st century, where education, where our aspirations to be a developed 1st world country?

No wonder we have slipped below Bangladesh economically. Don't believe me? Here is the World Bank data for Gross National Income (GNI) Per Capita:

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GNP.PCAP.CD

Fact: India ($2540) is below Bangladesh ($2860).

We have to demand a better governance than the Divide and Rule that's going on today. We have already suffered the effects of this policy under British rule. We don't need to go through the same trauma again. Secularism is a far far better policy for development and unity than Divide and Rule!

(Note: As you reflect on the post above, bear in mind that I have supported the present government every time they acted to cancel minority appeasement freebies (Haj Allowance, PM Iftar Parties, Triple Talaaq, Article 370 - Kashmir lost the moral right to ever demand anything in January 1990). But from 2019 to 2024 their speeches and IT Cell actively spread hatred against ordinary Muslim citizens. Not only can this not be allowed, it is fundamentally nonsensical. To understand this better, I invite you to read: Strike a Pause: Why Push Away Muslims? (strike-a-pause.blogspot.com))