Dr. Vedapratap Vaidik
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has promptly censured and taken stringent action against its two leaders – a national spokesperson and a state media head for allegedly making unsavory comments on a particular religion. Not just that, the BJP has in its official statement reiterated that the party had highest respect for every religion. In a statement the spokesperson of government of India said in a statement that the remarks from the BJP leaders are casual criticism and nothing more.
The Government of India does not hold any negative views about any religion, sect or its revered souls. The Constitution of India treats all religions equally. Then why is both the BJP and the Government of India taking extra pain to give clarifications? It could be an attempt to douse the anger of those Islamic nations agitated over the unsavory remarks of the two BJP officials.
The governments of Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman have not only condemned controversial comments of the two BJP leaders but have also started boycotting Indian goods in these countries. No wonder Indians living in these countries find it difficult to even continue there. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation has appealed to the United Nations to take action against India. In India too, especially in Kanpur, there has been a massive upsurge regarding this matter.
The two BJP office-bearers who have made these remarks said that in a TV debate, when lewd comments were made about Shivling, out of sentimental compulsions from within they reacted in haste. Both of them have profusely apologized for the ‘mistake’. But my moot question to all those Hindus, Muslims, Christians and people of other faiths is how religious are they in their deeds and thoughts? Are they truly God-fearing? If they are true believers, why should they attempt to denigrate other faiths? Everyone asserts that their religion or sect is the creation of God. Are Ishwar, Allah, Yahowah and God different? If you consider them different, then you also have to accept that all these types of Gods and Allah are the creation of humans.
Human beings are compelling Gods and Allah to fight each other. We cannot take the entire content of the scriptures for granted. In every religious scripture and in those souls popularly worshiped, we can find certain objectionable features and traits. There is no scripture in the world worth believing even today. In all the scriptures and in all the religious icons you can make out certain faults. But who gets the benefit out of it?
Those who are genuinely interested in the well being of the entire humanity and also those who are true flowers of their religion will only consider the positive aspects of the religious tests and sacred souls.
*Dr. Vaidik is a widely travelled scholar-journalist. He has visited more than 80 countries on diplomatic and educationalmissions. Dr. Vaidik has won more than a dozen National and International awards for academic and journalistic excellence. He has been a member of several Advisory Committees of Government of India.
