[nandu]

Thank you, Shaheda and Captsunshine.

Shaheda, as far as I am concerned, the law will work only to a certain extent – in a country like India where there is huge corruption in law enforcement agencies, and even the courts are compromised in favour of the privileged. (For example, Uttar Pradesh has just enacted a law which effectively criminalises interfaith marriage between Muslim boys and Hindu girls, and people are getting arrested.) The slow climb will start with the building of awareness – educating people what it means to be “Indian” (not Hindu or Muslim).

The Britishers, then the Congress and now the BJP exploit the divisions within the society, making one group hate the other, based on false narratives. We need to remove these false divisions and make people see reality. In India, the only division is between the privileged and the underprivileged.

I would suggest that the leftists (the genuine ones, not the career communists) start doing ground-level activism at the rock bottom. Now, that area has been usurped by the Maoists who encourage armed revolution- a sure recipe to disaster. Instead, the onus must be on providing basic services to the poor and education.

At the level of the middle class, youngsters must be apprised of the false narratives they are consuming from their parents, peers and politicians. If possible, non-politicised discussion forums must be created wherever possible. And the advantages of a scientific mindset should be disseminated to all and sundry, to get India out of the morass of superstition it is wallowing in.