The frank admission of a Marwari businessman on NDTV that any Marwari family would have reacted in the same fashion as Ashok Todi did after his daughter married outside his community and religion, is shocking and shameful.
This businessman, Kathuria (who is he by the way, I don't know the initials), said that this is what every person in Marwari households would do because that's the way you are brought up. An adult girl can't marry outside her community if she falls in love. And even after she has married, every possible effort will be made to ensure that she is brought back, even at the cost of such harassment that she loses her husband.
Your frank confession is laudable but Mr Kathuriya, this is surely not Hindustaniat. It could not be Marwariat either. [The programme was telecast on NDTV 24x7 on Sunday night, October 6, with Barkha Dutt anchoring the show]
How could the whole community of millions from a region in Rajasthan that is spread across the nation and has succeeded in business and other fields, be so myopic and biased entirely? If there is any truth in it, then it is really disgusting.
When Kathuria said that these are Marwadi values, his words clearly meant that education can't bring any enlightenment. It is just a tool in accordance with the needs of the present society to earn more and more money. And for him and for those of his ilk that there is no other value except money.
But these are not Indian values. And this is not the tradition of Bengal either. What are are these 'values', which the businessmen believes in, if there is no place for love, truth and justice, rather it is obscene greed and hypocrisy. The reaction of those present in the show was that of shock. A Marwari woman stood up and came down heavily on his thoughts about the so-called 'values'.
The Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee may get suspended for a while only to get reinstated or get promoted after the case is hushed up and media loses interest and public campaign loses steam. And Ashok Todi may think that he can win over the world with his money but people like him have earned lasting notoriety and disrespect in our eyes.
Shame on these hypocrites who connived to stop a couple in love from living peacefully even after their marriage. I am surprised when many say that it was a Hindu girl going to a Muslim household.
For godsake don't count heads. Hindu girls will keep marrying Muslims and so will Muslim girls marrying Hindus. It is the fight for justice. Forget Hindu-Muslim issue, it is about what kind of Hindustan we want to live in--a republic where money buys every thing and where laws have no meaning.
Of course life will go on, people will forget. But, we must do whatever little we can do to keep the spirit of Hindustaniat alive. At least on this blog in bold letters, the following lines will remain forever and nobody can erase them.
Not a big deal though but small steps, gestures and refusal to accept what you are doing to our society. This is what many of us are doing on blogs, sites and by participating in candle light vigils and signing the petitions.
