Before I got to know what ideology meant, I had never imagined it had something to do with my own existence. The clashes of ideologies are at an all-time high in the Indian political saga right now. It all happened after 2014 when the tsunami of the saffron brigade surfing claimed power via Modi at the Centre of the most prominent democratic country.
The discourse since then has changed a lot. It is hard to remain a free thinker anymore. Am I a leftist or a rightist? Have I been influenced by or aligned myself to any ideology? (I leave it to my readers to tell me about this.) I will try and put forward my opinion on different issue that caused a ruckus.
First, the election of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was the first election for me as a voter. I exercised my voting right, but I voted for no one – Not Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or any other national party. I didn’t find any candidate to be seriously campaigning. That is enough for anyone to know about my ideology.
Second, I am against killing someone on the basis of what they eat. The incident of the Dadri lynching created a dreadful atmosphere for the Muslim population in India. The mob lynching of Akhlaq posed a threat to the secularism and pluralism of India. I am not going to support such inhumane and unconstitutional acts.
Third, in my opinion, what happened in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on the night of February 9, 2016 should not happen. Why were the students debating on Afzal Guru, who had been involved in an attack on the Parliament? Didn’t they believe in the judgement passed by the apex court of the country? If not the Supreme Court, then who will decide who is guilty and innocent? And I don’t support someone shouting slogans against India. I am unable to take a clear stand since there are different stories and the picture is still not clear.
Fourth, ‘love jihad’. What rubbish? We should not be treating every inter-religion marriage as ‘love jihad’. I have many friends who are in a relationship with a person belonging to a different religion.
Fifth, nationalism. Whenever I watch some patriotic film, tears well up in my eyes. I feel a sense of pride and honour in being an Indian. But that does not mean that the people who don’t cry are less patriotic than me. That’s my feeling of patriotism. I went to a PVR to watch “MS Dhoni: The Untold Story”. As the national anthem began, everyone in the theatre along with me stood up. No one told us what we had to do; we just did what we felt was right.
In a democracy, everyone has the right to question and the right to speak freely. That’s the foundation of any democracy. I used to watch Arnab Goswami and had been a huge fan of his, but I like Ravish Kumar too and watch his Prime Time daily. My only question is why are people imposing some ideology on me if I say something against them?
If one is against a particular ideology, these groups give you tags like ‘anti-national’ or ‘anti-Constitution’. However, this political mudslinging is making the idea of India weaker, and every party is responsible for this. We, as voters, are being treated as vote banks and my sincere request to the people is to not let the political parties use them for their benefits.
Also, don’t forget to tell me whether I am a Modi-bhakt, a communist or a centrist.