There are many foreign visitors who visit this Nation and find it incredible. There are a few who find it intolerable. Now that's something which we are not proud of, but can tolerate. Off late, a growing majority of this Nation have chosen to adopt intolerance, be it what one should eat or what one should wear or how one can express thoughts and views. Opposition to the view held by the ones with power or the stick can now equal a broken body if not death. I thought I was living in a democratic republic that allowed a person to make such fundamental choices and even express displeasure in a civilized manner. I can't even say how any of my blogs will be interpreted. Some will agree and some disagree. But this is my space and my personal view. Tolerance is what allowed this Country to stay together as one to the point where it could be called secular. As we just witnessed, Mr. Shah Rukh Khan's view on tolerance was not tolerated by quite a few, to brand him a traitor who should be tried for treason. I personally may want him tried for treason for bad acting at times, but certainly not for saying the obvious that makes a lot of sense.

I don't understand if statements and headlines like the ones below help or hurt the intolerance cause:

BJP leader threatens to behead Karnataka CM if he eats beef - http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/bjp-leader-threatens-to-behead-karnataka-cm-over-beef-row/#sthash.4a6lXbYp.dpuf

Venom against SRK for intolerance comment spills over: Who said what

Shah Rukh Khan is Hafiz, Badal is Mandela: AAP minister Kapil Mishra

India got a new government last year. It came to power on a promise of delivering better days for "all" its people. In about just over a year; never mind the official statistics, the kitchen inflation bill has gone up a 200% or more. House prices, car prices, and other goods and services going up or down were never much of a bother as much as satisfying the primal need of a person are concerned. Food. The new government blames the situation as a legacy of the old. The old rulers calls the new even more incompetent than itself. People aligned to those in and out of power are making matters worse by inciting non issues to become major ones. So is this rise in intolerance more a case of economic frustration rather than the majority trying to put certain excesses of the various minorities in check. It may well be one is driving the other. Easier to make people fight with each other than having the entire population questioning those in the Parliament about performance. The blame has to be absorbed by all those who have been elected to represent the people and it does not matter which party they belong to.

The strategy may well work for those in and out of Power. At least for a while. It keeps the nation busy to be worried about the petty issues being blown larger than life. The problem I see is that earlier our Society was divided by religion, caste, creed; now it is being divided in a very different way. The part of the national majority that is standing up for the rights of the minority and or the constitutional rights assured by this Nation to its citizens, constitute the celebrated, educated, law abiding and tax paying class; whereas the intolerance is festering in the under privileged class of the same majority. The friction is so high between the moderate and the intolerant voice that if not controlled will lead to a catastrophic revolution which could cause the division of the Nation itself. But the official view is:

There’s complete peace in country, no intolerance: Arun Jaitley

Media misled people on Moody’s report (on tolerance): Government - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/media-misled-people-on-moodys-report-on-tolerance-government/#sthash.eDHfX5rN.dpuf

If that be the case, then why:

Hate speech must be punished to preserve peace, harmony: Centre to SC

Case of cat calling kettle black? Guess we have our own Nero(s) fiddling while our own Rome is burning. Welcome to the new improved worse than before Intolerant India.

Intolerance has always existed: Niti Aayog’s Bibek Debroy
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