My voice sounds like a whimper amidst shouts of “NaMo! NaMo!” I fall back on my seat, tired from pacing in eagerness for the declaration of results. Now, what was I expecting? The exit polls showed a gaping margin of win for BJP. And from the start of counting, it was toppling all the stalwarts of the losing party.
To conceal who is your candidate (party) of choice is a thing of the past now. We citizens of the largest democracy of the world were so desperate for a dramatic change that we not only announced proudly who deserved to win, but also tried to influence those who didn't agree with us. Yes, the lotus appealed to where the hand failed. It promised to rectify all wrongs. I trust it will. That is the need of the hour, to regain the respect we rightly deserve.
Even before the lotus showed leading in the counting charts, the mere anticipation had the sensex shoot up, the neighbouring countries reconsider their stand and the chances of another recession look bleak. This looked like the heralding of an economic and political stability. I definitely want a government that can lift India out of the quagmire. But I also pray for a government that wouldn’t allow the atrocities that my people were a victim to, agonize them again.
The hand had looted us at gun-point. All statistics blare out the disparity what our country enjoyed a decade back and what it has been reduced to now. If I have even an iota of patriotism, I wouldn’t want to be shamelessly robbed anymore. But I’m fearful of my safety now.
I don’t want to be another target just because I have a cross around my neck, or a white cap on my head or because I wear a turban. Nobody chooses bigotry deliberately. We are not Hitler. But at times, the passion to advance our beliefs so overpowers us that everything different from us seems not worthwhile to exist. I’m terrified of becoming a victim to this phase of communal wave.
Mentioning each of those incidents, which send a shiver down my spine, would be futile because they have been discounted as ‘just another accident’ or one of ‘those riots’. But when we delve a bit more, we see just how those in power abetted such incidents.
It’s hard to influence people as such. Everyone has their own structure of priority. I thought for a moment if my worries were irrelevant? I spoke to people who shared the same fears. And I understood, not everyone can be biased. And I saw why everyone was opinionated alike. There must be a recollection of dread which is deep ingrained.
My people have been a minority and will remain as such. I don’t demand for quotas or reservations or even any special privileges. I only ask to belong to this ‘secular’ nation, I proudly call my motherland.
“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high...into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake."
~ Rabindranath Tagore
Jai Hind!
