I would like to start with a plain confession. I am not a religious person. I barely do any religious duties and that too only to keep my mother pleased.
But that doesn’t mean I am ignorant of the condition my fellow minorities find themselves in. I have been around the country and I have seen how aggressive rhetoric and simple lies have endangered the 20 million minorities living in Bangladesh.
As I learned from my parents, things were not this bad once. Well, they are the proof, coming from a poorer background and climbing the social ladder as a minority is a testament to the strong secularism that the Bangladeshi constitution promotes. But do the people of Bangladesh believe in their constitution?
Statistics shows that less than 10% of all high officials in the country are from minority backgrounds. Yet, people, even some of my friends believe that the state institutions are run mostly by Hindus(Kind of like how Nazis spread the propaganda that the state is controlled by Jews). Many think it is not right to give minorities a position in the government as the state declares Islam as the state religion.
Continuous anti-minority rhetoric has crippled the minds of Bengalis. The truth is only what they hear from waz and bogus Facebook pages. One of the most successful propaganda I saw trending currently is against ISCKON.
ISCKON is an international organization that aims to spread the message of Lord Krishna throughout the world. Bengali Muslims interpret this as a Hindu Taliban organization whose secret aim is to rule the world or give Bangladesh to India or whatever. Well, the first thing that an ISCKON disciple learns is to give up thoughts on the materialistic world and completely focus on the spiritual life. World politics has no meaning to a disciple of ISCKON. After every evening prayer in each ISCKON temple, there is a discussion session. I remember vividly that any political, or social topics are to be completely ignored by the attendees. Even it is a huge taboo to talk about politics in front of an ISCKON pravuu. Of course, the person who has sworn to never take a life is a reincarnate of the Taliban. Yet, this is what everyone I talk to believes.
This doesn't mean I believe in everything ISCKON says or does. ISCKON believes in spirituality at any cost, which means leaving one's own family and calling someone else father and mother. Their hardline eating conditions are also questionable to me. But, I see no ways to call ISCKON even a fraction of the Taliban.
Still, those who have doubts can go to any ISCKON temple and spend a few hours. I challenge you that you will not hear even a single phrase against your faith. But what if I visited a jummah khutbah?
Today afternoon, I went with Rudra Sir and a pravuu to buy a smart TV for the Swamibagh Temple. The purpose is to make learning sessions more interactive. It's good to see ISCKON investing in this sort of thing. Tonight, there was an attack on the Radhanath ISCKON temple which is close to Swamibagh temple. This incident has left me stunned.
What if I was there? It's not a question of What but When. Tomorrow is Dol Purnima.
Happy Holi.
Comments
Post a Comment