{"id":343954,"date":"2023-06-01T02:50:39","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T08:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=343954"},"modified":"2023-06-02T02:56:02","modified_gmt":"2023-06-02T08:26:02","slug":"how-hindu-muslim-lollipop-has-lulled-us-into-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/how-hindu-muslim-lollipop-has-lulled-us-into-silence\/","title":{"rendered":"How \u2018Hindu-Muslim\u2019 lollipop has lulled us into silence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Reason for our not speaking out even as the living conditions of the jailed and others are fast deteriorating is that the masses don\u2019t realize that communal politics will breed a whole generation of haters<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u00a0news that caught my attention this \u00a0morning \u201325 \u00a0May, \u00a0the day I\u2019m filing this column, is \u00a0AAP leader and former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain collapsing in the bathroom \u00a0in Tihar Jail,\u201d due to dizziness\u2019. \u00a0Not to overlook the fact that this is the second time Jain has fallen in the Tihar jail bathroom during his imprisonment. Jain has been lodged in prison since his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case.

Bring to the fore the vital and basic queries \u2013 What are the prevailing jail conditions not just in one particular jail but jails across the country? What if Jain wasn\u2019t a senior AAP leader and a former minister, then would the news of his collapsing in the confines of the jail come to the fore? What are the prevailing conditions for the prisoners\u2019 well-being and upkeep? \u00a0How do we get to know the physical and mental health of those lodged behind those high walls? Why should prisoners be deprived of the facilities; not to overlook the significant fact that a large percentage of those imprisoned are under-trials, so technically innocent. But even if they are convicted they should be given humane treatment. After all, they were not born criminals but circumstances and conditions drove them towards crime with disastrous offshoots. Another factor is that petty criminals could be mere foot soldiers, seemingly under the control of the political mafia, with the master players roaming about freely, untouched and un-arrested.

The wellness-cum-development of a land can be judged on the basis of how its government treats the women and children and the young, and also how it treats its prisoners. We seem lagging\u2026 what with rapists, molesters, killers and hate speech givers, roaming round rather too freely.

Nah, we aren\u2019t reacting, not speaking out, even as the living conditions of the jailed and even of the not-so-jailed are fast deteriorating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We all seem to have given a lollipop called: Hindu- Muslim! To cause deep communal divisions between the two communities under the various garbs and guises and alibis and camouflages. Conned and quiet we sit.

I don\u2019t \u00a0have one specific answer for this collective quiet. Just a series of \u2018perhaps\u2019!

Perhaps, the masses don\u2019t realize that communal politics will breed a whole generation of haters! Haters and destroyers who will create havoc.

Perhaps, the \u00a0masses have \u00a0not \u00a0viewed the film , Hotel Rwanda, \u00a0which \u00a0bares those \u00a0grim \u00a0details \u00a0of \u00a0civil \u00a0strife \u2026the two warring \u00a0tribes \u00a0 not \u00a0just \u00a0start \u00a0killing \u00a0each other but \u00a0destroying just about \u00a0any structure, human and otherwise! And then it\u2019s just about too late for the destruction to halt.

Perhaps, \u00a0the masses \u00a0haven\u2019t \u00a0heard these \u00a0lines of \u00a0 German \u00a0pastor, who was \u00a0persecuted \u00a0by the \u00a0 Nazis \u00a0 – \u00a0Reverend \u00a0Martin \u00a0Niemoller\u2019s \u00a0lines: \u2018In \u00a0Germany, they \u00a0first \u00a0came for the \/ communists, and \u00a0I \u00a0did \u00a0not \u00a0speak \u00a0up \/ \u00a0because \u00a0I was \u00a0not a \u00a0communist. \u00a0Then \/they came for the \u00a0Jews \u00a0and \u00a0I did \u00a0not \/ speak \u00a0up \u00a0because \u00a0I was \u00a0not a \u00a0jew\/Then they \u00a0came for the trade \/ unionists, \u00a0and \u00a0I did \u00a0not speak \u00a0up \u00a0\/ because \u00a0I was \u00a0not a \u00a0 trade \u00a0unionist \u00a0\/Then they \u00a0came \u00a0 for the \u00a0 homosexuals \/ \u00a0and \u00a0I did \u00a0not \u00a0speak \u00a0up because \u00a0I was \/ not a \u00a0 \u00a0homosexual \u00a0\/Then they came for the Catholics \/ and \u00a0I did \u00a0 not speak \u00a0up \u00a0because \u00a0 I was \u00a0\/ Protestant \/ \u00a0Then they came for me \u00a0\u2026but \u00a0by \/ that time \u00a0there was \u00a0 no \u00a0one \u00a0left to \/ speak \u00a0up.\u2019

Perhaps, my countrymen \u00a0haven\u2019t \u00a0seen \u00a0images of \u00a0the \u00a0wreckage \u00a0that \u00a0civil \u00a0strife can unleash. Years \u00a0back, when I had asked \u00a0actor turned politician Sunil \u00a0Dutt \u00a0what \u00a0can be \u00a0that one possible \u00a0solution to \u00a0halt communal \u00a0violence, he \u00a0had \u00a0said :\u201cThere can \u00a0be one solution. Only \u00a0last \u00a0night \u00a0I was going through the \u00a0latest \u00a0\u2018Time\u2019 \u00a0magazine \u00a0and the \u00a0horror photographs of the \u00a0civil war ridden \u00a0Somalia \u00a0shocked \u00a0me \u00a0so much that \u00a0I couldn\u2019t eat. It was dinner time but I couldn\u2019t touch a morsel. Just couldn\u2019t! Those \u00a0horrifying \u00a0pictures of human \u00a0beings \u00a0dying , sitting injured and \u00a0ill, crawling about, \u00a0rendered \u00a0so frail \u00a0and weak \u00a0that they couldn’t even walk. Those human disasters because of the \u00a0ongoing civil strife in Somalia. I\u2019m \u00a0going to \u00a0 suggest that \u00a0those \u00a0pictures \u00a0be \u00a0displayed \u00a0all \u00a0over our towns and \u00a0cities, at all public \u00a0places. And \u00a0displaced \u00a0with \u00a0this caption: See what internal \u00a0war \u00a0or \u00a0strife or \u00a0unrest \u00a0can do \u00a0to you, to your \u00a0country, to your fellow countrymen!\u201d

Perhaps, we prefer to sit in that so-called safe positioning, under the notion that we just got to keep on living, somehow or anyhow!

Ending with this verse of Nida Fazli whose own life was ruined because of the Partition upheavals.

These lines from Nida Fazli\u2019s \u2018Just keep on Living\u2019 (Translated \u00a0from Urdu \u00a0by Baidar \u00a0Bakht and Lesilie Lavigne):

\u00a0

\u2018Just keep on living \/

Just keep on living like this \/

Say nothing \/

When you get up in the morning \/

Take a head count of the family \/

Slouch in the chair and read the paper \/

There was a famine there \/

And a war raged somewhere else \/

Be thankful that you are safe\/

Switch on the radio and listen to the new pop songs \/

When you leave the house \/

Paste a smile on your face\/

Pack handshakes in your hands \/

Keep a few meaningless phrases on your lips \/

Be passed through different hands like a coin\/

Say nothing \/

A white -collar \/

Social respect \/

A few drinks everyday\/

What else do you need \/

Just keep on like this \/

Say nothing.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reason for our not speaking out even as the living conditions of the jailed and others are fast deteriorating is that the masses don\u2019t realize that communal politics will breed a whole generation of haters The \u00a0news that caught my attention this \u00a0morning \u201325 \u00a0May, \u00a0the day I\u2019m filing this column, is \u00a0AAP leader and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343955,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,2205],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343954"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343954"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":343958,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343954\/revisions\/343958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/343955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}