When Truth is Made a Casualty
7 Jun 2015 0 commentsSha![logo]()
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re | What would you say when Truth is made a casualty, or left with a pronounced limp. Yes, it is happening in our country. On 26 May our Union Minister for Minority Affairs Najma Heptulla said there had been no attacks on religious minorities in the one year of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance rule. Only a day before, on 25 May, a Mosque and the Muslim residents of Atali village in Faridabad district of Haryana had been selectively attacked and attempts had been made to burn the Muslims to death under a meticulously devised plan. Fortunately, there was no casualty but the loss the Muslims of Atali have suffered is indeed huge. This was not the first riot but the fifth that took place during the last one year in Haryana alone. Not to say of the communal flare-ups that shook Uttar Pradesh and other States during this period.
Our Minister further said that only verbal attacks had been taking place, but that had been stopped then. Let's see how verbal attacks have hurt the minorities all through the year. Rajeshwar Singh of the Dharam Jagran Samiti was reported to have stated that "India will be made free of Muslims and Christians by 2021. India is the country of Hindus alone." And our Minister of State Niranjan Jyoti chose to divide the Indian citizens into 'Ramzada' (children of Ram) and 'haramzada' (illegitimate). Then there was Shiv Sena publication Saamnawhich wrote how the voting rights of Muslims should be scrapped. And Uttar Pradesh Shiv Sena chief Anil Singh threw the mantra for empowerment of Muslims by subjecting them to vasectomy. Does our Minister for Minority Affairs want us believe that verbal attacks do not matter? Only one who suffers knows the pinch of the hurt; and not those who love to bask under the warmth of the powers-that-be.
This is the case of Najma Heptulla, who is Minister for Minority Affairs and who happens to be a member of the minority community. We can see how much or otherwise she is serving the cause of the minorities.
Heptulla's is not the solitary case. Our Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also stated only two days before the Atali attack that the minorities in India are safe and there is "no social tension". The fact remains that minorities have spent one full year under tension. How we wish our leaders, and of course we too, take only one pledge that we would speak the truth, nothing but truth, and never sacrifice it at the altar of power or mundane pleasures.