The Manufactured Divide
Cultures are the battlefield where civilizations rise and fall – the quote seen earlier on this platform applies well as one moves to observe the current crises that our society has been enveloped in. Certain elements who parade around proclaiming to be the torchbearers of culture and linguistic pride – are rather subduing our country's unity.
From Kannada to Marathi, the same tales get regurgitated and brought into the spotlight. A meticulously planned blueprint to dismantle cultural pluralism, that has long been a part of Sanatana Dharma, and the Bharatiya society, is being employed. Same old playbook activated in new arenas. From carefully engineering riots – to conditioning of our own people by artificial triggering a crisis isn't now only a speculation – but an utter reality.
Amidst communal discrepancies, another pawn of belligerent enemy tactics of division has seeped into our society. And this time, it's our own people fighting with themselves.
While in Karnataka, the reason might be more clear to observe: a political outfit ruling the state appeasing Islamist groups to reap political representation and benefit, while implanting the poisonous seeds of division into the Hindu brigades about 'cultural' and 'linguistic' redundancy – curated by artificial inflation of xenophobic narratives.
In Maharashtra, the problem gets a little more complex, yet not very hard to see. A small sub-strata of the population is being instrumentalised by certain political factions, as a ploy to stay relevant in the modern political landscape. While in both of these cases, Hindus and Hindi are ardently targeted, those of Urdu and Muslims – are conveniently left out of focus. This is not just selective amnesia, but dangerous programming to dissolve any remaining empathy or cultural companionship in our society.
It's clear that foreign funded toolkits are now attempting to manufacture this hatred and animosity in our society, but what's more dangerous is that many of our own people subscribing to this idea. We are not equipped with enough people to counter this subversion, and as more people continue to cling onto this hateful rhetoric, the divide gets even more stretched. Media houses are dragging these issues, bloating them up, and leaving the 'defensive' or 'counter-narrative' formation part to the public. It's a shame that 'our' media has proven to be so impotent in contributing to safeguard our nation's values.
To the ordinary, this entices them to stay on their toes and develop an internalized notion of hate, while for those who can think, this is an imperative ground for developing counter-narratives. A systemic apprehension of our culture needs to be fought, with not just rebuttal, but by fostering and gearing up intuitive defense for future attempts. Jai Jagannath!
