Free thinking on the occasion of 77 years of independence! | Suresh Khairnar

Tonight at 12 o’clock India is completing 77 years of independence. Similarly, in neighboring Bangladesh, 49 years are being completed since the martyrdom of Sheikh Mujbur Rahman, the founder of Bangladesh. On 15 August 1975, some people of the Bangladesh Army attacked his residence and killed him and all the people present in that residence at that time, including small children. Sheikh Hasina was in Germany at that time, so she was saved. And ten days ago, Sheikh Hasina Wajed not only had to resign, but she was on the verge of fleeing from Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, the Muslims’ RSS Jamaat-e-Islami was first against partition! Because it wanted to make India Darul Islam! And the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh wanted to make Akhand Bharat, Hindustan of Hindus! But despite that, partition happened! Because the public support for both was very limited at that time!
Jamaat-e-Islami was also against the creation of Bangladesh on the basis of language. Begum Khaleda Zia’s party came into existence after the formation of Bangladesh. But Jamaat-e-Islami was established in 1941 by Maulana Maududi, born in Aurangabad (today’s name is Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra) in undivided India. And Jamaat-e-Islami was opposed to the partition of India. Just like RSS was also opposed to it. But the reasons for the opposition of both were different. And the support base of both was very limited at that time. Therefore, despite the opposition of both, the partition of India happened on the basis of religion on this day 77 years ago. However, the opposition of both was also on the basis of religion.

In India too, the party which has been ruling the country for the last ten years by communal polarization and disturbing the unity and integrity of the country, its parent organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has a history of keeping itself away from the freedom movement. And the most surprising thing is that when our constitution makers had announced the national flag and national anthem of India along with the constitution, RSS opposed that too. And supported Manusmriti instead of the constitution made by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. There are records of the then Sangh Pramukh Shri. Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar opposing our constitution, our country’s national flag and national anthem in writing. On 14 July 1946, in Nagpur, on the day of Guru Purnima, Golwalkar Guruji said, "The saffron flag is the symbol of Indian culture! And I believe that this flag will be hoisted as the national flag of our country!" Similarly, in the editorial of the English mouthpiece Organiser, under the title of National Flag, on 17 July 1947, after the committee constituted for the national flag of our country’s constitution unanimously declared our current tricolor flag as the flag of our country, this article was written in English that "The tricolor flag of our country has been declared! That this is the flag of the nation! This is a foolish decision! Because the number three is inauspicious and while criticizing the three colors and the Ashok Chakra, if the flag of this country is saffron! That will be the flag of the Hindu nation! Which is five thousand years old! And it is absolutely wrong to choose the flag of our country only to please other castes and sects! The flag of our country is not a coat or shirt. It is not like that, you can just ask any tailor and he will get it ready! And that is why the tricolour was not hoisted on 15th August or 26th January at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur! It has started doing this some time back in view of the criticism! And along with that the work of distributing certificates of patriotism!

And similarly, our national anthem is written to praise King George V of England. Vande Mataram written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in the novel Anand Math should be the national anthem of our country. And that is why Jana Gana Mana is never sung in the programs of the Sangh. Vande Mataram is sung in its entirety. How far is it justified to deny the Indian Constitution, the national flag and the national anthem of those who did not participate in our freedom movement? And now they are leading the way in making the most vulgar display of the tricolor flag and nationalism. Only the people of the Sangh can do such hypocrisy!

Just like after the formation of Bangladesh, Jamaat-e-Islami has been continuously doing politics on the basis of religion in Bangladesh! Just like RSS and its political unit BJP are doing in India! In India too, the minority community never felt so insecure in the course of history as they have been feeling insecure for the last ten years! Similarly, the minorities of Bangladesh, which mostly comprise Hindus, Buddhists and some Christians too! They have to fall prey to violence from Islamic fundamentalists from time to time! And even now, after the resignation of Sheikh Hasina Wajed in Bangladesh since August 5, it is going on continuously! Yesterday, the only reason for the acting Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Dr. Mohammad Yunus to visit the Dhakeshwari temple in Dhanmondi, Dhaka was to stop the ongoing attacks against Hindus living in Bangladesh! However, Dhanmondi is the central area of ​​Dhaka! Where there is the area of ​​VIP people, from the President’s House and the Parliament and the Prime Minister’s residence! And the number of respectable Bengali Hindus is also very high. But the violence that is going on in other parts of Bangladesh, in which the number of Namashudras is high, the attacks on them must be stopped.

Despite the partition, the Hindus, Christians and Buddhists exist in more or less proportion in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. And whenever tension arises due to any religious dispute in these three countries, violent incidents often take place in which the lives and property of people of all minority communities are at stake. Although the governments of all three countries claim that they will provide complete security to the minority communities, but in reality, the minority community in all three countries is made a victim of violence during riots. This has happened in almost all the riots in India, starting from the Gujarat riots. And in Bangladesh and Pakistan too, violent incidents take place after the demolition of the Babri Masjid and at other times. The current government of India has been running under the government of a communal party for more than ten years. And no matter who is in power in Pakistan and Bangladesh, the minorities there are always forced to live in fear. After the next twenty-two years, the partition will complete a hundred years. The reason for which the partition was done. He has been proven wrong from the very first day! Yes, these countries have become available to sell their weapons to international bigwigs and use them for their so-called diplomacy! Now the time has come for the people of all three countries to think and understand! For how many more days will innocent people be killed? It is useless to expect anything from the politicians of these three countries! Now the common people of all three countries should think that who among the three countries has really benefited from the partition of 78 years and how much? On the basis of my own experiences of visiting all three countries, I feel that except for a difference of a few degrees, the problems among the three countries are almost the same!

1945-46 After the Second World War, Germany was also divided by the so-called Allied nations in a tussle. But after the fall of Soviet Russia, in the storm of change in the countries of Eastern Europe, the Berlin Wall was demolished by the people of both the countries. And now it has been more than thirty-five years since the united Germany came into existence. Can’t the people of all three countries learn anything from this example?

Dr. Suresh Khairnar, 14 August 2024, Nagpur.