Yet it can
hardly be simply condemned as the news media appears to be attempting. It is part of a
process of rectification that will eventually find its balance. Given the modern age of
information,
wherein the facts of history are known, and wherein oppressed groups of all types are
awakening and seeking to gain equally, we must expect that Hindus will also go through
this process. Westerners may not be accustomed
to regarding Hindus as an oppressed group, but if we examine the history if India we see
that Hindus have been subject to racial and religious oppression, along with economic and
military aggression since the Muslim invasions of the eight century, followed by the
actions of the Portuguese and the British in the colonial era. So far modern India has not
yet adequately dealt with its past.
What should really interest us is not why Hindus took to this demolition but how Hindus
could tolerate the massive destruction of their temples for centuries with such
forbearance. This is an act of tolerance unprecedented in Western history. That it should
now appear to be coming to an end should not shock anyone. |
