I wanted to take a cab to the airport on Diwali night. It wasn’t easy to find one as most of the cab drivers were also probably taking the day off to enjoy the festival of lights.
I eventually found a cab. The driver, Ismail Khan, eventually came to pick me up. While in the cab, I asked whether he had a busy day as most cabs were off. He responded back saying that he was also not driving as he was celebrating Diwali with his kids.
For a moment, I was taken aback. I asked whether he celebrates Diwali. He said that his kids have a lot of fun bursting crackers. So, they all join together with other Hindu kids in the locality in celebrating it. He went on to add how this single festival keeps the brotherliness in their locality despite people being divided by different religions.
He went on to add that people demanding cracker ban do not understand that if you ban crackers you do not just remove the fun from Diwali but you also remove the reason for kids of other religions to also join in the fun. As I disembarked from the car, I couldn’t help but fathom at the profound understanding of the driver.
Playing with colours on Holi and with crackers on Diwali is so much fun for kids that many kids from other religions also participate. The bonhomie that arises out of such festivities also helps keep the society bonded.
It appears that the vigorous liberal lobby of the nation wants to destroy this secular bond. That is why they have been strongly inventing one or the other reasons to remove all fun elements from our festivals.
It is in the last ten years that these lobbies have been successful in getting regular bans or stays against such celebrations and it is the same time period during which religious intolerance has grown. This cannot be a coincidence.
I want to wish that this is not a planned conspiracy of the manipulative liberal lobby to create a religious divide in the country. But if only wishes were horses.
PS: Neither I took a cab on Diwali nor there was an Ismail Khan. I was just trying to imagine how I would write my opinion if I was trained by the ‘liberals’
