Where did our tolerance go?

There has been a lot of hue and cry about the growing intolerance in India, which is surprising considering that India has always been known for being the land of tolerance and love. It also known for the land of great people like Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi, which people from all round the world adore and emulate simply for their selfless love for humanity.

However, times have changed and is now replaced by communal disharmony and other unedifying traits of human character. To a great extent, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is to blame for this sad state of affairs. The government is unconstitutionally involving itself in the matter of the masses, whether it is food, drinks or any other social behavioural pattern. Apart from these, they are also trying to change the religious attitudes of the masses by advising people in an indirect manner to go back to Hinduism, which is referred to as “Ghar Wapasi” (back to your home).

Despite all that, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has still not spoken out about all these issues, nor has he denied the intolerance in the country. The Indian political scenario has truly become an interesting sight or should we call it a ‘political circus’ where each person is trying to pull each other down? It is, indeed sad, especially because India has always been a place of tolerance and has always encouraged all types of religious beliefs.

In the south, Saint Thomas was given all possible help by the King of Travancore to establish seven churches in various parts of Kerala. Such instances in the past and many others show that intolerance was never commonplace in old India.

However, thanks to misconceptions and misunderstandings among various religions, communal violence increased. As a result, the communal amity that once used to exist in the country, seems to have vanished into thin air. Now, the growing intolerance is a result of the actions of our selfish politicians, who instead of working to remove the religious barriers, only seem to add to them.

— The reader is an Indian writer based in Kochi, India