Intolerance is rising: Is this really true?

“Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding” --- Mahatma Gandhi

Last few days, we have seen and heard about the word, Intolerance and this has been particularly because of the statement from one of the finest actors, Aamir Khan. In one of the award ceremonies, Aamir had said, “When I chat with Kiran at home, she says ‘Should we move out of India?’ That’s a disastrous and big statement for Kiran to make. She fears for her child. She fears about what the atmosphere around us will be. She feels scared to open the newspapers every day.”

He also said, “That does indicate that there is this sense of growing disquiet, there is growing despondency apart from alarm. You feel why this is happening, you feel low. That sense does exist in me.”

He specifically mentioned that there is growing intolerance in the nation. Before we proceed further, let us first understand the meaning of this word. Intolerance refers to unwillingness to accept views, beliefs, or behavior that differ from one’s own.

So, are we really tolerant? Are we willing to accept views and beliefs posed by others? And, the answer is, Yes, we are very tolerant people. We have been really tolerant since 1947 or 1984 or 2002 or 2008. Since so many years, there have been so many instances of riots but we have been really tolerant to even talk about it. So, why the talk about intolerance now? Kiran Kher, BJP MO from Punjab very rightly pointed out in the lok sabha yesterday that India had been tolerating misrule and corruption for 65 years under the regime of the grand old party. She also strongly reacted against the intellectuals who gave away the awards and slammed them while asking them that where were they when the Sikhs were being massacred in 1984 or when Kashmiri pundits were been thrown out of their own state that is Kashmir. She mentioned, “Intolerance is rising they say in comparison to what and when because you say something that intolerance is rising in reference to what; when we would be more tolerant than we are now.” She asked, “Do we have a reference pint in recent history?” She also stated that that incidents that occurred in Dadri and rationalists are regrettable and should not happen anywhere in a civilized society but stray incidents have been happening all over India for many years.  Well, Kiran is very right in her own sense and I would also like to ask all the writers who have protested over the so called growing intolerance that where was their conscience in all these years when so many things that should have shaken their conscience any why they didn’t wake up then. Is it that we were very tolerant then and suddenly our conscience have risen and have become intolerant?

So, coming back to what Aamir Khan and other people in the film fraternity mentioned about the growing intolerance, I would definitely agree that intolerance is rising and it has been rising many many years and we as common public have been really tolerant and patient enough. A soldier who is guarding our border against the enemies is also very tolerant. A widow of a soldier who had been killed in an encounter with the terrorist has also been tolerant and patient because if there were not tolerant then we wouldn’t have been living safely in our homes and watching the debate on growing intolerance. So, let us finish this debate on intolerance and tolerance and let us all work collaboratively to make this place a better place to live in so that our future generation would not have deal with another debate in the future about growing intolerance.