[ Bengia Ajum ]
As India descends into chaos due to religious politics unleashed by the BJP and its ideological mentor RSS, the people of the country, especially those who strongly value the secular ideology, are beginning to understand the importance of the first prime minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
A man who is constantly vilified by the present regime and its supporters for strongly espousing secular values, the relevance of the Nehruvian ideology is strongly felt nowadays. The Congress party under Rahul Gandhi tried to copy the BJP by following soft Hindutva but failed. If the Congress wants to revive, it should strongly stick to the Nehruvian secular principles.
Soft Hindutva will not fetch them any votes and even the secular voters will ditch them. When Nehru became PM, the lifespan of an average Indian was just 31 years. The literacy rate was just 12 percent, and the majority of the population struggled for two meals a day. But this did not deter him from making an ambitious attempt to take the country on the path of development. Institutions like IIT, ISRO, IIM, IISc, AIIMS, etc, were the brainchild of Nehru. Today, India is enjoying the fruits of these famous institutions.
Nehru gave wings to a poor nation like India to dream big by emphasising on modern education. While giving utmost importance to educating the people, he once said, “Education is meant to free the shackles of the human mind and not to imprison it in preset ideas and beliefs.”
Today, India is going through a very difficult time. The moment you open any TV news channel or social media networking site, one can only see hatred against minorities unleashed by right-wing supporters. The leaders and supporters of the ruling party on a daily basis spread hatred against fellow Indians who belong to a minority religion. The minorities, particularly Muslims, are becoming the main targets. This attempt to try to make Muslims second-class citizens is not going to serve the country any purpose. Constant attacks on their livelihood, like banning meat sales, etc, are being done all over India. The Christians too have come under attack and most probably after that, it will be the turn of the tribal communities of the NE region to face the wrath of Hindutva politics. No one is going to be spared in this cycle of hatred.
Even in Arunachal, once known for its peace and secularism, the seed of religious hatred is slowly but surely being sown. The policy to divide tribals along religious lines is being made to ensure that the Brahminical hierarchy is ensured here in Arunachal too. It is a known fact that a large chunk of big business houses owned by the upper caste for long has dreamed of exploiting Arunachal’s rich natural resources. But the tribal unity based on tribesmanship and clanism and
strong resistance against any potential lifting of the ILP by the central government is a major hurdle in the way of the big corporate houses. The only way for them to make inroads is by dividing the tribes along religious lines. At the behest of big corporate houses, an attempt is being made to divide the tribes along religious lines and weaken the unity.
The people of the state should remain alert. All this again makes us remember the contribution of Nehru. After independence, he did not withdraw the BEFR 1873 Regulations, which were imposed during the British era. The tribal culture, tradition and customs flourished, and education was given much emphasis. Even activities of Christian and Hindu missionaries were regulated with a motive to safeguard the tribal culture, tradition and faith in its purest form. Nehru is missed today and one can only hope that this cycle of religious hatred fanning across India ends at the earliest.
