COMMUNAL HARMONY : A DUTY TOWARDS NATION, RELIGION, AND SELF

"Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character. When there is beauty in the character, there is harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home, there is order in the nation. When there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world."

~ By A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

Communal means shared by all members of the community and Harmony means a pleasing arrangement of parts. So Communal + Harmony means together when people of different interests, thinking, the religion of a community lives together pleasingly, lovably, respectfully and in pursuit of mutual goals.

Communal harmony plays a very vital role in a country. Only if there is peace and harmony in the country, it can grow. The meaning of communal harmony can be easily understood by taking examples of such countries where people of different religions are living together for many years and have a great history. The best example is India.

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India is a country where the most deeply divided societies reside. India has 22 official languages, and according to the census, the total number of mother tongues spoken in India is 1652. However, only around 150 languages have a sizable speaking population. And also there are 29 states with a different culture. So think once so many different people…with different cultural beliefs living together. The main motto behind is 'unity in diversity'.

Though With the 42^nd Amendment of the Indian Constitution enacted back in 1976, the Preamble to the Constitution stated that India is a secular nation. The country does not follow any official state religion. The laws require the state and its institutions to accept and respect all the religions. Each individual in the country is free to choose his religion and change it at any time. Treating all the religions equally and giving freedom to choose one’s religion is a way to ensure communal harmony in the country.

But there are instances in history where communal disharmony has created an intense situation within the country which betrayed and destroyed lives of many people and also the economy and strongness of the country. This can happen as the result of some certain disagreement on different cultural beliefs or may be some misunderstanding is there, but most probably these disharmonies context is politically motivated and always been engineered by vested interests.

Examples of disruptions of communal riots within the country due to which disharmony created.

1857 Bharuch Riots : These riots occurred when the Bohra Muslims and Parsis in May 1857, accused Bejonji Sheriaiji Bharucha, a Parsi of desecrating a mosque. Five days later approx 200 Muslims gathered and attacked Dastur Kamdin Dar-e Mihr, and fired the temple also murdered its High Priest.

1969 Gujarat Riots: In 1969, the riots between Hindus and Muslims during September-October in Gujarat. This was the first major communal violence in Gujarat that involved looting and massacre on a wide scale. Near about 660 people were killed and 1074 were injured.

1984 Anti-Sikh Riots: Also known as the 1984 Sikh Massacre, these were a series of attacks against the Sikhs in India. The reason behind these is Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s murder by her Sikh bodyguards. Around 2800 people across the country were killed during these riots of which approximately 2100 were from Delhi.

1985 Gujarat Riots: These riots started in February 1985 and continued for approx. 9 months. It is believed that this violence was invoked by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in an attempt to defame the ruling government.

2002 GUJRAT RIOTS: The Godhra Train Burning was an incident that occurred on the morning of 27 February 2002, in which 59 people died in a fire inside the Sabarmati Express train near the Godhra railway station in the Indian state of Gujarat.

The most famous issue or can say fire issue of the country from past years—RAM JANBHOOMI and the BABRI MASJID issue. It is a major rooted communal disharmony between Muslims and Hindus in the country.

A beautiful example showing the importance of communal harmony: https://youtu.be/VP2Yfa0rxmQ

"The more in harmony with yourself you are, the more joyful you are and the more faithful you are. Faith is not to disconnect you from reality - it connects you to reality."

By Paulo Coelho

CONCLUSION

Communal harmony plays a very important role in maintaining peace within a country and also it helps in the growth of the country. A person who maintains communal harmony also grows with respecting nature also knows how to be patient in sensitive issues. By maintaining communal harmony one can assure the internal peace, contentment and devotion towards national, international and moral duties. Maintaining communal harmony is also the essence of the religious as well as legal duties as is envisaged in countries like India, who is said to be a secular country as per the constitution. To worship and to adhere to the principles of any sect or the religion of a person is not only governed by the rights attached with the same but also with the duties enshrined and propounded in any particular sect or religion and then only we can say that we are committed to the communal harmony as no sect or religion teaches the methods or paths of violence, intolerance, casteism, untouchability or hatred towards mankind and rather it teaches to lead the entire life of humankind for the betterment of human race as there can not be a better religion than humanity.

References:-

Communal Harmony

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