Cure this bigotry

It is almost every day that we hear some or the other politician from some part of the world come up with some bigoted statement or act. Aft...

It is almost every day that we hear some or the other politician from some part of the world come up with some bigoted statement or act. After India's loss to Pakistan in the T20 World Cup, Pakistan's interior minister Sheikh Rasheed called Pakistan's victory as ‘a victory of Islam’. Rasheed also went on to say that “sentiments of all the Muslims of the world including the Muslims of India were with the cricket team of Pakistan.” Coming from a politician this was no surprise at all, because one understands their ugly intentions behind such a statement.

But, what about Waqar Younis? A big figure in world cricket, no less than an icon and somebody who is looked up to in the world of cricket. For somebody like him to make bigoted statements like Mohammad Rizwan's “Namaz among Hindus” was the most special part in the game for him is absolutely unacceptable and should be called out. And, this too is no surprise, because let’s be honest a cricketing genius is no cure for illiteracy, idiocy and bigotry.

The cure for bigotry is simple. It is Humanism. Basically, a rationalist outlook or system of thought attaches prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. The idea is that before being a Hindu, Muslim or Christian, one is a human being. It is the 21^st Century, let religion take a backseat and be a private affair between the creator and the creation. We are all humans first.

-          Michael Joachim Ganpat, Student Correspondent, Kolkata