Though that day was unusually hectic for me I had to lent an ear to my 12-year-old son who was explicitly worried about the new bill which was passed by the Central Government to “oust all Muslims from India”. He queried in an anxious and worried voice about the new law which he had heard from his school mates. Another day, while travelling in Kochi Metro, I overheard a conversation between few teenagers about the decision of the Government to send out all Muslims from India by bringing a highly partial law. Being inquisitive I asked them about the source of the information and got “WhatsApp” as an expected reply. The very next harthal day, while I was travelling in an Uber taxi at Kochi, the young chauffeur in his 20’s, with same anxiety in his eyes, by initiating the conversation had asked me about the impact of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), by driving his car in a very low pace with an intention to stretch the converse, he solicited without even expecting a reply, about the reason for excluding Muslims alone from the ambit of the law. Encouraging him to drive fast with an intention to reach my meeting place on time, I had asked him about the source of the information and he innocently replied “Youtube”, as anticipated. There is an uneasiness in the mind of everyone and the said calmness is fearsome. The anxiety is on the air and the fear in their eyes must have to be addressed.
Now-a-days, the provisions of any law are being interpreted by WhatsApp, Youtube and Facebook and the channel anchors are becoming self-declared “Jurist” who are capable to interpret anything under and over the sun. All these distorted and maligned information are being passed on to the mind of all sections of the Society and creating impending damage on the social structure of our nation.
Enough and more had written and spoken, for and against, on the CAA and NRC and I am not attempting to do that here. One side is trying to pour more oil to the fire while other is deliberately keeping a cold silence to let the fire spread across the nation. The political and religious outfits, who are the real beneficiaries of the havocs and chaos that are being staged across India, are eyeing on the creamy portion of the cake without recollecting on the fate of the cunning fox who got caught between the infighting goats. Though the age old folktale had ended up with a good and happy note on the casualty of the greedy fox, no one had ever told us about the patching up of the broken relationship of those goats who were once great companions!
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