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Gujarat is Still Burning - Sunanda Vashisht Sunanda Vashisht was born in the beautiful valley of Kashmir, India when Kashmir was known for its unparalleled natural beauty and not as a cauldron of fear and terror. She did most of her schooling in Delhi and dabbled with several professions before moving to U.S last year. she is currently pursuing higher studies here. she likes to introduce herself as an explorer because she wants to spend all her time in this world exploring unknown. Writing for her is a cathartic experience. She can't remember when she began writing first but she does know that writing has always helped her to be at peace with herself and with the world around her.

Last week our nation witnessed yet another attack by fundamentalists on the symbol of faith and peace. The attack on Akshardham temple in already bleeding state of Gujarat made it clear that all is not well there, as the Government would have us believe. It really is unfortunate that communal violence in Gujarat and elsewhere is showing no signs of abating. I am sure the backlash to Akshardham temple must be in offing. As we saw that Godhra carnage was followed by thousands of selective killings on the streets of Gujarat. The killings based on religion resemble a vicious circle where you can only go in circles without any deliverance.

The fundamentalist Hindu Groups always defend their actions by saying, “We did not start it. We were provocated”, which is true in majority of cases. However I am unable to understand that how can one murder justify another. How can anyone in civilized world justify violence. I know I will be branded as liberal, worst still, pseudo liberal and pseudo secular after having said that but I refuse to believe that violence committed in response to violence can be justified.

No one in their right frame of mind will justify Godhra carnage nor can anyone justify Akshardham killings but does that mean we will take the law in our hands and go about vanquishing the other community because some mad men who misinterpret their religion choose to go on a killing spree. If we continue answering violence with violence we will not end up annihilating any community but we will definitely continue our path on this backward regression. This is the world where the communal politics has lurked its vicious head and we are all becoming victim of it.

Most of my Hindu Friends say that “Why should we stop it, we did not begin this” “Why don’t you say the same to Muslims first”. I think Hindu Fundamentalism although on a rise, is still contained because it is met with a lot of criticism from Hindus themselves. Most Hindus have never justified Fundamentalism. When Babri Masjid was destroyed the worst criticism came from Hindus. None of them were scared to say the truth. Most of them were not swayed by the RSS diatribe that we are fighting a “Dharam Yudh” or the war of righteousness. Most Hindus saw that political parties were cashing on Babri Masjid issue and they were not scared to say so openly. There in lies the difference. The silent Majority among Muslims has to speak up and disown these militants who are fighting the so-called Jihad. They have to stop their religion from being hijacked by people who are misinterpreting their scriptures and spreading hatred for Islam in the process. Religion must be kept away from Politics otherwise it will ruin communities and nations.

Akshardham carnage is an inexcusable act of violence. Nothing can justify innocent killings. We haven’t yet figured out the people behind these attacks. However, I am sure if the Government determines to crush the communal elements it can very easily do so. If the government for once doesn’t give in to the politics of vote banks, it will surely be able to sideline communal elements. The issue however is that we are differentiating between fundamentals too which is only fuelling the strife.

At this juncture, we can only hope that both sides exercise restraint because as cliched it may sound, there really is no end to violence.

Till we connect again...

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