Hindus are like that sleeping giant, Kumbhakarana, who would not wake up, even when poked and prodded. This, when perceived danger, Sriman Narayan himself, was at his doorstep! How does one wake this community up? This time it is not the Lord at our doorstep! In Bangladesh and Pakistan, immediately neighboring India, there has been a quiet ethnic cleansing(of Hindus) that people in India are aware of. The reaction, if any, has been one that sometimes surprises me. It has either been one of “what can we do” to suggestions of violent reactions. Let’s get this straight: neither of these work!
When an innocent 3-year old, one who should have been enjoying toys, dolls, napping and running around the house to the delight of the parents, is a fatal victim of lust, the reaction expected would have been one of shock, dismay, and anger. The media has been very quiet about this and understandably so. After all, this was perpetrated by people of another community! This would go against the mainstream media’s modus operandi. It is left to “right-winged media”, to bring these stories to light. The people that read these right wing outlets are, again, sleeping Hindus that show little, if any, reaction. Baby Twinkle, we are sorry you were born Hindu. You would have been better off being born in any other community. You’d have at least received some sympathy from the media and Bollywood’s personalities!
What is it that will wake up the Hindu? Obviously, the unfortunate incident mentioned above has not. Does it carry less weight when it happens to someone else (especially someone you don’t know)? When a similar incident happened a few years ago, that time the victim was also a child Asifa, there was a hue and cry over this! That child was no different than this girl, Twinkle. The way Bollywood had reacted then, and I laud them for that reaction, was one of horror and outrage! Be it a Hindu or a Muslim child, no one should have to go through what these children went through. And yet, I don’t see that outrage, that expression of horror now. Is it as simple as being desensitized to crime or, is it selective outrage? Neither of these is acceptable to anyone of us!
The way the mind works is incredible! When a person lives in crime infested areas, over a period of time, the mind tunes itself to not react to such crimes. This then turns itself into a silent sort of acquiescence. Something that is now acceptable! How easily the mind moves from an incident being termed not acceptable to silent resignation!
When an incident of purported cow lynching occurred a few years ago, between two neighbors, the outrage was seen for months( if not years). The late Girish Karnad himself expressed solidarity with the people who were caught supposedly eating beef! I don’t see that solidarity being shown to Twinkle’s parents. Why? Is the Hindu child not worthy of Bollywood’s support? And yet, let’s be honest, if not for the Hindu fans, most supposed stars in Bollywood would not exist! When an Anupam Kher, Akshay Kumar or Payal Rohatgi talks about Hinduism and the plight of Hindus, the person is silently excommunicated by the same Bollywood that made millions from that person!!
With that being the case all we, the pathetic spineless Hindus, can do is say, “Baby Twinkle, we are sorry you were born Hindu.”