I used to think that Shahrukh Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, Mohammad Azharuddin, Javed Akhtar etc represented regular Muslims of our country who were as liberal and open minded a a regular Hindu and wanted to genuinely contribute towards the growth of Bharat like regular Hindus exception being the regular corrupt and careless people found everywhere in all communities. Secular Bollywood movies, secular media, secular TV ads made me believe that Muslims were always eager to befriend and mingle with hindus and were not only extremely patriotic towards Bharat but went out of their way in searching for opportunities and occasions to showcase their love and dedication towards Bharat. I was made a believer in the so called Ganga-Jamuna tehzeeb.
This was my belief as a kid growing up in Punjab where Muslims formed 1-2% of the demographics. When my knowledge of my country enhanced thanks to a lot of travel as i grew up, talking to localities and seeing first hand the issues that existed in many parts of Bharat and seeing the national politics play out the way it did in the last decade, i can say that it’s been a revelation for me.
The overwhelming majority of Muslims in Bharat turned out to be extremely closed minded people hateful of Hinduism and did not give a damn about Bharat as a country, made no efforts to ever stand up for our country in time of need rather strategically remained absent whenever we needed their support. This entire community of 400 million people comes last in our growth story of the last two decades, comes last in enhancing our global image as a growing nation, but comes first in demanding freebies, comes first in conspiring against our country time and again, comes first in our country in always looking to create communal divide and tension.
When i had limited knowledge about my own country, I fought with my friends, my best friends, my closest relatives to defend them. There are relationships i lost while trying to defend these people. But as I grew up, as my knowledge about my country grew, i realized i had been taken for a ride by the secular propaganda of the last many decades just like millions of other kind hearted hindus who just want that no minority is ever hurt in our country. We will go to any length to defend the rights of minority, will go against our own kith and kin but when there is a community whose sole purpose is to establish Islamic caliphate by eradicating Hinduism, who remain non cooperative in the growth story of our nation , then we will show no remorse.