The Real Minority

THE ISSUE

Religion gives you an identity. Our country is mostly Hindu. You cannot deny that. Hinduism did not spring from China or Japan or Chile. It took birth in this part of the world and hence makes sense if the sub-continent happens to be identified through it. Now Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, all originated from Hinduism and thus, they too in essence belong to this part of the world. Of all these, Jainism and Buddhism have done very well and now you find Buddhists all across Asia, particularly south-east Asia. Jainism although confined to India, yet it has a global impact. You can see it from the fact that foreign airline carriers have Jain food available. Hindus have remained confined to this land. Yes there are those in Fiji, Guyana and Mauritius and some in the Caribbean but let’s be fair and not put them under pressure. The Sikhs were also confined to this land and their movement abroad only started after 1947 when they got tired, tired of the sacrifice, tired of the sorrow of being driven away from their homes and not being recognized for it. The Parsis, or Zoroastrians, basically got here as refugees fleeing for their lives. If you want to talk about Sindhis then the same happened with them. What does that leave us with? Muslims and Christians. Christianity in India is quite interesting. It established itself in colonies of the Dutch, Portuguese, French and the English. Later on when the English occupied India it found itself a conducive environment and began its proselytization. To be fair, Christian missionaries did not indulge in mal practices such as forceful conversion. Whoever wanted, was welcome and I can live with that. Of course there is always a lot of brain washing involved, one could hold a grudge w.r.t the Naga movement but all in all its fine, its fine because whatever troubles existed at a certain point in time in the history of our country, no longer exist today because Indian Christians are not up in arms against the state today. We had Mother Teresa who was well known for her evangelical work and recognised internationally for it, even today, in many parts of India missionaries are carrying on their activities but again, as long as it is limited to people willingly adopting it, honestly I could not care less. What bothers most is that this is done under the cover of atrocity literature and also entails comparison of Hinduism and Christianity where Hinduism is shown to be regressive and illogical whereas Christianity is shown as a way to a better life, an equal life. This is unpleasant, but when compared to what is happening with the other Abrahamic religion in India, this is peanuts. Now, let’s talk about the Muslims. Islam came into existence in the 7^th Century around 609 C.E. and by 712 C.E. the first Muslim invader, Muhammad Bin Qasim had breached India, which they used to call al-hind, basically because this part of the world was referred to as the land of the Hindus. The mountain range went on to be called Hindukush which meant killer of Hindus as so many Hindu slaves used to die while crossing it, and the name of the religion itself was derived from Sindhu, which is the name of the river along which our civilization started. Yes, Indus. You see where I’m going with this? There is no point debating the fact, as to who are the original, indigenous people of this part of the world. The prevailing consensus is that people of the Indus Valley Civilization simply relocated to different parts due to scarcity of water. It is hence only logical to conclude that the early and later Vedic societies were descendants of the Indus Valley Civilization. If indeed there was an invasion or even a migration of Aryans, who supposedly brought with them the earliest system of Hindu religion, then it should also be noted that the Aryans are also believed to have moved westward but there is no trace of Hindu systems in their westward settlements. The seal which came to be called as the Pashupati seal, the findings about animal worship by the people of the Indus Valley Civilization, the Swastika seal, all point to the earliest signs of Hinduism. So to say that Hindus themselves are foreigners in this land is nothing but a cheap attempt to float a counter narrative so as to legitimize modern claims which were designed to elicit emotional reaction aimed at satisfying electoral goals. There is evidence which shows new centres coming up at the same time as another was ending which further cements that rather than coming to a complete end, the Indus Valley Civilization continued in the form of new settlements. Hinduism originated here, there is a constant attempt to disprove that, which in itself is food for thought enough, but still nobody has yet been able to prove it. But why am I telling you this? When I spoke of us, I did not mention that we, “us” have a religion. I did say that most of us have decreased the importance of religion in our lives as it is not possible to do what we do, if we are fasting on Tuesdays and Saturdays, if we have a Viking beard and making everyone uncomfortable around us by kneeling and praying during lunch time, or have a knife holstered on our waist. So why then, if we, us, do not have a religion then am I talking to you about religion? Because you forget, we are a minority, the only minority, the real minority, without any fuckin quota, any subsidies and any recognition and today, we are in danger of being fodder for the fanatics.

I have been pushed over the edge and that is why I decided to express a few things. I am 30 years old. I remember pretty much everything since I was 5 years old. That means I have a quarter of a century’s equivalent of experience. In the past 25 years, I have seen some shit AND IGNORED MOST OF IT. Now I am faced with a problem, all the shit I ignored, piled up and the pile of shit has now turned into a mountain. Remember that scene from Interstellar where Anne Hathaway spots the wreckage of the shuttle and says, ”its over there towards the mountain” or something like that and then Matthew McConaughey  says, ”those aren’t mountains, they are waves!” Whoa! If you haven’t seen the movie, don’t, but check out the scene at least. That’s what I’m feeling like right about now. The mountain, is actually a fuckin Tsunami wave and I have very little time to save my ass. My fight or flight response has taken over now. For the first time in my life, I realise that the cliché about not running away from things and facing them and dealing with your problems was a 100% right.

I, WE , US, we have seen a lot of things and decided to focus on our own things, but if we are to live in this country, we cannot ignore things anymore. Just cannot. I am now going to discuss Islam and I want you to relax and not be scared. As a kid growing up in our country, there is no way you cannot feel the presence of Islam. You will get to hear the azaan 5 times a day, you will see people dressed differently than others, and you will see compliance and strict adherence to a code of conduct by Muslims. That code of conduct is Quran. I remember the first time I saw a woman covered in a Burqa, and I am tired of saying “wearing a burqa”, no that’s wrong because the very purpose of the burqa is to cover up the woman, so ya, the first time I saw a woman covered up in a burqa I found it funny. I remember it because I thought you could put it on and scare somebody in the night. You cannot not feel the presence of Islam in our country and very early on you realise that Muslims are different, a separate entity, not like us, not at all like us, no fuckin way in hell are they like us. They make no attempts to hide that divide and yet, we, all of us, I’m now including everyone who is not a Muslim in India when I say us, all of us are supposed to view them and treat them as one of us. If they can clearly, constantly assert their religious identity, why is it that when non-muslims do it, it is wrong? Countless times while interacting with Muslims, I have heard them speak in a way which clearly draws a line between them and everyone else. Its things like, “humare yahan aisa nahin hota”(it does not work like that for us), “hum isko aise nahin karte”(we do not do it in the way you do it) , “humare bhi is baat ka zikr hua hai”(yes there is some mention of it in our religion as well) and so on.

What am I a fuckin idiot? When the other guy clearly views himself as not you, speaks of him/herself as belonging to a group which YOU are not a part of, then why am I trying to treat him as my own kind? What the fuck are we doing? What is this? When did everyone else in this country who is not a Muslim got programmed to make sure that come what may, the feelings of the Muslims are paramount, they should not get hurt, they should not be made to feel separate, not be made to feel unwelcome, not taunted or teased, no way in hell should you make the Muslim kid wait for his turn to bat on the cricket field/road/street, even teachers in schools and colleges cannot discipline students equally as they have to be watchful, I mean it’s one of the biggest tricks in the history of mankind. Bigger than the Bellagio heist of Ocean’s 11, bigger than the Now You See Me thing, bigger than Yaser Arafat winning the Nobel Peace Prize, bigger than Rajiv Gandhi being awarded the Bharat Ratna, bigger than Leicester City winning the premier league, Lance Armstrong couldn’t pull this off with 10 testicles, I mean it is just the most ridiculous, discriminatory, dangerous thing ever!

The thing with Islam in general and particularly in India, is that it’s defenceless. You cannot defend Islam, its practices and its objective. You ever see those irritating posters where they read “you must have an objective in life” etc. Well, it turns out they are right. Because without a goal, an objective you tend to waste away and not realise your true potential. Now, if we compare goals/objectives of the major religions of the world we will see what we chose not to see all this while. Please, I am not a theologian, this is just the simplest way of stating what we have come to understand.

Christianity – make your peace with God and ask for his forgiveness. Love thy neighbour etc.

Hinduism – Moksha! Reprieve from the cycle of life and birth.

Buddhism – Nirvana. Which is basically Moksha but they want to achieve it while still alive.

Sikhism – Meditate, pray, be at one with God.

Jainism – Non-violence.

Judaism – Actions will determine reward or punishment.

Islam – Global Domination. Installing the rule of Allah all over the world.

Note how all the goals and objectives of the rest of the religions are intangible. They are at a spiritual level. Islam, has a very tangible goal and one that can be achieved through physical effort. Gaddafi said that they don’t need missiles, their population itself will be enough to take over Europe one day. Angela Merkel was probably asleep that day when he said that, just like we, us, have been for so long.

I know some of you may be a little startled by the brazenness and brevity of my summary of Islam but I have no other choice. I, we, us, we are out of time. Let’s get a few things cleared out. Since Bin Qasim, every Muslim invader who ever invaded or settled in India, did the Quran’s bidding. Because all Muslims are supposed to emulate Muhammad so they, back in the day and even today do what he did. I will only highlight a few things, back in the day, Mecca was a trading and religious hub. That part of the world was populated by Jews, Christians, nomadic tribes and people indulged in polytheism and idol worship as well. When Muhammad was 40 years old he started having revelations and he came up with his own religion which denounced idol worship and spoke of one true God. When Muhammad was forced out of Mecca, he went to Medina and then after a few years came back to Mecca and defeated the ruling tribes and then proceeded to destroy all the idols that were there. Fast forward a few centuries and the same can be seen happening in India. That is why even today, the atmosphere turns electric when lines such as “sab but uthaye jayenge bas naam rahega allah ka”(all the idols will be eviscerated, only the name of Allah will remain), are read out aloud or sung. If you disagree, please listen to the live recording of Iqbal Bano singing Hum Dekhenge by Faiz Ahmed Faiz.

So, India is invaded. Back in the day the spoils of war were of all types. Yes, the conqueror looted the wealth, his soldiers plundered and the women were raped and taken as slaves. That’s how things used to be. The vanquished had to pay this price for not being foresighted, weak and unorganised. But the desecration of places of worship, libraries was something else. In this part of the world, it had arguably only been seen once before and that was way back in the days of Pushyamitra Shunga, who upon winning, unleashed hate on Buddhists. That was in 185 B.C. but since then, nothing of that sort happened. Enter Islam, and you are on for a wild ride. Temple desecration, forced conversions on the edge of the sword, burning of literature, religious or otherwise, taxes on non-muslims, everything that you can think of. The slave trade that the Arabs and Mamluk Kings of Delhi and the Mughals later on indulged in beats the slave trade the Whites indulged in by a spectacular margin, but as you know, that is apparently classified. We cannot talk about it, and we must deny its existence. Ok, cool, moving on, this goes on for a while. Bin Qasim only got till Debal, a place near Karachi and Multan in the north, India was still to see what the real deal looks like. So then, Mahmud Ghazni comes and he hits the lottery. That asshole couldn’t believe how easy it was. Imagine you come from a conflict prone area, harsh terrain, nothing to lose mind-set and supposedly the divine decree to wage war against the non-believers, that guy plundered Somnath, desecrated the Shivling and plastered its pieces onto the steps of a mosque he had built back home in Ghazni. He made a vow to plunder every year. It is said he crossed the Indus 17 times and looted everything he could get his hands on. Then another jackass hops on the merry-go-round who comes from the adjacent area pin code of Ghazni. This one’s named Ghori. It is at this point that I must inform you, Ghori’s win over Prithviraj Chauhan, is probably the reason why today, you see videos of the riots and hear naara-e-takbeer in the background, why we get to hear firecrackers when Pakistan beats India in Cricket or Hockey, that defeat of Prithviraj Chauhan is the reason why the Nehru-Gandhi family has presided over India directly for 38 years and through a proxy for 10 more years making it a grand total of 48 years out of the 72 since 1947.

Continue reading to understand how we have been tricked.

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