Jalgaon, a district in North Maharashtra notorious for social
unrest over the past few decades, including the sex scandal of the eighties that
led to violent communal clashes, recently saw a month-long campaign aimed at
public discourses and questions and answers on emotive issues such as
patriotism, nationalism and secularism. Over 30 days from August 23 to September
23, the Sadbhavna and Jaatiya Salokha Abhiyaan (Campaign for
Communal Harmony and Understanding) visited 90 villages and towns in Jalgaon,
raising consciousness on issues concerning social justice and communal harmony
as artistes and speakers, activists used poetry and music to raise key issues
through lively public dialogue.
A local effort organised through close collaboration between the
citizenry and the police, the campaign was spearheaded by the Nashik division
DIG, Ankush Dhanvijay Vasantaro Koregaonkar and Chandrakant Bankar, and social
activist Khalil Deshmukh, along with a band of creative artistes, Narayan Lohar
Takarkheda, Vithal Dhobi Vaghari, Hari Lohar Takarkheda, Ramesh Nahvi Panacha,
Deepak Lohar Takarkheda and Bandu Sonav. This troupe of committed activists
devoted much energy and more than a month of their time to raise public
awareness on sensitive questions.
For instance: Kai ahe re hee Bharatmata? (‘What do
we mean by the term Bharatmata?’) The reply: Bharatmata does not mean the image
of the goddess, nor does it mean the graphic depicted on a map of India. No,
Bharatmata does not imply inanimate concepts or images… Bharatmata actually
means each of the 102 crore living beings that make up this nation – child and
adult, young and old, Hindu and Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, Parsi, Jain and
Sikh, the over 350 castes and sub-castes that make up this land. To work towards
a fulfilled and meaningful life for each of the 102 crore living beings that
belong to this land is to worship Bharatmata, to worship this land…
A poignant short story, one that Maharashtrians are familiar
with, was retold. Before the curriculum and the textbook became a breeding
ground for sectarian politics, seven or eight-year-old children in Maharashtra
enjoyed this narrative by Acharya Dada Dharmadhikari: One day a school inspector
on his rounds at school entered a classroom and held up a chart depicting a
sketch of the map of India. He asked students in the classroom what he had
drawn. "The map of India," was the unanimous reply. He then proceeded to cut up
the chart into 20-25 pieces, which he placed on the table.
The inspector then asked students to try and reassemble the map
in two minutes flat. A bright, intelligent child tried but gave up in four or
five minutes’ time. Many other students volunteered but they too just could not
put the jigsaw together.
Suddenly, one boy came forward and to everyone’s surprise,
joined the severed pieces of the map in about half a minute. The inspector asked
the boy how he managed to accomplish in 30 seconds what others before him had
not managed over a much longer time. The boy said, "Saheb, when I started
to reassemble the pieces I did not know where Kashmir is, where West Bengal is,
nor where Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh or Orissa are. Neither did I know where
Maharashtra, Gujarat or Andhra Pradesh are." "Then how did you put the map
together in half a minute?" "Saheb, when you showed us the map I saw
pictures of the men and women who figured on the map of India. I simply joined
the heads, hands, their bodies, the legs… once I had joined the men and women
together, Bharat (India) automatically got joined!" This story was received with
thunderous applause wherever it was told and a slogan emerged spontaneously from
the gatherings: "Ikde Manoos Jodla! Tikde Bharat Joodla!" (‘Once
men and women are united, then Bharat is united!’)
The larger purpose of this creative local effort was to reunite
the myriad sections of our people, Indians, who have been divided by sectarian
politics. That such an effort should originate and gain resonance in Jalgaon
district, an area synonymous with bitter communal and gender driven violence, is
what makes it even more special. Severe economic and social discrimination has
marred Jalgaon’s social landscape and within such a socio-political milieu,
sustained public initiatives of this nature, which deal with issues of justice,
dialogue and harmony, can have long-lasting consequences and impact.
However, the campaign’s zealous organisers do not make large
claims that this month-long event will change perceptions forever. Says Khalil
Deshmukh, "It is a simple but creative beginning… Our intense village-to-village
processions, accompanied by music and drama, narratives that helped to further
thought and questions on emotive issues, was the method we used to take these
issues to the people, right into the heart of the public domain… After each
performance by this unusual group of creative and social activists, the audience
raised questions and had discussions on inter-caste relations, religious
fundamentalism and intolerance."
A verse from their songs will undoubtedly find an echo in every
secular heart:
Sabke liye khula hai, mandir yeh hamara
Matbhed ko bhula de, mandir yeh hamara
Aao koi bhi panthi, aao koi bhi dharmi
Deshi-videshiyoko mandir yeh hamara
(This temple of ours is open to all/ Forget all differences at
this temple of ours/ Come ye of all sects, come ye of all faiths/ Countrymen and
foreigners alike, to this temple of ours.)