As a person who identifies with no political party or is not of religious bent of mind the shock of being attacked and called a right wing conservative is pretty shocking. Actually the term “right wing conservative” makes no sense to me because the apolitical view of life. It was like crashing into the reality of paranoia amongst a certain religious community who like to take the advantages of being a minority every step of the way yet are perturbed if termed as minority, when the census data will show they are spread across the length and breadth of the country and the world. President Obama may want to appease the Community worldwide but the truth is the rest of the population and his own vote bank considers them a faction which fuels separatist movements and as a result terrorism in some form. If one looks at the events where Countries have been torn apart by civil war many instances of the involvement of this community will come to fore. Not being a scholar or an academic mind there is no links or data that is part of this opinion mongering. What has brought this on is however an incident.
The recent thumping victory of a gentleman accused and later exonerated off communal riots in a state, in the General Election of the country has made a lot of people sit up and worry about the fate of the ‘minority’ (for lack any other subtler reference to it) community under the leadership of a political party which houses religious fanatics who are dead against the the supposed existence of this minority community in the country. There was a point of time during the preceding weeks to the election when my own opinion had been averse to the selection of the party and the leader. Yet there was a acute realization with the winds of change there was nothing that could stop the march to power. Upon the declaration of the results along with the media a few people went ballistic on the social media of Facebook. In this was an old classmate from college. In the entire duration preceding this event, my support had been for everything that was posted as status. On the fateful day of Election Result the individual in question parodied an ironical status update about the options of finding new places to live in a neighboring country – which was formed to provide a separate state for this community. The individual’s friend list jumped into the foray by condemning her for being negative and praising her to make her see the brighter side of her life. It was like being told, because you are a fashion designer of some repute and have a mixed community background you most certainly cannot and will not be forced to leave the country.
The seeds of this were sown by a political party candidate who happened to suggest anyone against their party will find their place in the religious majority based country who happen to be our neighbor. In my stupidity I made the mistake of mocking the friends of my classmate, telling her that the reason everyone was busy making her feel like a grand success is purely because their own insecurities and shameful self realization that although outwardly secular we do see a divide between the community. The mockery was for anyone who felt the need to pacify this person and remind her of her worth as if this one status update negated her. To me this mocking little piece was my way of supporting the classmate, who is one of the 2 people on my list of friends who belong to this minority community. Although my religious inclinations are nil and at heart I am secular, this comment I left had given me the opportunity to address the hypocrisy that goes with accepting people from the minority community. We accept only those who are equal to us in status and social standing or perhaps better than us. We do not shy away from mouthing anti secular sentiments within our own circles.
Having made just a strong mocking statement on the true state of our minds I went happily about my day, only to be rudely shocked by this same classmate picking up a very public insult battle over her hurt sentiments as a minority and the fact that out of all the comments mollycoddling her mine was by far the most scathing attack on her as an individual. Bewildered, I attempted to explain to her, but words failed me as i was continuously poked with sharp sticks by her. Finally I decided to leave the argument and be the more matured individual and apologized for inadvertently hurting her. Her adamant attitude reached its peak as she continued to attack me calling me immature and branding herself the adult, calling her scathing attack a discussion and exchange of opinions and my statement only an example of what she is scared will happen to the country and the likes of her, because I was the enemy now.
From being the one who came out in support of her sentiments I had suddenly been turned into a villain and all her supporters came to her rescue and pounced on me. I am not ashamed to admit that this drove to tears. I was bullied and heckled on Facebook by Karishma Siddique Roy [was tempted to add the link to her profile on fb, but refrained, because I do not trust the likes of her] and her friends for no fault of my own.
After this a genuine concerned soul offered me some relief by stating that my mocking statement had been misunderstood by her on her first attempt to read it , only when I explained my words did she gather the real meaning. I thanked her for her kind words, or may be I didn’t because by then I was fuming and ready to break the neck of the next person who tried to bully me.
It took me sometime to settle down and I remembered why this woman was no longer a friend but merely a classmate although I shared 3 years of friendship with her, I remembered what a paranoid woman she was, and ultra conservative in her attitude and there had been an altercation with her because of a very silly reason involving some guy and a movie outing. The memories of the past reminded me of two things [both of which I had forgotten] one, never to trust a Gemini, the two faced people I have come across have left me feeling this and two not to be friends with people who have several hang ups, issues and doubts about their place in this world so they need to put you down in order to shine above,
I cannot vouch that I have succeeded in following my own lessons but after this sad event, I am a convert in terms of my religious identity. Yes, I am a Hindu and no, there is no category called Secular to mark under religion in any forms, so I am not Secular. Ms. Siddique may be the result of an union between two communities and herself now part of another mixed community union but she retains her minority mindset and fears and I refuse to come to out in her support ever again. In fact I say, that it is educated people like her who are fueling the anti secular sentiments in this country, why blame the politician?. The politician is smart enough to know his Vote Bank and will do nothing extreme so he can happily remain in power. Perhaps Ms. Siddique should try to fly into USA with a VISA or seek a job there and see how she is treated before pointing her fingers at the country which is her Homeland and the intentions of her well meaning secular friends. Because although she may think she doesn’t need this anti-secular , creator of the we and you divide, but something tells me if ever this country came down to deciding on the fates of the pseudo intellectual , secular and positively non religious fanatics that exist, it is people like me who will have a say.
My vote was never for the current elected premier however, I am willing to support the government he forms and give him a chance for the next 5 years. Although I know this country will never vote through a referendum to chase out the so called refuges and other community, (which has already seceded twice from the country, yet are land grabbers and infiltrators at the end of the day, the same community which issues fatwa against it’s women folks and intellectual leaders), I will definitely vote for the motion to ensure Ms. Siddique and the likes of her get a taste of a religious state and what it feels like to really live in a non secular country. Then may be I will be in the mood to revert back to being a secular. Till then I remain a petty minded, revenge seeking, communal Hindu.
THE END.
100daysofscribbling 