India is a country with major aspirations. It wants to be a regional superpower so that it can keep an increasingly belligerent and expansionist China in check for amity in its immediate neighbourhood. The country, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, dreams of becoming a $5 trillion economy by 2025. How is it then that a nation that positions itself as a “vishwa guru” and believes in the concept of “Vasudhaiva kutumbakam (the world is one family)” and ahimsa, is increasingly becoming intolerant in its own backyard? Whether it be cow vigilantes beating a young man to pulp with a hammer even as the police stand by mutely in Gurugram or the lynching of dairy farmer Pehlu Khan in Alwar, or the recent harassment of two nuns and their trainees travelling on a train from Delhi to Rourkela in Odisha. The four women were forced to deboard in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi after an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad worker accused them of forced conversions. The women were bullied, abused and harassed by a crowd before being taken away by the railway police. However, the police found the conversion claim wrong as the two postulates were carrying their baptism cards issued in 2003.

With elections in Kerala round the corner, the issue has led to a political slugfest in the State and the BJP, which has been trying to woo the Christians there, suddenly found itself on the back foot. Campaigning in Kerala, Home Minister Amit Shah was at pains to assure the people of action. But what if it had not been the election season? Would our netas have jumped to the defence of the minority community then? The Constitution allows everyone in the country to believe or not to believe in any religion and the Jhansi incident is an encroachment on the freedom and fundamental rights of these citizens. It is a sad reflection on our country that more and more States are coming out with repressive laws that target the freedom of preaching and practising select religions. Should we as a country not be more focused on bringing about an end to hunger, poverty, casteism and discrimination than fighting each other over something as personal as religion? We would be better desh bhakts if we focused on peace, equality, prosperity and brotherhood among all Indians. We must remember that we are all Indians first.

India is a country with major aspirations. It wants to be a regional superpower so that it can keep an increasingly belligerent and expansionist China in check for amity in its immediate neighbourhood. The country, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, dreams of becoming a $5 trillion economy by 2025. How is it then that a nation that positions itself as a “vishwa guru” and believes in the concept of “Vasudhaiva kutumbakam (the world is one family)” and ahimsa, is increasingly becoming intolerant in its own backyard? Whether it be cow vigilantes beating a young man to pulp with a hammer even as the police stand by mutely in Gurugram or the lynching of dairy farmer Pehlu Khan in Alwar, or the recent harassment of two nuns and their trainees travelling on a train from Delhi to Rourkela in Odisha. The four women were forced to deboard in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi after an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad worker accused them of forced conversions. The women were bullied, abused and harassed by a crowd before being taken away by the railway police. However, the police found the conversion claim wrong as the two postulates were carrying their baptism cards issued in 2003.

With elections in Kerala round the corner, the issue has led to a political slugfest in the State and the BJP, which has been trying to woo the Christians there, suddenly found itself on the back foot. Campaigning in Kerala, Home Minister Amit Shah was at pains to assure the people of action. But what if it had not been the election season? Would our netas have jumped to the defence of the minority community then? The Constitution allows everyone in the country to believe or not to believe in any religion and the Jhansi incident is an encroachment on the freedom and fundamental rights of these citizens. It is a sad reflection on our country that more and more States are coming out with repressive laws that target the freedom of preaching and practising select religions. Should we as a country not be more focused on bringing about an end to hunger, poverty, casteism and discrimination than fighting each other over something as personal as religion? We would be better desh bhakts if we focused on peace, equality, prosperity and brotherhood among all Indians. We must remember that we are all Indians first.