Islam spread in India through conquerors and conquests; through fire and sword.This conventional learning shared by all Indians is, in my view, what keeps such a diverse country as India together.The belief that if we do not hang together; we shall hang separately.
But this happened in the past.How is this relevant for the present, and the future?
At the level of political leadership we have seen sane choices. After the independence of South Africa Nelson Mandela resolutely prevented any kind of reprisal against Whites, who had brutally oppressed the native Africans for centuries.After the exposure of the horrors of the Holocaust, the Jews did not carry out any reprisals against the Germans.
In India, the Indian National Congress, which led the freedom struggle against the British,took the deliberate decision of creating a secular state. That party, which was definitely not the pale shadow of its glorious past that exists today, had in in its ranks some of the most formidable intellectual political luminaries in its fold that spoke and acted like equals and did not decide lightly. They acted with judgment, foresight , wisdom and absolute integrity ; human qualities sadly underrated today.
The concept of "historical revenge" has thus been rejected by all wise thinkers.Because the only sure outcome is carnage; the extent of which can lead to a society that is permanently warped. Think of the Holocaust in Germany; the post-partition riots in the Indian sub-continent.They resolved nothing.I think it was this that was on Mahatma Gandhi's mind when he said;"An eye for an eye leaves the world blind."
But this happened in the past.How is this relevant for the present, and the future?
At the level of political leadership we have seen sane choices. After the independence of South Africa Nelson Mandela resolutely prevented any kind of reprisal against Whites, who had brutally oppressed the native Africans for centuries.After the exposure of the horrors of the Holocaust, the Jews did not carry out any reprisals against the Germans.
In India, the Indian National Congress, which led the freedom struggle against the British,took the deliberate decision of creating a secular state. That party, which was definitely not the pale shadow of its glorious past that exists today, had in in its ranks some of the most formidable intellectual political luminaries in its fold that spoke and acted like equals and did not decide lightly. They acted with judgment, foresight , wisdom and absolute integrity ; human qualities sadly underrated today.
The concept of "historical revenge" has thus been rejected by all wise thinkers.Because the only sure outcome is carnage; the extent of which can lead to a society that is permanently warped. Think of the Holocaust in Germany; the post-partition riots in the Indian sub-continent.They resolved nothing.I think it was this that was on Mahatma Gandhi's mind when he said;"An eye for an eye leaves the world blind."
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