Todays headlines Intolerance.

If there is one word that occupies headlines in India today, it is intolerance. Pick up any newspaper; switch on any news channel, and the country is debating about it.

Unfortunately, the media has over simplified this. Intolerance is but only one of the many reasons why our community is distressed today. And not everyone returning an award is protesting against intolerance. Many are unhappy over other issues as well. Increasing violence, stifling of  expression,  bans, the insecurity of minorities, murder of rationalist thinkers, rapes: these are but a few of the concerns.Over the last couple of weeks, several incidents have taken place that reinforce the perception that India’s vaunted secularism is under siege. These include continued attacks on Muslims in the name of cow protection in different parts of the country and the justification of killing in the name of protection by Panchjanya Magazine, a known mouthpiece of extremists. All these incidents portray India as an increasingly intolerant society. I do not think the blame for all these can be left at Modi’s door. But it is important for him to stop the decline. A Governor who thinks Hindustan is only for Hindus should be asked to step down. A minister who thinks APJ was a good President even though he was a Muslim deserves a slap on the face. And then, there are the familiar motor mouths constantly out to create mayhem wherever possible. Only Prime minister Modi can tell them to shut up.

For all this is vitiating the atmosphere. Thinking people are unhappy. No, it’s not political. It’s not against the current dispensation. If anything, it is the voice of a new India trying to be heard over the raucous. The frustration comes from the fact that the illiberalism of the past has now been replaced by a new illiberalism, in some ways more ferocious. It is not what we expected from the new regime. Those who are returning their awards are sad, disappointed people. And they are sadder because their motives are being misconstrued.

I have seen some of them trying to explain themselves on news TV and failing. It’s not always easy to explain or justify one’s disappointment and journalists are eager to capture conflict. So they ask questions that force people, even thinking people, on the back foot. Most of them have no convincing answers to give when they were asked why they did not protest earlier, during the Congress years, when equally wrong things happened. Why didn’t you return your awards then? Such questions have no real answers. Protests are seldom timed to perfection. They happen.

The fact is: It’s a long time since we expected anything from our politicians. The Congress killed all our hope, particularly during its second UPA tenure. It was Modi who gave us hope with his high pitched election campaign. We suddenly began to believe in the possibility of change, real change. That is exactly why we are so disappointed today. The mandate for change was also a mandate for hope. And that hope has been buried. That’s all. Modi’s minders are reading too much politics into it.

If the same things had happened during a Congress regime, no one would have felt so anguished. They are anguished today because they expected far better from Modi. Modi had promised them that he would change India. He had not promised them crackpot bans or lynch mobs. He had promised hope and change. So, in their heads, Modi (and no, not the BJP) has a personal responsibility to put things right. When Modi chooses to keep quiet or look away people are even more frustrated.

The award returnees are not lemmings resorting to mass suicide. They are just few people, intelligent people, thinking people trying to express a view. This is no vile conspiracy. This is just a simple warning sign. And the current government should notice it and try to build the consensus PM Modi had promised us during his election campaign.

No one is asking for a change in government. (Not as yet.) What we want is a change in the quality of governance. Is that too much to ask for?

I say no.