Ajekkala Girish Bhat in the intolerance debate

                                          Ajekkala Girish Bhat in the intolerance debate

Dr Ajekkala has now joined the intolerance debate.  The gist of his paper is that the present scenario is a result of efforts to find  peace by adjusting ourselves to an intolerant section of the society preaching secularism to appease a religious community. He traces the history in brief from constituent assembly days and has some valid points.

The author rightly observes Intolerance is not a new phenomenon in our country. It was there for several years in the past and in the award wapsidars  it is now growing.   He concentrates on the Hindu – muslim rift in the country and remarks  “actually the secular discourse during the last sixty years has not succeeded in reducing the tension between Hindus and Muslims, instead it has increased intolerance”.  He also rightly argues that the ‘demand for a common civil code’ is often seen as ‘ an attack on pluralism’. All this has resulted in the loss of mutual trust. Intolerance is a sequel of all this.

The author’s contention is that award wapsi cannot nullify intolerance and infuse tolerance into our society. He is right in doing so as the secular – communal conflicts or the Muslim – Hindu arguments are divisive by nature and lead to polarisation. This may even lead to sustained enmity in its extreme dimension. I would suggest  instead, conscious efforts to smooth out such divisive tendencies would bring forth desirable results. This means we have to raise above such groups and include ourselves in a whole. Our Prime Minister’s assertion that tradition teaches us to accept every other person and idea may guide us.