Is Godse a Patriot?

Certainly he is not.

A certain MP Sakshi Maharaj made a controversial statement recently. It created a lot of ruckus in parliament and outside. It put the government on embarrassment situation floating a fleet of apologies and PM warning BJP MP s to better behave etc.,

This controversy is certainly uncalled for. But this controversy in India is alive since it happened, and will live on for long. There are people who defend Godse. There is a play on Godse, there are books and materials available on this which basically state the facts. The facts as stated, creates opinions in people’s minds. And they take sides.

But my opinion is: taking sides on Godse is harmful for the society. Giving him such a title like Patriot is obnoxious for our society. Bharath has no dearth of brave Patriots who have laid down their lives for the good of the country. We must choose right icons for country to become a beacon of light for righteousness. 

Who is Godse?

Nathuram Godse killed Mahatma Gandhi in point blank shoot out when Gandhi was going to his evening prayer meeting. Godse had high regards for Gandhi. His statement in court is available in public domain. His statements are clear and unambiguous.   

Then why he killed Gandhi?

Gopal Godse wrote a book on why his brother killed Gandhi. Gandhi took some actions which are seemingly Muslim appeasing during the 1947 bloody partition.

-          The Hindu’s from Pakistan side were coming in hordes and occupying the Delhi outskirts in shanty sheds. The cold winter was punishing them severely. Their hatred for Muslims was burning. They pushed them out of their dwelling and occupied their houses and mosques. Gandhi took to Satyagraha in support of the Muslims in India to be protected and not be sent to Pakistan. The authorities listened to his appeal and arranged for their protection and retention in India. While they scrambled for providing decent dwelling for the Hindu victims thrown out from Pakistan. Due to Gandhi’s intervention, this happened throughout the boarders in Punjab and Kolkata apart from Delhi.

-          The financial partition was done on paper. In the meantime, the Pakistan irregular army invaded the Kashmir against the spirit of the Kashmir accession accord. This angered the Indian authorities. Sardar Patel argued, the money of partition is spent on war rather than rehabilitation by Pakistan. So India withheld the money to be given as part of partition to Pakistan. Mountbatten in typical British style approached Gandhi. Gandhi took up Satyagraha again for the release of the money.

These were the major tipping points for Godse to take up such heinous action. Of course there are other Muslim appeasing actions by Gandhi in the history. Like when Kolkata was burning due to a call of “Direct Action” by the Jinna’s Muslim League to butcher Hindus on the streets, Gandhi was pleading Hindu’s in deep Bengal, Naokhali to give up hatred. Similarly his stand on Cow Slaughter, Partition based on religion, supporting Khilafat movement, giving up NWFP to Pakistan when it was Hindu majority ruled by Khan Abdul Gafar Khan willing to join India etc., While we as a nation worship our Motherland in our song Vande Mataram, the educated Muslims opposed it in Congress to adopt it as national song. And Gandhi supported their ‘Sentiments’ instead of honoring our indigenous roots & culture. All these actions by the Mahatma developed strong sentiments against Gandhi amongst many Indians at that time.   

Gandhi was supporting Muslims who were killing our Nations’ roots and culture? Then may be Godse did the right thing?

No. He was wrong. Gandhi was doing it all in peace through dialogues and debates. He took majority into his stride. People who opposed should have made a mass appeal as he did to become a big force to reckon with Gandhi. There were no political opponents at all. Veer Savarkar & Hindu Mahasabha made several appeals to the Congress and Gandhi on several of these issues. RSS made several delegations. There was a lot of dissent within Congress against Gandhi on some of these decisions. But none prevailed. The majority accepted his accord. Why? Was he a messiah? Or was he right? Or majorities Indians are stupid? I know the answer but you must explore it yourself.

But one thing is sure. If Gandhi was winning his decisions through democratic peaceful means, one must counter him through peaceful means only. If he was gun totting dictator then one must counter him by gun.

Having shot him by gun did not do any good for the country nor makes Godse a patriot. He was a coward. He was an eccentric. Patriot is not a synonym with these characters. 

But Godse loved his country. His statements, writings give ample evidence. So he is a Patriot?

Everyone calls oneself a Patriot. But who do you call a Patriot? Sitting in one corner and thinking about India will not make one a Patriot. A patriot should be an Icon for kids & youth. They should be able to bravely and convincingly choose his laden path. Godse might have had great thoughts and few good deeds, but creating havoc by killing an Icon of the country makes him a dangerous person to follow. Making him a patriot for our Kids and Youth will take our country to disaster. It will be filled with hatred and develop gun culture. It will lead to Pakistan/Iraq way only. 

Did his action create any adversity?

Oh Yes! It created a disaster for decades to come. In the short term violent mobs hit and killed many of his Brahmin community in Maratha region. They were caught clueless.

The long term worst thing it created is the Nehruvian Secularism on to the Indian masses. Nehru strongly believed that National Pride, Cultural Pride is the cause of hatred and violence. He did everything from then on to bring out his version of Secularism to suppress everything that brings out any national, cultural pride in the masses.

The killing of Mahatma up surged Nehruvian Securalism which created some of the following:  

-          The first victim is the primary education. Our ancient education system was fully value based education. The skill development like Maths for commerce, Science for exploitation was secondary. But that is primary and only thing taught in school now. Ramayana, Mahabharatha was taught in schools. Those who don’t go school learnt it in their family profession. Be it a sculpture, artisan, jeweler, potter, farmer, home maker, he was completely rooted to values through simple ballads, plays, rituals based on Ramayana & Mahabharatha. But now the education system corrupts every child. Every parent thinks, school education is final and all pervasive. That, they don’t need to give any further education. That is sufficient to develop a child to stand on his legs. But is that building values to becoming good human? No one cares.

-          Second victim are the Intellectuals. All who denigrate the Hindu or ancient culture are given rewards, awards, recognition, university heads, committee heads. They decide what grants to research, where to research. Anything to do with ancient science, sociology, culture, will create National Pride and Cultural Pride which create hatred & violence. So no grants for it. UR Ananthamurthy before he died wrote a book called Hindutva. I thought finally he came to senses. But that book on Hindutva is only about vilifying Modi and Savarkar. Is that Hindutva? Such people easily get Gnanapeeth puraskara. Because such thinkers only have pervaded all universities and committees now.

Now although there is a change in central politics, the rot created over 6 decades will take that many decades to clear, provided the Hindu pride comes back & stays for long with sensibility & not hegemony. So let’s identify and worship right Individuals as our Patriot sons of the Nation. 

Love Jihad: What is real?

Jihad is holy act in Islam. Most people think Jihad means war. Jihad can also be through war but not only through war. If someone in the neighborhood or family doesn’t follow a certain way defined by their sect, they are termed Kafirs. Jihad is a way to convert them to their sect. It can be through dialogue, preaching, propaganda or violent means. All is followed by Mohammed Prophet and is permissible by the holy Quran.

There are many sects in Islam. Viz., Sunnis, Shias, Ahmedias, Ibadi, etc., Each sect is Kafirs to each other. That’s why in Middle East & Africa, they are at logger heads with each other. Most countries like, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan have internal strife mainly due to this reason.

There are few stable countries in Islamic world. Like Saudi, Oman, Muscat etc., There the Sultan defines what sect is supreme and all others are secondary citizens with curbed rights. Islam defines very strict and barbaric punishment to the perpetrators. So the sultan’s administration instills enough fear for any upraise for equal rights. There is no freedom to media. So any atrocities against secondary citizens will not be reported to the outside world.

What is Love Jihad?

Love Jihad I believe was coined first in India only. It is basically Muslim Youth luring non-Muslim lady to fall in love and then converting to Islam through coercion.  2 young adults above 18years falling in love with each other cannot be termed illegal in India. So it is a soft way of conversion. It is gaining lot of popularity across India and is spreading fast. With the recent revelations from Tara Sahdev, a national level shooter falling trap into it, it has hit the national headlines.

In Love Jihad there is Organized and Unorganized.

The Supreme Court took cognizance of the Organized Love Jihad in Kerala cases and has termed it illegal. In the organized way, the Muslim youth are rewarded with money to carry out these acts. Tara Sahdev’s case is an organized one. If there is a complaint from the victim and can prove it was done through organized way for monetary gains, then legal framework will action & record it as Love Jihad case. In most cases victim gives up, family gives up, society anyway doesn’t care. If any Dal or Parishath or Sangha raises voice, they will be termed illegal & legal framework will shut them up.

Unorganized Love Jihad just happens in a normal way. Muslim youth are open cultured. Ladies are constrained in house. If the youth falls in love with non-Muslim lady in the outside world, he will be hailed in family and they welcome the new bride. The entire family will be fully excited. It is a holy act. Because they are all involved in the Holy Communion. They get salvation for carrying out the holy Jihad for a Kafir. There are no government records of Unorganized Love Jihad. Because, she will be recorded as a Muslim bride in the bureau.

Is it a Social Evil in India?

It is definitely a social evil in the Indian context at least. Because in India, we have diverse culture. The diversity is essence of life here. Individual rights and freedom is respected. If the lady wants to worship Lord Krishna or Raghavendra Swamy or Sai Baba or Munneshwara or All of them, there is complete freedom. If the lady wants to work outside or wear a fashion, her rights are respected in the society. There is freedom of thought & expression.

In India Muslims have their personal law. Once the lady accepts Islam, then she loses her Individual rights by the Indian laws. Muslim personal law is very highly prejudiced against the women. Ladies cannot even go to Mosque. Their husband can bring in another wife etc., If her family allows her to continue her earlier life style she is lucky. But that is very highly unlikely. By the time she starts realizing the mistake, she will be well into the irreversible life cycle. She can only regret. If she is lucky she can come out. If she is further lucky she survives against all odds.

How do we curb this Social Evil?

Definitely we cannot leave it as a Government concern. It is our personal concern. It is our family concern. It is our community concern. It is our society concern. It is our responsibility to maintain our vibrant, diversified open culture. We cannot leave it to go Pakistan way. Pakistan hoped that once they divide the geography by one uniform religion they attain peace. But uniformity is myth. God has created diversity. My thoughts & faiths are different from yours. We still respect each other. We don’t kill each other for diversity in India. God has created different strengths in different individuals, communities, regions, localities. We have to explore those uniqueness, harness it, feel proud of it, and respect others uniqueness.

Some people argue, that intermingling of people across religions will evolve Culture. Yes culture must evolve. Not towards harnessing hegemony, hatred, suppressing individual rights, insulting & stopping individual faiths. But it must evolve towards open ness, debates, balance and harmonious society.  

In Muslims itself, Sufi saints came. They create an open culture. They see Allah in everything, air, sky, mud, mountains, birds, flowers even in Rama they see Allah. And they worship everything. Such a lovely concept of pure love and appreciation of nature must evolve as a Culture. Even some women were Sufi saints. But today Sufi saints are not welcome in Mosques. They have to live life of Vagabonds. In many countries like Iran they are curbed of basic rights. In Pakistan they are slowing getting eliminated.

Parenting

The onus lies on the parents to educate the importance of the diversity. Nowadays there is hardly any time spent in parenting. That is wrong. Every day we have to spend time in parenting and talking to the kids, at least 5-10 mins if not 1-2hrs. We have to engage them in telling our local culture, language richness, songs, ballads, story of heroes, take them to places of worship & significance. In the early ages we must imbibe good culture in them, expose them to the vastness of diversity of our land and culture.

As they enter teenage, we must treat them as friends. As friends we must talk to them about some of the social evils including Love Jihad. Why is it a social evil? What are different world religions and why our religion is great? Because textbooks or school education does not describe the social evils. Our textbooks are full of only Moghuls & Tipu Sultan. They wrongly tell Aryans came from Central Asia & Europe. It gives wrong information, wrong priorities. They don’t teach local culture like, Kempe Gowda, Purnaiah, Bendre, etc., Hoysala, Chalukya architecture, Haridasa Pantha, Sharana Sahithya are relegated to 3^rd priority.

So when we let our children in the hands of school education and government and authorities to shape them, they get softened towards everything. They don’t develop any belongingness to locality, culture, land. School education doesn’t develop patriotism & belongingness. It develops how to score & mug up information to edge out someone else.

Even we as adults, should inculcate socializing for knowledge and exploring our land & culture. Recently my good friend said she joined Spanish classes. Why? Time pass & socializing is the answer. She being Tamilian, I think there is enough to explore in Tamil culture itself and socialize. If she explores interested people in her locality to organize a weekly event to talk and exchange about Thirukurals, Kamba Ramayana or even good Tamil Cinema there will be much fun & learning and feeling of belongingness to a great civilization.

We must grow pride in our belongingness to the land, people, ancestors, scriptures, literature, art, sculpture, architecture. Then we can become indigenous in our science exploration and engineering to help all in the society rather than only few in the society.