Urban Naxals: The Making of Buddha in a Traffic Jam

by Vivek Agnihotri

I stand alone. Freezing but loving it. When you stand nowhere, you are closest to yourself.

Anything which makes us escape from the challenges of life is addictive.

We, as human beings, have conquered the world and now, a bit of the universe, because we explored. Without exploring, one can't find a new ground. Every exploration begins with a problem. Every new ground is a solution. We stop our children from exploring. The child grows up thinking, what if I explore and fail? A possibility of failure or loss in a situation is considered a crisis that stops us from taking chances. To actually go behind the mountains and see if there is really a ghost or not. Hence, we run away from crises. This fear becomes a ghost in our minds, scaring us off new possibilities.

I have no doubt in my mind that Naxalism is the biggest threat to India, bigger than Pakistan and China. Such links are not possible to maintain from the jungles of Dantewada.

Sometimes, mistakes lead us to a truth hidden in the shadows of words.

I have learnt through experience that there is no higher human need than hope. Hope makes us believe in people. In ideas. In life.

This driver is a man of integrity. Integrity isn’t just honesty. Integrity is being honest even when nobody is watching.

God’s prasad is a metaphor for God sent opportunities. We don’t accept them in totality. We try to mould the opportunities to our present reality without realizing that opportunities come to create new realities.

If he wants to feel proud of his jawans they will accuse the army of atrocities in Kashmir. If he wants to feel happy about his festivals, they will raise the issue of drought and farmer suicide. On Diwali, they raise the issue of pollution and on Karva Chauth, they paint the festival as regressive. Through their control over the narrative, they hold common people responsible for disturbing the social fabric and thereby, keep them in perpetual guilt. They create and revel in moral one-upmanship. But life isn’t all about ideological correctness. Ideology is always culture, civilization, evolution, economics, social structure, and geography-specific. They want to deny this fact. They want to be the custodians of a universal moral charter and profess a narrative that protects their elitism.

India was always a Hindu nation. Until it was invaded and looted by Moguls, British, and Congress. India has survived that. India is secular because of its Hindu culture. With its millions of gods and goddesses and millions of reincarnations, no one understands secularism better than the natives of this country. If Hinduism wasn’t secular in its DNA, it wouldn’t have survived for thousands of years. It’s the very secular nature of Hindus that it never ever invaded or attacked any other country or civilization. Hinduism encompasses all other faiths and religions and not the other way round. Hindus have let Muslims and British rule us. It’s the Hindu sensibility that has let an Italian run this country for 10 years. There is a Shahi Imam who also appeals to vote against communal forces. Who are these communal forces? Hindus? Or a party which believes in Hindu secularism and is led by ‘the-man-you-hate’ who says 10 times a day that his only mantra is ‘Justice for all. Appeasement for none.’ So whom are you pointing your fingers at? Who is threatening India?

Hindu

‘It depends on which side of capitalism we are looking at. Capitalism means innovation, excellence, wealth creation, empowerment, conveniences, quality of human life and so on. Capitalism also means greed, ambition, conflict, corruption, exploitation and so on. I believe in the former. I believe every facet of life has two sides: good and bad. I believe in balance. But if I have to make a choice, I’d always want to choose the good part.’

‘Now, the rural Communist is closer to socialist ideology. You will never find a rural Communist criticizing rural culture or their gods and deities because they know that for a rural person, the gods and the deities are the masters of his livelihood. He will never agree for a revolution at the cost of his gods or culture. That is the reason that, in villages, Communists talk only about poverty, exploitation, atrocities of the system and their rights,’ Manish speaks with passion. ‘But as soon as you enter a university, we witness a radical and communal face of Communism. Here, they propagate the weaknesses and evils of Hindu culture. They manipulate and twist ancient books to misrepresent them and provoke students. For example, they use Tulsidas’ chaupai, without mentioning the rest of the Ramcharitmanas, which is the real context.

Liberalism is defined by attacking and ridiculing the majority while secularism is practiced by appeasing the minority.