Social Justice.

The Madras High court decrees that the wife taking out the Mangala sutra is mental torture. Are we still stuck in that space…?

Greater social injustice has to be dealt with.  Actually, that is what the UNESCO’s International Mandela Day is about, to honour the man who dedicated 67yrs of life to social justice. UNESCO reckons we could begin with 67mnts, of attempting to fight poverty, promote peace and cultural diversity.

Where does this leave the home ministers ek rashtra ek bhasha slogan?

How does this help Roshan … the 21yr. old who wanted to lodge a complaint against her stalker? The cops at the Vasco police station asked her to bring her father/brother. Mind you her brother is 15yrs and a minor.

How does this help Sharada, who is gas-lighted by her husband and son?

Its quite interesting how the world howls for social justice. But when it comes to social responsibility, we don’t even hear the cricket’s chirp.  We are all floating in our comfort zones, we are okay with the limitations doled out. 

I wonder how long will we stand for this?  How many more lives need to sacrificed, suppressed and oppressed before we resist and say “enough is enough” this far and no further.

We as citizens regardless of background need to step up and address issues. Why is government allowing Byju’s Aakash and other tuition rackets run? Either the schools are not good enough or there is a nexus between these racketeers and colleges. We need to share our life experiences and offer honest appraisals of problems we face. We need to promote our core issues which begins doing away with IB schools and states talking about their heritage.

The core value of Hinduism, is about acceptance and diversity, we have slaughtered it on the altar of Hindutva… it is now time to celebrate our diversity. Just as much as white symbolizes widowhood in the north the sindhur symbolizes that in the south. It is relevant for us to accept that the Malayali tradition of using the maternal surname is just as important as the patriarchal one the cow belt.

The onset of social justice begins with citizens and law respecting each other and treating each other the way we would like to be treated. If we could celebrate our diversity instead of fighting or killing over it, we would be a more abundant society. Our core values would keep us stable. We can actually make an effective change when we identify where our privilege intersects with somebody else’s oppression.

May our choice reflect our hopes and not our fears.