“I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent” – Mahatma Gandhi
Recently different parts of the world witnessed incidents of riots, arson, bombing, looting and massacre of innocent people in lightening spree to a frightening scale. The violence, which raged for several days, and continues to erupt intermittently in certain areas, has been dubbed communal violence by most people, projecting that it is religiously motivated.
This observation by the people as well as the media has compelled the whole world to think about whether this is what one’s religion preaches? Well!!! in reality, religion has very little to do with such irreligious acts, because no religion preaches killing and looting & hence it cannot be the cause of any riot. So then who does all these riots?
The truth is that such riots in the name of religion are most often incited by anti-social elements to fulfil a personal or political agenda or just to give vent to their hatred for another community fostered by prejudices and real or imagined grievances. This kind of people always wait eagerly for an opportunity to start a riot & once a communal riot begins, it is fanned so much by these misguided fanatics that it creates mass destruction in society.
In fact nowadays visuals of riots have become ‘primetime food’ for the viewers as well as broadcasters. However looking at those visuals, one can’t really help but ask this question that ‘Are these people really doing this for the glory of their religion ?’
The answer is NO because a close look at the reality would show that they are men possessed by anger and hatred and hence they have nothing to do with any religion at all. It has also been reported that during such riots, mental perversion is at its peak, where men with sadistic mentality take full advantage of the breakdown in law and dishonour women of the other community to satisfy their carnal desires. The cases of modesty outrage of women reported during almost every riot are proof of this.
As a usual practice, the authorities & people in power seek to restore peace after every communal riot by forming peace committees to appease people from all religion and build up trust between communities and heal the social fractures caused by communal violence. However, to the utter surprise of everyone, these peacemaking measures are foiled by mob attacks, as a result of which the process of bringing harmony invariably jeopardises.
One would helplessly think that do these mobs have no fear of law?? NO, because such mobs obviously act without fear of punishment for their acts. But, while the man-made laws may not touch them, they forget that the law of karma is inexorable. Hence all those who use violence thinking they will never have to answer for, it needs to remind themselves that the law of karma eventually catches up with everyone, either in this birth or in future births, and by our deeds, good or bad, we lay the foundations for our future happiness or misery.
So, let us wake up and follow the right path of religion which says ‘We all are ONE & Children of ONE’ by stoping hatred in the name of Religion.
