Incoherent Muse

Do ever just feel the need to cry?
And no matter how hard you try,
To stop all these tears,
Your heart, it doesn’t hear.

Crying side in,
Crying side out,
Feeling the urge,
To scream and just shout!

You tell them stop,
You try to take control,
But down your cheeks,
They continue to roll.

Faster and quicker,
Till there should be no more,
But still these tears,
Continue to fall.

And now they hurt,
Your eyes, so soar,
Internal feeling,
So weak, so poor.

Then you feel your head,
It hurts so much,
Throbbing with pain,
Too sore to touch.

Minds had enough,
Tries some intervention,
But your heart won’t stop,
It has no intention.

Your body switches off,
You fall asleep,
This so far,
Is the biggest treat.

Then when you wake,
So still you lay,
Silence all around you,
You start to pray.

Now all you can do,
Is try to carry on,
Although the pain, the fear,
Is far from gone.

And you ask yourself,
From deep within,
Was that the last time,
You’ll get that feelin’

But why bother to ask?
The answers no,
It’s clear, it’s obvious,
Not like you didn’t know!

And now it’s just,
A big waiting game,
For it to catch you off guard,
And happen again.

Hoping to yourself,
It’ll be far, not near,
Before like this,
You have to shed another tear…

howling
growling
crying out
dying out
ever loyal
forced to toil
never free
always be
seen by some
known by none

“The people,” philosopher statesman S. Radhakrishan told the Constituent Assembly in December 1946, “whether they are Hindus or Muslims, prince of peasant, belong to this country… It is not possible for us to think we belong to separate identities.”

It was a noble vision, particularly when set against the daunting backdrop of a vocal and vibrant democracy. It was also a vision riddled with imperfections and unanswered questions. The Congress posited a secular India – as distinguished from the confessional state of Pakistan – but the ground rules of secularism were left vague. There was a good reason for the ambiguity: very divergent views on the subject.

Mahatma Gandhi was a deeply religious man and he could never countenance the separation of religious morality from political conduct. Nehru, on the other hand, was an agnostic who saw religion as an intensely private matter.

On paper, India is unquestionably a secular state with secure constitutional guarantees for all citizens. Yet at a social and political level, secularism seems a delightful and occasionally, a grotesque abstraction. If Britain – the country that shaped India’s Constitution – is a denominational state with a secular state with a society divided along religious lines.

Since the early 1980s, the fires of sectarian conflict have been burning with varying intensity, pitting Indian against Indian. Historical memories, religious wounds, and political manipulation have together generated a fierce communal rage that is destroying the soul of India. The otherwise sane and sober are mounting intolerance even sanctioning violence and murder. Hate has become respectable and the consensus of tolerance and accommodation is being challenged.

A brief history of secular crises (past 25 years)

1976 Secular Mantra
During Emergency Indira Gandhi alters the preamble of the Constitution and adds the word “secular” . Secularism becomes a new battle.

1979 Meenakshipuram
The conversion of Dalits to Islam in Tamil Nadu triggers controversy. VHP enters the stage as the new champion of Hindu interests.

1984 Anti Sikh Riots
The killing of 3,000 Sikhs in Delhi after Indira Gandhi’s assassination undermines secularism. No action taken against rioters.

1985 Shah Bano Case
Rajiv Gandhi gives Muslim orthodoxy and reverses Supreme Court verdict. It is seen as an instance of minority appeasement.

199o Exodus of Pandits
V.P. Singh regime is helpless as Kashmiri Hindus flee the valley. Inaction bolsters impression of unconcern for the majority community.

1992 Babri Demolition
Ram Janmabhoomi movement peaks with demolition of mosque. Compromises secularism and triggers a wave of vicious rioting.

2002 Gujarat carnage
Nearly 700 people die in post Godhra riots. The state BJP Government charged with being a passive onlooker to the killing of Muslims.

The Guilty : Architects of a Divided State

M.A. Jinnah
The father of the first Islamic State in South Asia started it. His two nation theory sanctified the irreconcilability of Hindus and Muslims.

Indira Gandhi
She constitutionalised secularism, with her politics swinging between secular extremism and religious opportunism.

Rajiv Gandhi
From the famous Shas Bano case to Ayodhya, he gave secularism a go by and set the stage for Hindu resurgence.

J.S. Bhindranwale
India’s first militant face of religious radicalism, almost Bin-Laden like, he marked the bloody inauguration of Sikh extremism in Punjab.

V.P Singh
The caste plank of his Mandal movement contributed to the rise of Hindu constituency in the Hindu heartland.

L.K. Advani
His famous rath yatra, for the first time, set of the biggest political moblisation of Hindus and BJP’s journey to power.

Bal Thackeray
The maverick demagogue had perfected the politics of hate, visceral, banal but never failing to evoke fear among minorities.

“In India, as elsewhere in our darkening world, religion is poison.” Salman Rushdie