B L Saraf
Nationwide, we are in the thick of a debate going on between tolerance and intolerance. Supporters and opponents are ranged on either side, armed with their arguments . We are not going into the merits to find out whether the debate is serious or spurious . But then there is nothing new in it. India has been a land of debate ,dialogue and enquiry. Space was always available for the acceptance and understanding of different value systems which happened to crisscross this vast land . It is inherent in the Indian ethos. Once we lay emphasis on the ‘ eternal ‘variations in the life aspects like food habits and clothing etcetera, naturally, dot the mosaic. In the ongoing debate , the liberals tell us, that the scales are tilting in favour of the tolerance . People, especially the intellectuals, constantly remind us of the virtues found in tolerance . There are many in it, undoubtedly. Nonetheless , one must remember that tolerance is another name of indifference. Sometimes in the name of tolerance we tolerate the intolerant. A tolerant person alone cannot monopolise virtues. The person on the other side, too, has his moments. We are living in a world where, unfortunately, virtues on one side, alone, don’t work. At times they become a big handicap, so much so that people long to see them on the opposite side. Therefore , it is not for nothing that Edmund Burke had to say “ There is, however , a limit at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue .” For a change, let us be politically incorrect, switch ends, see virtues in the intolerance and use it for our own good. We experience so many things in our daily life when , for a while, it is becomes prudent to keep tolerance at a bay and come to terms with the reality.
Niradh C. Choudhari, before relocating to the U K, wrote a piece in a the then popular Weekly magazine under the title “Why I hate Indians.” Some part of the piece was on predetermined lines , based on his known subjective considerations and the other was a brilliant comment on the civil habits of most of the Indians, which unfortunately have nothing to feel proud of Niradh Choudhari had castigated his countrymen for their hypocrisy, duplicity and timidity. What is going around us is enough to recall the words of the great writer. They should spur us to rise in rage and show intolerance, albeit in a peaceful manner, to the blatant conduct – or misconduct – which most of us display in public and to which our Netas have become quite habitual.
Our intolerance must show on seeing half clad poor kids begging on the road crossings and girl children loosing childhood and adolescence in the heaps of garbage, picking up rags to earn a livelihood when they should have been in the schools. We have to exhibit intolerance when so called VVIPs run roughshod on a poor pedestrian and a law abiding citizen, and demand prior right of way, not allowing even an ambulance to transport, in time, a very sick person to the hospital. Our rage will be justified when it is directed against a doctor who, instead of taking care of a seriously ill person , spends precious time in bargaining for the money. Our intolerance must express itself on the slow grinding of the wheels of justice. It should be for the indolent and against the ‘rule’ that non -punctuality defines status of a person. There has to be intolerance when we are made to pay for the services which should come free of cost to us as ordinary tax payers.
Human rights violators, habitual law breakers, double faced politicians and traders in public miseries must face wrath of our peaceful intolerance. Same time intolerance has to be directed inwards to express anger on social and moral decadence that has afflicted our society. We should hate ourselves when we clean our houses and throw garbage on the public lane. Occasionally, it becomes necessary to resort to the intolerance in order to make life meaningful. In that case, rather than intolerance it should be tolerance that must worry us. Tolerance is indifference . And indifference is not a hall-mark of a good life.
(The author is former Principal District & Sessions Judge)
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