Sooner the Madheshi agitation ends better for India

          If you have a happy and peaceful neighbour, it is bound to make a positive impact on your life but if you have a  neighbour who is unhappy and in trouble, it sure to create problem for you too. It applies to ongoing Madheshi agitation in our neighbour Nepal also and its cascading effects on the lives of the people in India, particularly in bordering areas. Considering the fact that India has long and open border with its small neighbour, the quantum of effects has multiplied. 

  

People around the long open border between these two countries are battling to lead even normal life.  Their relationship doesn’t end with just being neighbours. Relationship between Madheshi population of Nepal and bordering population of India is very complex. It is not like any other border areas of the India. Border between India and Nepal is open. There is free movement of the people across the border sans passport and visa. Nepali people come to India for their daily needs and Indian people often go to Nepal to buy some foreign cheap items available in Nepal.

There won’t be a single family on either side of the border, which will not have a relative on the other side. Marriage across the border is very common. I have just one sister and she is married in Nepal. Not only that my three buas, father’s sisters, are married in Nepal. And this is not the case of my family, but every second family on the either side of the border. And it has been continued for several generations. So this agitation is creating problem not only for the people of terai region of Nepal but also people of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. 

This agitation, which certainly is for a good cause, has created a complete chaos in Terai (plain) areas of Nepal. Items of daily needs are not easily available and whatever are available, their prices are skyrocketing.  

I would like to give an example. The most acute problem people of trai or Madhesh is facing is that of petroleum products. There is no petrol and diesel available in Nepal. Though agitators don’t let run any vehicle on the road, they cannot stop motorcycles. But there is no petrol even for that. So what motorcyclists do is that they cross the border, for which there is no barrier, and fill their tanks in bordering areas of India. Result, long queue at petrol pumps at border areas in India. In the beginning local Indian people supported their Nepali neighbours but later it started creating problem for them. Due to long queue at Indian petrol pumps, local Indian people were unable to get the petrol and diesel. And they protested. After weeks of chaos at petrol pumps, local authorities have now placed barriers at petrol pumps forming two separate queues-one for Indian and other for Nepali vehicles. 

 

Above Picture published in The Hindu is just an example.

What has intensified these problems more is smuggling of petroleum products. During my recent visit to home town, which is exactly on the border, I witnessed cycles and motorcycles with huge cans every morning. In the beginning again, Indian police handled it sympathetically but later they found system being misused, so they increased their strictness, which has resulted in some scuffles too. Last month there was an incident in Lalpur/Haripur village of Supaul district in Bihar, in which SSB jawans had to fire in the air to control the smugglers, which later created huge upror particularly by Nepal as the smugglers were Nepali citizens. After the firing local citizens had assmebled in huge numbers and attacked SSB jawans, in which some jawans as well locals sustained some injuries. 

In nutshell, it is not a good sign for India. The peaceful border can turn into a hostile territory. So the longer Madheshi agitation continues more problems for India and sooner it ends better it is for India.

In search of ‘Intolerance’

Frankly speaking, I am a bit slow at picking the meaning or source of any kind of controversy. So it took me a while to understand what the hullabaloo was about this ‘intolerance’ thing. I knew a few sad incidents had taken place, which of course needed to be condemned and taken care of. But it was beyond my imagination that those a few incidents would be transformed into a scale to weigh the character of 1.25 billion people.  

So last a few days, I have been questioning myself about this ‘intolerance’ issue.  And when our finance minister said, ‘where is intolerance?’, I instantly agreed with him.  Not because I am a BJP loyalist, but because I have also not been able to find it. During last one month, I have traveled about 5000 kilometers, from J&K to Bihar, certainly not in search of intolerance, yet all the while searching for it.

Every time I read a newspaper, or listened to a debate on TV, I looked around if I could find it around me: in the train, in the bus, in village, in fair, in rallies, in social gatherings- every where I searched for it. But no, it didn’t come across. Every day I found/find people protesting, talking against government and then going to sleep peacefully. Nothing was/is happening to any one. No one is being arrested on this or that pretext. All are enjoying life. So where is intolerance?

People in Bihar, a state with sizable amount of people of various communities, are coming out to vote in hordes. They are participating in rallies like never before without any fear. Yet we are talking about widespread ‘intolerance’?

I heard someone saying, ‘Society at large has become intolerant like never before.’ Really? How come then he was speaking so freely. Wasn’t that a point in itself that he was living in a more liberal, freer India? An India where we have the freedom to return awards, say what we want to say, write what we want to write and no one bothers to question us? Are these the signs of intolerance?

If these are intolerance, then what is tolerance?

When hundreds of people die no one speaks that is tolerance?

When an anti-beef activist gets killed and no one speaks, that is tolerance?

When a writer has to give up writing no once comes in his support that is tolerance?

When thousands of Sikhs gets killed and no writer, director returns award that is tolerance?

When people are forced for castration and no one protest that is tolerance?

If these are the example of tolerance, then it is better we must not have it. I think we would be better in the world of intolerance, where we have all kinds of freedom, yet we can complain about it.