Before Islamic invasions, the Indian subcontinent accounted for 40% of the world's GDP. (And no, sorry, we were not one big peaceful land then 😊. Hindu kings were busy invading each other's kingdoms too - North, South, Marathas, Guptas, Mauryas, Shaivites, Vaishnavites, etc. etc. etc. Absolutely no different from Muslim kingdoms spreading their empires!)
During the time of the Mughal Empire, we still accounted for 35% of the world's GDP.
When the British left us, we accounted for 2% of the global GDP.
2%!
Yet we keep talking about Islamic invasions and use this rhetoric to create ill-will against Muslim citizens of our country but hardly talk about the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the Bengal Famine, the British response to the Mutiny of 1857, No Indians and Dogs Allowed, and being treated as second class citizens in our own land. We forget the Portuguese who carried out inquisitions (read about Goan Inquisitions - your blood will freeze) because we don't even know about the inquisitions. That the French also had colonies here is alright with us. We are willing to forget all this and embrace the Europeans. We take great pride in knowing European languages, dressing like them, dancing like them, eating like them. We emigrate to European countries and work and live there happily. But embracing Muslims who chose to stay here instead of leaving when the partition happened seems like a strange notion to us! Why?
I'm not saying that we ought to keep harboring grudges against the British, the Portuguese or the French. Of course not! I personally have friends of different nationalities all over the world and I love them as much as I love my friends and family here. We need to forgive the past and move forward with goodwill. It is also perfectly alright to adopt and absorb whatever is of value from every culture around the world - including those who ruled over us in the past. It is only intelligent to affirm life, increase our quality of living and expand our horizons of knowledge and culture.
But please understand this clearly: Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, and everyone else who fought side by side in our independence struggle and decided to live together became family that very moment. Period.
This country will never be a Hindu country. It will never be a Sikh country. It will never be a Christian country. It will never be a Buddhist country. It will never be an Islamic country. None of these will ever happen. Ever. Temples, Gurudwaras, Churches, Buddhist shrines, Mosques, will exist here side by side. Atheists and agnostics will always be as welcome here as believers. We will be ruled neither by the Manu Smriti nor the Sharia nor the Roman Scripts.
Our constitution will govern us and we will shape it together, collectively, democratically.
This is how it's going to be. No other way.
If you talk about the presence of extremist elements and the need to nip these in the bud: I am with you 100%. Anyone of any religion (or otherwise) propagating any extreme ideology that threatens peace and stability in this country needs to be put behind bars right away and kept there. You will never see me protesting this.
If you talk about the need to correct historical wrongs by rebuilding temples and shrines that were destroyed by invaders, I say this: Do so legally and not by destruction and violence! It is possible! I invite you to read: Strike a Pause: Ayodhya-Mathura-Kashi: Respect the Law! (strike-a-pause.blogspot.com). And yes, the Muslim community needs to cooperate in this process. Unending stalemates don't help anyone. Wherever there is clarity that a Hindu temple or shrine was destroyed by invaders, let those structures be rebuilt by everyone collectively and peacefully. Let's move on with goodwill and harmony and end our quarrels. Otherwise we will never be prosperous. And that's what we need to aim for: a prosperous and bright future for us and our children.
But at the same time, this is how much of a problem I have with the ordinary Muslim citizens of this country: Zero. I've gone to school with them, I've played cricket and football with them, I've worked with them as a colleague, there are Muslim doctors and nurses who have attended to me when I've been sick, Muslim restaurant owners who have served me delicious food, there are Muslims in our police force and army who are as committed to the safety and integrity of this country as anyone else, there are Muslim teachers and professors in our schools and colleges, Muslim scientists in our research labs, we've had a Muslim president, and this is how much of a problem I have with all of them: Zero.
At the end of the day, the only sane way forward is to take the best aspects of every culture, including our own, reject negatives in every culture, including our own, and move forward with intelligence and all the wisdom we can muster. That-is-the-only-sane-way-forward. Period.
[PS-1: If everyone, all religions put together, in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh understands the above post, and resolves to simply end all internal as well as cross border conflicts, we can become an unstoppable force. Unstoppable. Remember: 35-40% of the world's GDP. That's our genius and caliber. That's how great we were and can become again. We are better than this squabbling, quarrelling, set of immature people that we have become. Much much better.]
[PS-2: As I remark at the start of the post, let us not forget that before invaders came from outside the Indian subcontinent, Hindu kings fought and invaded each other's kingdoms too. Hindu kings too indulged in war and bloodshed. We were not all sitting peacefully in meditation before evil outsiders came and introduced bloodshed to us. We were not all positive, all good. There was evil and violence and oppression within us too. To be in denial about this is plain hypocrisy. There are positives and negatives in every world culture and civilization. And as I remarked above the only sane way forward is to take the best aspects of every culture, including our own, reject negatives in every culture, including our own, and move forward with intelligence and all the wisdom we can muster. That-is-the-only-sane-way-forward. Period.]
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