Double Standards

I have decided to write about a subject on which I am a Subject Matter Expert. No people it’s not Insanity. Most of you don’t know that I am an expert on another subject, but believe me I am very good in the subject. It is Hypocrisy. Some of the followers of this blog will readily attest to the statement made above. I brought the subject of me being a master, so as to clarify questions of my competency on the subject about to be discussed.

With the Indian Parliamentary election results coming out and the whole noise about how a secular government has been elected, I thought it was a good time to explore, what I think are double standards by India/Indians. And one of the major double standards is our notion of secularism.

The First instance of double standards:

I am sure you all heard about the Court verdict that said Muslims in India would not be allowed to sport beards in educational institutes, government offices, the armed forces or any organization having to do with the government. Other institutions are permitted to apply this rule. More specifically I think the ruling said that a Muslim could not state religion as the reason for his sporting a beard. If a person refused to abide by the rule, that person could be expelled and it would not be taken as a case of discrimination.

Now, being a secular, liberal that I am, I completely support the ruling of the court and stand behind the court. Make no mistakes of that. I am all for the whole de-religious look.

I think one of the main reasons the court said that the Muslims would not be allowed to sport a beard is that, it would raise the differences between the different religions, especially in educational institutions. The court also said, it would not allow the “Tabilanization” of India. Also, the court said that Islam or the Koran does not ask its followers to necessarily grow a beard, thus Muslims need not grow a beard. Now, I don’t know if the Koran says you have to sport a beard if you are a Muslim or does not. That’s beside the point. Now for a little background and a look at other points before we come back to what the whole point is about.

The whole thing started because a student in a school said that he was a Muslim, hence he should be allowed to sport a beard to school. The school management disagreed with the student and the whole thing spilled on to the courts. I think there was also a case of an Officer attached with the Air Force who stated that he should be allowed to sport a beard because of his religion(Muslim again). I think the Air Force said something bout beards were not in line with the Air Forces uniform.

I completely agree. Educational institutions are not the places where ones religious identities should be displayed and support the court ruling. But, I am also shamefully reminded of how India/Indians seem to apply double standards in the issue of religion.

Now the question I wanted to ask since this issue came up is: Does the Hindu religion ask its followers to wear the thilak/bindhi on their foreheads? NO, I don’t think the Vedas or the Upanishads mentions that. Or even if it does, thats besides the point. Read on for more….

Now how many educational institutions do you think ask their students not to sport a thilak/bindhi? Or how many of them ask the students to remove them? I would say a very few.

In another case, the courts ruled in favor of the Sikh community when it said that the people belonging to the Sikh community must be allowed to sport a beard because their religion demands it. The Armed Forces allows officers of the Sikh community to sport a beard.

Now, I have nothing against the Sikh community except of course the same kind of…what can we call it…detestation that I share for all religion.
Now back to the topic.

Leave out the whole – the religion demands/does not demand that its male members sport a beard; wear a thilak /bindhi; wear turban ­– argument. It is irrelevant to what I am going to talk about.

How does the sporting of beard by a Muslim student raise the issue of religious differences in educational institutions when the sporting of beard by a Sikh student does not? How does the issue of religious differences not arise when a Hindu student wears a thilak/bindhi to the school?

The Second instance of double standards:

The second instance deals with how India/Indians seem to treat the 1984- Anti Sikh riots and the Godhra riots/ Khandamal riots differently.

Mr. X, a person who is accused of mind you NOT for instigating the Anti Sikh riots but is accused for not taking action to prevent the rioters is forced to withdraw his candidature from the parliamentary elections. This, after a large negative reaction from the public.

But then a Mr. Y, a person very much accused of instigating the Godhra riots is projected as a great leader. There is no clamor to remove his candidature except from a few lone voices that are never heard in the mainstream media anyway.

Nor are any of the people accused of being behind the Khandamal violence prevented from contesting the elections. Though many of these people lost – the point is, why was there no “public upraising” against these people contesting the elections as there was against Mr. X?

We talk about Human Rights abuse in other countries. What about India’s record? I have just one name Binayak Sen. What about the atrocities that are allegedly committed by our Armed Forces in the North-Eastern states and in Jammu & Kashmir? What about the atrocities that are allegedly committed by the police forces in the Naxal states in the name of combating naxalities?

What about the innumerable harassment that is allegedly done by the police forces on the common public, especially the people from the lower sections of the society. Please don’t tell me that we have the National Human Rights Commission to deal with such matters.

The National Human Rights Commission is for all practical purposes a joke that lacks the teeth to go after the truly powerful who commit atrocities.

And yet, we say we are concerned about the Human Rights status in other countries. We are a truly a different breed aren’t we? I think only American come near us. (And by Americans I don’t mean the average American but the policy makers.)

The Third Instance of Double Standards:

India says that the Kashmir dispute is an internal matter between Indian and Pakistan and that NO third part should interfere. Fine, good enough.

But, isn’t the Palestine-Israel conflict an internal matter between Israel and Palestine? If it is an internal matter, then why does India keep issuing statement that the two should resolve their conflict peacefully? Or if the Palestine-Israel conflict is not an internal matter, then doesn’t it mean that the Kashmir issue also no longer an internal matter.

Okay, you argue that India has the rights to air its views and that is quite different from actually interfering. Good enough, I’ll take that answer.

But, please explain why India interfered/interferes in the internal matters of Sri Lanka, namely the strife between the Sinhalese and the Tamils on that island nation. Isn’t that an internal matter of the Sri Lankan government?

Or, for that matter why does India take such active interest in the internal affairs of China, namely the Tibet issue.

Some Other instances of double standards:

People will talk about eradicating corruption with such fervor and passion that even a stone would be moved by their emotion, yet be one of the very first to offer a bribe to get their work done. People will talk ill about others who are cheating others and yet not think twice about buying duplicate DVDs and CDs of the latest movies, instead of going to theatres. People will talk about increasing the punishment for law breakers, yet go the wrong way on a One-Way road, get caught by the traffic police, ask to be forgiven and when that does not work offer a bribe to be let off.

Oh, I forgot. People will ask others to vote, but they themselves would not go and vote, cause they were “too busy” to do so.
And the list of the double standards goes on and on….I think it would not possible to list out all the instances of double standards, they are too numerous.

I think, the double standards add a unique flavor to India that you can never find it anywhere else in the world.

A time will come, when we will have to wake up to our double standards. What I am worried is not about the When this will happen, but by What will be the action taken?

Would it involve an honest look at all our double standards or will we come up with more double standards to cover the existing double standards. I fear to think what would happen, if we continue to build our society on double standards as a way of life.

So, all I am asking the readers of this post is to take time off from their busy schedules and take a look at their core beliefs, values and see whether there are any double standards in them before judging others.