Recently an incident at Uttam Nagar, New Delhi shocked me. According to the Delhi police sources, the dispute started on Holi after coloured water from a balloon accidentally splashed on a Muslim woman from another family. The balloon had reportedly been thrown by an 11-year-old girl who was playing Holi on the terrace with relatives. The balloon burst on the road and coloured water splashed on the woman, which led to an argument between members of the two families. The argument soon escalated into a violent clash. The injured youth, identified as Tarun, was allegedly attacked by a group when he was returning home after playing Holi with friends. He was seriously injured in the assault and later died during treatment in the hospital on March 5.
Tarun’s father, Memraj, told PTI that despite apologising to the woman, she gathered several members of her community. “Soon, 15–20 people arrived with sticks and rods and started attacking us. We ran inside the house, but they locked the door from the outside. Several family members were injured”, Memraj said. At that moment, Tarun—unaware of the chaos unfolding at home—returned after playing Holi. As soon as the group spotted him, they attacked him with iron rods and sticks, repeatedly striking his head.
So, the question arises: in a country like Bharat, where religious harmony is so often romanticised, how can an unintentional mistake become the reason for a man’s death? We have long cherished the saying, “Mora eki brinte duiti kusum—Hindu Musalman”, meaning Hindus and Muslims are like two flowers blooming on the same stem. Yet incidents like this show how religious sentiments can turn so extreme that they end up taking a human life. Just think, where has our humanity reached!
One should unhesitatingly accept that this kind of religious rigidity is truly dangerous for a nation like Bharat. A civilized nation is one where every religion is treated in the same way. It is a country where our Muslim mothers and sisters are treated far better than in many Islamic countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan or Iran. Yet, when such rigid religious sentiments lead to violence or intolerance, it raises a serious question about the direction in which our society is heading.
Swami Vivekananda, in his first speech at the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago on September 11, 1893, addressed this very issue. He said, “Sectarianism, bigotry and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair”.
Another crucial question also arises from this incident. There are some so-called intellectuals who always claim to advocate for minority communities. If such an incident had happened with the groups reversed, it would have created a huge national uproar by now. But when a Hindu loses his life for a religious reason, allegedly at the hands of people from a minority community—more prominently Muslim miscreants—how can the question of religion simply be ignored?
Whenever any incident occurs against minorities(the second-largest religious community in India), it is often portrayed through the lens of religious sentiment. Then why is this incident not treated in the same way? Why are these so-called intellectuals so selective? Why is their sense of humanity expressed so loudly for issues like Khamenei or Palestine, but not in cases like this? Why are humanitarian eyes now closed? These are questions we must reflect upon.
For this reason, even though I have long tried to believe in the ethos of secularism, it now raises a serious question in my mind: are the ideals of secularism applied only to Hindus? And, maybe Dr B.R. Ambedkar was right when he told, “The brotherhood of Islam is not the universal brotherhood of man. It is brotherhood of Muslims for Muslims only. There is a fraternity but its benefit is confined to those within that corporation. For those who are outside the corporation, there is nothing but contempt and enmity”.
Although messages of communal harmony are often delivered with great emotional enthusiasm, the reality is quite different. In practice, the responsibility of maintaining this harmony has largely fallen only on Hindus. In this regard, one cannot ignore the observation of Rabindranath Tagore. In a letter written to Kalidas Nag, while discussing Hindus and Muslims, he wrote: “In this world there are two religious communities whose hostility toward other faiths is extremely intense—these are Christianity and Islam. They are not satisfied with merely practicing their own religion; they seek to destroy other religions. Therefore, apart from accepting their faith, there seems to be no other way to truly reconcile with them”.
However, if we genuinely wish to establish religious harmony, such unapologetic mistakes must be acknowledged and corrected. In academia, the idea of “Radical Hinduism” is repeatedly emphasized. But we must also understand where real radicalism lies and make sincere efforts to address and reform it. We often talk about communal incidents, particularly when they involve Hindus. However, we must also have the courage to address such brutal communal issues regardless of who is responsible. Only then can the real problem be properly understood and resolved.
