Senseless rhetoric!

A few opposition leaders have compared Rishi Sunak’s nomination as their party leader by the Conservatives, leading to his becoming the PM of the United Kingdom. They have questioned whether the Indian government would dare appoint any minorities to the high office, with leaders like P. Chidambaram and Mehbooba Mufti openly taunting the government.

They had forgotten that many illustrious minorities held the top job as the President of India; Zakir Hussain 1967-69, Md. Hidayatulla 1969, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed 74-77, Giani Zail Singh 82-87 and APJ Abdul Kalam 2002-2007. Besides, many Dalits and backward classes have embellished as Presidents, like Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, KR Narayan, and Ramnath Kovind. The current president Draupadi Murmu is tribal. Man Mohan Singh was the PM of the country twice, between 2004 and 2014. All were, in a way, minorities.

It is despicable that the opposition strangely thinks that the English could be constricted in their views of their fellow citizens, regardless of their origins. They perhaps did not hear Sunak’s first short public speech, which espoused the love of his country and a promise to give back to the country he loved. None questioned his Britishness, and thus his colleagues placed their trust in Rishi to lead their party and their troubled nation.

The difference between them and us is that our love for our country depends on who is running the government, placing a high importance on ideological differences, which seem to reign supreme over our country. The strength of India’s diversity is overlooked whenever the opposition takes a swing at the government. The opposition polarized the minorities and kept the citizens divided all along to reap electoral dividends.

The above list of Indian Presidents may clear the doubts in the minds. Many governors, justices in the Supreme Court and Vice-Chancellors from the minorities have served our country, none questioning the reasoning, as it was normal.

I would not disagree that most Hindus have consolidated, particularly in the Hindi belt of India. The move is reflective or retaliatory to the earlier minority vote-bank politics indulged by the opposition. However, a new threat, a foreign hand, is led by a few Islamic nations, who consider the present Indian government inimical to their interests relating to religious conversions and expansion.

None seemed to question the government cancelling the FCRA approvals in the Trusts run in the name of Rajiv Gandhi and headed by Sonia Ji. There’s no whisper regarding funds received from a terrorist Zakir Naik or huge funds received from China in those trust funds. Chidambaram and Mehbooba Mufti must also comment on these and prove that they are Indians first and not confined only to haters of Modi’s government.

If India is suffering today with distrust between communities, it is because the opposition is promoting such disharmony merely to embarrass the government. The opposition must grow up if India must grow as an inclusive democracy.

Sampath Kumar

Intrépide Voix

Pic courtesy DNA