[nukkad] Gujarat results

["Taher Y Kagalwala" <>]

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Each man carries within him the soul of a poet who died young. 
-Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, literary critic (1804-1869)
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Dear All,

The Hindu-Muslim issue invariably polarises people on caste lines, communal
lines, even tolerance-level lines, sanity lines, fanatic lines, and what
have you.
Off and on, we have incidents which bring back the focus on this
ever-present topic.
It is as if it has become the NATIONAL PASTIME for each of us.
What purpose is served by such discussions unless the protagonists AND the
antagonists both do a lot of soul-searching and only THEN feed their
lop-sided thoughts to the fora of which they are members, esp. a
non-moderated forum like nukkad.
For the last 5 days, we have been reading the mails that followed the
initial one of Rawat , in which he declared the emerging election results,
and invited comments.
Outside of nukkad too, in most newspapers, radio and TV programmes, internet
sites , telephone conversations, e-mails, etc. , people are discussing if
this result is a " harbinger " of things to come, whether, the days of "
muslims" are " numbered" etc. etc.
Believe me, the politics of India is changing for the better. True
secularism will one day emerge from the events that are storming it. There
will be peaceful co-existence of all communities, but yes, a price will have
to be paid by everyone,including Hindus.
There will be lives lost, there will be properties damaged, there will be
rapes, pillagings, child murders, extortions, kidnappings, etc. and while
the Muslims will bleed more, the Hindus will not have it better, because
they will lose opportunities to be better humans, to conquer their
self-prejudices, to enable their children to have a better India, to make
HISTORY.
For generations to come, India will enter a cocoon of darkness, of Hindu
fanaticism, of prejudices, of War, of poverty, of ignorance, and maybe, of
sanctions.
So, I do not think that the portentous events that Mubashir mentions will
ever come to pass.
There are many sane, sagacious and wise Hindus who will revert to peace
whenever the likes of Togadia speak hatred. Togadia and other hard-liners
may have their 15, or even 30, minutes of fame, and guys like me may die
unmentioned in those Halls of Fame, but we , who shun electoral politics,
fanaticism, prejudices and hatred will be the ultimate winners.
Even on a small site like nukkad, Hindu contributors recognise the emotions
of secular Muslims like Husain, Siddiqui and myself.
That alone is enough.
For now.
Thank you all for reading this through.
Jai Hind, Jai Bharat.


With Best Wishes,
Dr. Taher Kagalwala
(drtaher.ol24@hathway.com)



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