Pritam's Blog
Not In My Name? My Foot!
What does this catchphrase mean actually? Not In My Name? Does it mean that the Hindutva lynch mob in particular and other Hindu fundamentalist in general can do whatever they please and you don’t care about it as long as they do not involve you or your religion into it?
Not In Your Name? Really?
Not just the lynching of Muslims in the name of Cow on a daily basis, but every other aspect of the Modi Government is in your name.
If you and your ancestors have enjoyed previleges of being born in a high caste family, it is in your name.
And if you never did anything to change it, it is in your name.
It is in your name if you have kept a blind eye to the structural oppression and violence that Hinduism propagates directly or indirectly.
It is in your name if the atrocities of the Khap Panchayats didn’t bother you just because it’s not happening in your part of the world.
It is in your name if you couldn’t accept your son or daughter merely going out with someone, anyone in general and with someone from a different caste or religion in particular.
It is in your name when you made it a point that you are so liberal and progressive that you didn’t have any problem when your kid married a “dalit”.
If your blood ever boiled because that Dalit kid got into an engineering college through reservation but your kid, despite scoring higher, couldn’t make it, it is in your name.
If you have ever thought and propagated that being a Muslim is synonymous to being a Pakistani and being a Pakistani is synonymous to being an enemy of the nation, it is in your name.
It is in your name if you have assumed someone’s religion or caste from their name or surname.
It is in your name if you have never noticed that the help in your house isn’t allowed to enter the Puja ghar or even your own sister or mother isn’t allowed to enter the Puja ghar when she is having her periods.
It is in your name if your parents spend more money on your education than they did on your sister’s education.
It is in your name if you have checked your sister’s cellphone, whom she is chatting with.
And the list goes on…
The point here is Hinduism is anything but a religion of tolerance.
And no, I am not being Muslim-appeasing or anything. I firmly believe that Islam too is not a religion of peace. But when you follow the religion and the unrealistic rules they impose, actively or passively, partially or wholly, you are being part of the problem and you need to take responsibility for that…
I am all against the lynching of Muslims (or as a matter of fact anyone else). But I do not believe in this catchphrase. “Not In My Name” has an escapist tendency.