Rejoinder from India to Mohammed I. There is no discrimination in India [Archives:2002/27/Focus]

S. SUNDARESAN
DUBAI, UAE
[email protected]
This is with reference to the letter from my fellow reader Mr. Mohammed published in issue 26/2002 regarding the state of Muslims in the Indian sub continent.
Firstly, I want to be proud that we are the one and the only country where the men from the minority community can become the first citizen i.e., the President of India and of the largest democracy in the world. The naked truth is that was with the support and help of the Hindu majority Bharathiya Janata Party, which is in power at the center now. Another important point to be noted is that as his family was so poor and could not afford higher education, the would be President was sponsored by a High Class Hindu community for him to study and proceed with his career. Various communities in India live in a brotherly atmosphere with love and affection. Creating divisions among Indians for personal gains by some countries will probably make the situation worse. This is exactly what is happening today. But those biased people cannot succeed is their attempt.
Secondly, there is no discrimination in India against Muslims in any way. When applying for any services or job vacancies, all Indians are treated equally, which is not the case in many other countries. Muslims in India are as equal as other applicants. Muslims are enjoying the same opportunities as their fellow Hindu counterparts or even more. In fact, in some cases, forward class Hindus lose opportunities to Muslims and other minority communities due to the governments policy of helping the minorities by introducing quota systems to give more opportunities and representation to them. So just accusing such a secular country blindly by reading few newspapers which highlight the negative aspects carried out by antisocial elements as in any other country is biased and does not take into account the positive aspects, which are more than 95%. This only makes the secularism state in India unhealthy and fractures the back bone of Indias secularism.
Thirdly, I dont deny, but rather agree that the act of a few fundamentalists, who commit crimes against minorities, should be condemned by all means. At the same time however, it is to be noted that the whole episode of killing hundreds of Muslims in Gujarat started because of torching around fifty Hindu pilgrims in a train in Gujarat. I strongly feel that there is no community, caste or religion in this world that encourages fighting, killing, crime or terrorism. So for heaven sake, the crime should not be confused with caste as the two are entirely different. The antisocial elements in India should not be identified by their caste or creed, but should rather be identified with their degree of crime so that tensions and religious hatred would not be created among communities.
Fourthly, I am against any discrimination based on race, religion, or any other element as every human being in this world is a child of God. This is what everyone should learn to have peace on this planet.
But again, I will be happy to invite Mr. Mohammed to come and view India and see how the Indian communities live peacefully as brothers joining hands in good and bad times in life. We will be happy to be a host to Mr. Mohammed as we have always been and will continue to be easy in giving visas without any hurdles that could be in his way when applying for visas to Western countries.
Last but not the least, We are what we are and just portraying us in the bad light by the biased media will not make us bad. As the Indian expatriates follow the rules and regulations of the country in which they live, if everyone else does the same -follow the rules of the land they live in- there wont be any violence or crime. We should learn to enjoy life in peace. God has given us mind and life to do so and not to become criminals, who loves bloodshed

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