Intolerance, Tolerance or Acceptance, What we must be our way?

Recently, there had been a ruckus in the media giving rise to endless debates and discussions in the homes of the common man and the Parliament alike. It has reached such a level of pseudo-priority that we have almost turned our blind eye towards other serious incidents occurring around us.

The debate for “Intolerance” seems to be replacing all the other issues of our country. Now, what is “Intolerance” and how did it emerge?

Intolerance is belief that in the present times, the Hindus (the majority religion of India) have become intolerant about other religions and are taking violent means to suppress them. The veracity of this notion is so far buried by the opinions of the individuals and religious radicals of both the groups.

The ones who believe in the existence of this are coming forward and raising their voice condemning it. While others simply believe that the concept of Intolerance is vague as they are tolerant towards other groups or other people are tolerant about them. But by simply stating that they are tolerant would not mean you are opposing Intolerance, rather you are giving rise to the inferiority of the other groups because being tolerant would mean you have a power over them. This is not equality. The opposite of intolerance had never been tolerance. It is “Acceptance”. Yes, we need to be accepting towards each other, like we had always been.

Of course there had been many cases of disturbances which speak against acceptance towards others like the Gujarat riots of 2002, the riots after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi in 1984, the rise in the toll of deaths due to honour killings and the like.  While we point a finger at each other for these incidents, we must remember that only a few people were responsible for the genocides and murders and not an entire religion. There are many people who were against these gruesome acts. The people who initiated these were the very ones who do not want us to be united with each other. These are the same people who are giving rise to these notions of intolerance, to create another disturbance. We, as Indians must not give in to this.

We were divided earlier and these divisions were the catalysts for East India Company’s taking over our territory. Should we give in to this, we may give way for rise of a similar scenario. History is for us to learn, not to repeat itself. We have shown our solidarity towards each other during times of turmoil in Chennai and in Uttarakhand, we had come together and demanded justice for a rape victim, we were united while during Civil Disobedience Movement. Let us not forget the very essence of our country and let us not allow any person to misguide us with their notion of intolerance or tolerance. We must come forward to raise our voice against intolerance and instill the notion of Acceptance. We must strive to keep India’s Unity in Diversity.