Gopal.R.Krishna
The title of Leo Tolstosy’s famous story,”God sees the truth but waits” seems to be true with the election of a Afro-American Mr.Barack Hussien Obama as the next president of USA. God waited for almost 4 centuries.He waited for millions of Blacks to be massacared in the name of slavery, before this dawn. Its a truly historic moment, so rich that something like this happens only in centuries. From the days where blacks were shipped like sheep on stinking ships to be sold as slaves to whites, from those days of inhuman treatment, from those days of treatment worse than what animals endure, to this day when an Black man is set to take over as the president of the United States of America its a long long journey. There were tears in everyone’s eyes. From Jesse Jackson, Oprah, even the hyperactive CNN news team seemed softened by this great moment.
His speech today was very balanced. He spoke about an 106 year old woman who voted today, a woman who was a witness to 106 years of American History, he recalled all the great moments in American History. He touched subtly on the suffering of Blacks but he worded it in such a balanced way that it sounded healing rather then scoring points.He had his head on his shoulders. He was not carried away by the moment and his speech demonstrated again why he is a true leader.
His statements prior to the election should be of concern to Indians. He vowed to curb outsourcing. We dont know what he means, but if he means what we understand then it could put the jobs of thousands of Indians in danger. On foreign policy sound bytes he was also suggesting some kind of barter with Pakistan where Pakistan would fight the taliban in exchange for Kashmir. Considering that Indian governments have demonstrated a tendancy to buckle to any kind of foreign pressure this can be quite dangerous. We never really know what is in his mind. His actions are to be seen.
This also brings to the fore the need for justice for Hindus. 700 years under Muslim occupation, 300 years under the British and the new monster called confused secularism engulfing the still young nation. Hindus also need a leader like Barack Obama who would give Hindus a stamp of respect. We are noticing a trend where a hiterto unknown thing called as “right wing Hinduism” is taking root or has taken root in India.That seems to be a result of pent up anger against thousand years of oppression and persecution. The anger is there. Its being further provoked by money bag carrying Entreprenuer Christian Evangelists who sound surprisingly ignorant about India on one side and pampered Indo-Muslims who still carry fond memories of ruling Hindus like their ancestors did.
People who say that right wing hinduism is a aberration should be given a chance to explain the reason for the growth of such parties in India. Public support for right wing Hindu parties is growing. It is important not to brush Hindu emtions under the carpet and lull ourselves in pretending that all is fine. As Mr.Subramanyam Swami said in an interview on Canadian networks, that the volcano of anger can be easily hijacked by an brilliant but dangerous politician, much similiar to what Hitler did to German emotions. This continuing discounting of Hindu emotions is dangerous to Hindus, and all religious denominations living in India.
Mr Obama, shows lot of promise, promise to heal the world, promise to bring in peace and justice to the world and a promise for propserity. Time will be a witness to his promise. As I watched the television of his historic speech, the flutter of hundreds of American flags reminded me of something. I remember as a college student that the American flag was looked upon with awe. Somewhere down the line, due to a combination of things like American aggression against less powerful nations, its indifference to other nations, its aggressive evangelists who show scant respect for other faiths that awe was lost. With Obama at the helm the American flag once again appeared to me as a symbol of respect, and hope.
Hope that everyone will be treated with respect and dignity.
Hope that there is justice and fairness in the world &
Hope that goodness will prevail.
In waiting for the title of Leo Tolstoy’s story to come true for Hindus.
