Tolerance... Acceptance... Unity...

There's huge debate going around back in India and there are no prizes for guessing that it's about politics. Why does it annoy me? You have the leader of our opposition party change his mind about something he's believed in from the time he was a young man. He was brought up to believe that Mohd. Ali Jinnah - the man believed to be responsible for thousands of deaths, 58 years ago and tens of thousands more, even today, was the enemy. That it was because of his vision - a separate state for Muslims - Pakistan; that India still finds itself trapped in the ongoing Kashmir issue with its neighbour. For over 6 decades, Mr. Advani believed that Jinnah was wrong all along. But today, he believes that Jinnah had a grander vision. And one that we should all aspire to!

So what annoys me is not that Advani has reversed his words. What annoys me is that when someone of his stature and of his political background has a change of heart, to strengthen, ease and promote peace between the two countries, everyone is up in arms over it.They say that he has betrayed them. Yes, he has - from their point of view. But as long as we continue to fight over who's political ideology remains supreme, as long as winning a war of words is prioritised over winning hearts and minds, we can never have peace.

I've picked two short passages which I believe are so relevant to the issue today.

The first is by King Ehtelbert, a pagan, Saxon ruler of Kent, around 597 A.D. He met the monk Augustine as he set foot on the shores of England. Neither could speak the other's language and the priests who accompanied Augustine stepped forward as interpreters. After listening to Augustine's message, Ethelbert, seated on the bare ground addressed the group of 40 monks who faced him.
"Your words are fair, and your promises - but because they are new and doubtful, I cannot give my assent to them, and leave the customs which I have so long observe, with the whole Anglo-Saxon race. But because you have come hither as strangers from a long distance, and as I seem to myself to have seen clearly, that what you yourselves believed to be true and good, you wish to impart to us, we do not wish to molest you; nay, rather we are anxious to recieve you hospitably, and to give you all that is needed for you support, nor do we hinder you from joining all whom you can to the faith of your religion."
Augustine would later become the first Archbishop of Kent

The second, even more relevant, is from Jinnah himself. While standing up before the newly formed Constituent Assembly, to set forth the ideals upon which he envisioned Pakistan to function, he made, what according to me is among the most significant speeches on tolerance.
"If you change your past and work in a spirit that every one of you, no matter to what community he belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what is his color, caste or creed, is first, second and last a citizen of this state with equal rights, privileges and obligations, there will be no end to the progress you will make. I cannot over-emphasize it too much. We shall begin to work in that spirit and in course of time all these angularities of the majority and minority communities, the Hindu community and Muslim community ... will vanish."
To this day, communal tensions tear at and divide the region.

If India wants to begin playing a more dominant role in global affairs and the global economy, we need to begin to look at how the world percieves what is happening in India. An article in the Financial Times of London talks about the latest political debate in India: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/c7019a64-d884-11d9-8fa7-00000e2511c8.html