I have always taken pride in one thing and that is to be born in a religion that holds no grudge to anyone, from my grandmother reciting me verses from Ramayana I was always amazed about the calmness shown by Shri Rama in the whole Ramayana even telling Laxmana to get some final learning from Ravana showcasing there is always good in the worst of the human beings as well. To me, this was the standard of Hindu dharma to look good in the people no matter what they think of us and one day as the Ravana embraced the fact that Rama is the almighty God and complete the war between the good and the evil the good karma will always be the winner.

But the last couple of years, I see the world as a changed place with the rise of social media platforms hundreds of pics circulate daily depicting how Hindu dharma is the best in the world and how we are subjected to hate across the globe how there is a conspiracy going on across the globe to malign the Hindu dharma. From a simple tweet criticizing any person or a movie showing a Hindu Man as crook can be labeled as hinduphobic. This trend of considering any statement/act as hinduphobic started from the West, England has garnered huge support and a right away success back home with major right-wing Twitter handlers in India calling it out and of course its a trend suitable to present government as it becomes a handy tool to divert public attention from real issues.

Now the real question does Hinduphobia really exist?  maybe it does and maybe there are instances around the world where people have targeted someone for being Hindu or targeted an event because it was a Hindu event but does it mean the whole world is phobic of Hindus does it make sense to call out entire nations like US or England to be hinduphobic when they have provided millions of opportunity to us Hindus just in the US there are around 2.5 million Hindus living happily and given a chance millions can go anytime from Hindustan. So with the current sense of things, everyone who is moving out from Hindustan should also be termed Hinduphobic? does it make sense? No, it completely doesn’t make any sense to start putting labels of hinduphobic to anyone who doesn’t agree with our view on our religion this is our religion doesn’t mean everyone? 

But before you label me 

I am sure many of you who might have read this piece till now might have labeled me as a leftist, But to be honest, I am pro-RSS, proud Hindu but I am totally against the use of the word Hinduphobia why first of all let’s see how this phobia label started getting tagged along with religion after the incident of 9/11 the world realized and faced the threat from extremism in religion so the religion in question started a campaign to put there side of the story and show the world how actually they are the victims there and how people from other faith have a phobia created around there religion even though its the most peaceful religion in the world (that is what they believed and still believe) so that’s how the word phobia got associated with religion and became a perfect patsy to play the victim card for every wrongdoing. Now as a Hindu let me ask you a question do you really want your religion to be seen from the same lens as that religion at least for me the answer will be NO.  I want to be seen my religion as I have seen it growing up compassionate even toward your enemy you don’t need to tell people that Hinduism is the oldest or great or gave this or that to the world if it’s good people will get attracted to it on there own the best thing you and me as a Hindu can do is remain proud of our culture and pass on the good values of Hinduism that will be our actual contribution to Hinduism by spreading what really is the teaching of our religion without making noise about the religion. Anything other than that will only help those who want to malign it the world is not a very peaceful place and as a community, we do need to vary of what can harm our culture or religion but for sure a Hindu name to a crook in a movie should be least of our concern because in a country of around 80% population there are 80% chances that a crook might actually be Hindu. So don’t let any propaganda lose your commonsense or your sense of humour. Be a proud Hindu and be grateful that you were born a Hindu and take it as an opportunity to make this world a better place but don’t let any fake phobia take over your peace of mind.

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