Politics of hate will never define India - Part I

I have seenmany a TV channel with horror, heard many a shrill socialite, opportunistic politician and know-all anchor pontificate on this week’s terror strike in the city I called home for over two decades. We’ve all been bombarded by online hysteria, TV sermons and outraged tweets offering 140-character pithy solutions to all our complex problems.

Even before the investigations have come to any conclusion, the ignorant and the expert alike have offered us a range of hawkish advice — bomb thy neighbour, suspend dialogue, pre-emptive strikes to destroy terror dens, large-scale arrests, more surveillance of every citizen (especially from a certain community), more weapons and sweeping powers for the police, bring back POTA, instant trial and justice, hang Kasab, hang Afzal, and so on.
Publicity-hungry netas aiming to consolidate a political constituency haven’t stopped at grim analyses of policy failures, spineless governments and demand for resignations!

Some like Subramanian Swamy exhort us to respond to terrorism not as Indians but as Hindus, warn us of Taliban at our doorstep, offer their recycled, freshly dusted theories and advise us to virtually convert ourselves into a Hindu Taliban.

Each one of them does it in the name of the victims. Each one weeps for the bereaved families while offering us their views, theories and remedies. As a filmmaker focusing on the politics of hate and its terrible immediate and long-term consequences over the last 10 years, I have filmed with many whose universes have been damaged by acts of terror and organised violence. Among the countless stories I’ve documented are bleak family portraits of those killed inside S-6, ordinary people later branded kar sevaks, their tragedies shamelessly exploited for votes; Muslim families subjected to the worst of human brutalities in the 2002 Gujarat carnage.

I’ve filmed in the aftermath of the 26/11 terror attacks, and after the 2006 Mumbai serial train blasts. I’ve spoken to a dozen Muslim families shot at by Kasab at CST/VT station and interviewed scores of Hindu victims. My cameras have documented those affected by the Indian Mujahideen bombs and those who suffered the consequences of the Abhinav Bharat bombs in Malegaon.

To those who now spew venom and preach intolerance in the name of the victims, I want to say that in the months I’ve spent with affected Muslim and Hindu families, I didn’t meet anyone who practices or preaches intolerance or harbours hate towards the other community. Each of them denounces hate — none of them wants revenge either directly or in their names. Yet, none of them shrugs it off, or accepts their loss philosophically to move on.

Invariably, in most of them, I’ve seen a fierce desire for justice, for the guilty to be severely punished and a fervent wish that no one else suffer in a similar manner — in their community or the other. Insaaf is a word I heard all the time, nafrat never! In many of them, I did see serious anger — but invariably, against those who exploited their tragedies — be it their own corrupt community members siphoning off relief, apathetic babudom, or irresponsible, insensitive media reporters, but mostly netas who cynically tried to use their tragedy. Hamari laash par vote ki roti senkte hain ye log, I’ve heard this in from the Hindu victim and the Muslim victim alike. Repeatedly.

I have deeply admired the fortitude, sensitivity and humanity in them. Rather than preach tolerance to them, I have learnt from them. I have seen it in their eyes, heard it in their words, sensed it in their voices and witnessed it in their actions. And this is why I remain convinced that though there may be a lunatic fringe that believes in hate/intolerance, the common people or “victims” do not; that the social fabric of our country and the ingrained societal ethos and values of harmonious co-existence are far too strong to be damaged.

This is why I continue to believe that the politics of hate will never be the defining or determining force in India.

These are terrible times. As citizens, all of us feel a deep sense of anger, frustration and helplessness. It is easy to be impassioned, lose perspective, and get mired in irrelevant rhetoric. But this is not the time to advocate aggression, debate politics and rewrite recent and medieval history. It is a time for all of us to unite, speak in one voice against those who inflict terror.

The objective behind spreading terror is to divide us, dent our spirit, destroy our social fabric and damage the vibrant diversity that makes us the oldest surviving civilisation and a thriving, vibrant democracy. The terrorists would be well-served if we succumbed to hate, bigotry, and intolerance.

Or if as a nation, we curtailed our civil liberties, suspended to anyone the constitutionally guaranteed freedoms and rights or targeted any specific community, painting all of them as villains.
No amount of street or online hysteria, outrage, TV sermons, demand for resignations or other meaningless gestures will make any real difference till we allow hate to breed and flourish.

Till the time there is hate, till the time we tolerate hate-mongers, till the time we don’t reject politics of intolerance, we cannot possibly dream of peace. Politics of hate can only breed further hate; only someone insane would believe that a deepening cycle of hate will lead to peace, harmony or prosperity and strengthen the foundations of a robust democracy or a harmonious society. Let us not perpetrate hate. Let us condemn all the hate-mongers, of any community or creed. Let us demand that all the guilty in each of the attacks be brought to justice.

But foremost, let us introspect — delve deeply within our individual selves — and deal with individual prejudice, intolerance or bias. It is only when we deal with hate as an individual, community, society and country that we can even begin to hope for peace. That is the first step towards dealing with this cycle of hate. Let us learn from those who suffer and yet don’t harbour hate, rejecting those who preach and propagate hate in their names! That would be a true homage.

Rakesh Sharma is a documentary filmmaker, well known for his internationally acclaimed film, Final Solution