Those who claim that India is becoming intolerant should read this. A liberal columnist and thinker from Saudi Arabia, Khalaf Al-Harbi has published many columns. His liberal views and objective columns on various issues are well-received around the world. In his latest column in the Saudi Gazette, he praises India, describing it as the world’s most tolerant nation. Khalaf Al Harbi writes in one of his columns entitled ‘India – A country that rides elephants’ that India is home to more than 100 religions and 100 languages.
‘However, the people live in peace and harmony. They have all worked together to build a strong nation that can produce anything from a sewing needle to a rocket that is preparing to go to Mars. I feel a bit jealous of my home country because, although we speak one language and have one religion, there is killing everywhere. Whatever the world may say about tolerance, India remains the oldest and most important school teaching tolerance and peaceful co-existence regardless of religious, social, political or ethnical differences’.
According to him, the stereotypical image of India in people’s minds is associated with poverty and backwardness, which is a false image that has nothing to do with reality. Al-Harbi adds that it is a picture that is a result of our extreme judgment. The image of India in our minds was linked to riches and civilization before the oil age. We immediately turned India’s picture into one of poverty and backwardness after our financial condition improved. If we had any kind of wisdom, we would not have been occupied by India’s wealth or poverty. In fact, we would have been impressed by India’s ability to contain and respect opposing ideologies and thoughts so that people could flood the streets without feeling anxious or fearful.
As part of a grand experiment, all the Arabs would not constitute a majority in India. Instead, they would dissolve in a fearless human ocean. Their nationalistic trends and sectarian extremism would also dissolve with them, and they would realize that nothing in the world could justify killing their brothers and sisters. Moreover, he tries to convince the Arab world that Indian culture is a culture of diversity and coexistence. According to him, ‘India is one of the largest and oldest democracies in the world. It has never known massive religious or racial differences. It is a nation that is equally proud of Gandhi and the British colonialists’.
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‘Indians are distinguished in many ways. They are great people. Nobody can dispute the fact except for the envious or the unappreciative. Arabs visiting India under hypothetical circumstances may contaminate the Indians, reminding them of their racial and religious differences. Arabs may be able to convince Indians that their racial and religious difference are enough reason to kill each other’, he concluded.
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