Today My client called me at four p.m. to reschedule our meeting from 6 p.m. to 5 p.m. I confirmed the rescheduling and left my office at 4.30 pm. While I was driving through the traffic ,I saw a hoarding which picture of narendra modi. It read -’Kesari ae to tirango no aangh ,congress kaahe ae atankvaad no rang’ which means ’saffron is part of national flag,while congress calls it color of terrorism’.
As soon as chidambaram spoke those two words , BJP went on offensive. Generally two words found most offensive start dont start with s and t but these ones did. ‘Saffron Terror’. Considering how seasoned chidambaram is ,both in politics as well as in his law profession , he knew what he was speaking about and he knew what this words would directly,indirectly mean.
BJP , on other hand has right to attack because saffron is not just color of extremist outfits but also color of BJP flag (which has green too),RSS too and as that hoarding rightly said color present in our national flag too.
Saffron is not just limited to above three ,it is part of Indian culture. It is in flags of temple , it is color of sacrifice and it is color cherished by India since centuries. But did BJP get offended because of that?.Did chidambaram meant that when he occured those two words?
Answer in No. Chidambaram was not targeting general Indian masses .He was targeting fanatics in Hindus. Now if you ask any muslim about jihad and jihadi?. They would immediately react that jihad is part of Islam and obligatory on muslims but these so called jihadis are not part of Islam. Islam can do no harm to innocent is common belief shared by muslims all across the world which is perfectly understandable but it remains a fact that fanatics in muslims are cause of concerns for even muslim dominated countries like pakistan , afghanistan, Iraq , Sudan ,Somalia . According to those fanatics their version of Islam is true Islam and rest followers or believers have corrupted true belief system.
As muslims are usually in denial about these jihadi , Hindus are more or less equally in denial with possibility of fanatics in Hinduism. True Hinduism does not have single book which can be used for mis interpretation. True Hinduism believes that there are many ways to god . True Hinduism does not belief in conversion and Hinduism does not have strong belief in heaven and prefer moksha above heaven. A soul harming any innocent would get re birth and would be stuck in end less cycle of births is what Hinduism believes in but still that didn’t stop bombs getting exploded in places where investigation is leading towards fanatics among Hindus. It didn’t stop girls getting bashed outside manglore pub .
When we need to view fanatic , we need to look at larger view. We need to look humans beings as plain human beings not tagged as Hindus,Muslims ,Christians or other religious units…When we talk about Muslims or Hindus or Christians we aren’t talking about individuals but groups.Groups which are crores and fanaticm being human phenomena ,the bug can bite any one and fanaticm is based on ideology not religion only. Ideology that ‘my way is the only way, rest have to fall in line or perish’. Naxals are fanatics too though they don’t believe in any religion. Taliban are fanatics too , though they believe is radical Islam . Christianity has had its share of fanaticm and crusader is perfect example of that.
As human being we must nurture our coming generation in environment where co existence of various faith can exist together. We often blame pakistan but forget what pakistan is right now going through. All eminent scholars , media personnels and liberal of pakistan agree that pakistan is paying price of inducing extremism in their country , twenty years back.
If we dont learn from our neighbours , we too are heading their way.(by we I mean Indians which includes every person living in India irrespective of faith he/she follows). So chidambaram’s point must not get lost in color controversy. It does have important message in it.
Now coming back to color which chidambaram mentioned. Well he made sure his comments serves the purpose . Saffron terror can work for congress in getting votes from minority and liberals while saffron can very well mean bjp,rss instead of purohit and pragyas..It is like hitting two birds with one stone.
But if chidambaram can hit stone , narendra modi has always been successful in catching same stone and hitting it back. The hoarding says it all. Narendra Modi ,irrespective of extreme emotions he generates ,if one views him with prejudice , he is master is using any situation to best of his advantage. The more congress tries to gain political mileage by nailing right wing ,the more powerful modi would become in gujarat.
Modi and congress actually work to each others advantage. Being popular among their respective voters who fear/hate/worry about each other and it works. Saffron terror or Jihadi ..It works but amidst war of words , amidst emotions attached to saffron , we must not forget larger context and perceptive. India is liberal democracy and only thing which we need in India is implementing constitution in letter and spirit. Nailing fanatic muslims , fanatic sikhs , fanatic hindus and every person who can be threat to right of belief , freedom of expression and constitution of India.-Jai Hind
