Identity, Ideology & Conflict :- Bullah ki Jaana main Kon....

I have been thinking over this topic for past 2-3 months, when I was suffering from Jaundice. And found this very contemporary. The topic which I have chosen for this blog is bit bold. So, I apologize in advance if it hurts anyone's sentiments or feelings.

There are many ideologies & identities followed by people. Identity is very important, and is a reason behind most of the conflicts.There are many advantages and positive aspects also of identity. But in this blog I will focus more on the problems created by identity. If we focus on some of the major conflicts and wars in the history of the world, they all happened because of Identity or ideology. What is identity? the simplest definition of identity is the answer of Who am I? 

Who am I? Answer is the reason of most of the conflicts, world wars, battles, riots, Holocaust. 

  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIcREY9Qc6k

People associate themselves with various Identities and one association is always dominant. Let's take an example: Suppose I ask someone that who he/she is? Then he/she has many answers to this question. Like, he/she may say that he/she is a Hindu, Muslim, Communist, Capitalist, Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, US citizen, Russian, Global Citizen.
Let's take my example: I am a global citizen, Indian, Hindu, Jat, Rajasthani, man, black, white, rich, poor. a student of some educational institute, may be a lover(unfortunately not). So, I have many identities and the association with one of these identities is always dominant. Suppose that my association with my identity of being a Hindu is dominant. Then I will do what is good for Hindus. And when two identities of mine will contradict, I will do what is good for my dominant identity. i.e. if I were to do something which is good for Hindus but not for India. I will do what is good for Hindus because my association with the identity of being a Hindu is stronger than that of an Indian.


Shahrukh  khan in one of his videos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJs71WNcjoo) said that these things are not exclusive i.e. one can be proud of belonging to a religion, also at the same time one can be proud of being an Indian.
But this is a normal situation, I am talking about extreme situations when one has to choose between his/her religion or nation. It's like asking someone Whom do you like more, your father or mother? Though nobody wants to be asked this question. But in extreme situations when one has to make a choice, one will surely not want to loose both. So, the priority has to be set. Setting priority means what should be the dominant identity?
 

Now, let's categorize different types of identities.And let's see how Identity is the reason behind almost all the conflicts.

 1. Religious Identities:

Hitler killed almost 6 million Jews. And the reason was Identity. Hitler identified himself as a Christian and killed Jews, because they had a different religious identity.
If Hitler had forgotten who he was & who Jews were, he would not have killed so many of them. Just think that if Hitler had had a short term, rather a permanent memory loss, he would not have killed 6 million Jews.
For a three letter word(Jew), he killed 6 million human beings.
Also in Gujrat riots many innocents were killed, most of them were killed not because of their deeds but only because of these two words Hindu & Muslim. Now, many of you may say that Hindu and Muslim are not just two words.Yes, these are not just words. These are identities. And a reason of killing people, a reason of conflict.
But, then the problem is that these are not only two words: Hindu, Muslim. What if, we enter one more i.e. Indian. So, why do we need the word India? We need this word so that people identify themselves as Indians. And their association with the word Indian become stronger than that of with Hindu or Muslim.
So, that the dominant identity becomes Indian not a Hindu or a Muslim. And when the Identity of being a Hindu/Muslim contradicts with the Identity of being an Indian. The dominant identity should be the identity of an Indian.
A religious extremist becomes a terrorist when he/she chooses his religion over his nation. When he/she feels more passionate about his/her religion than his/her nation. Kabir's these lines are very suitable here

                    "Maala Pherat Jug Bhaya, Mita Na Man Ka Pher
                      Kar Ka Manka Chhor De, Man Ka Manka Pher



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bOe9RBHROI

2. Economical Identity:  
There are three major economical identities people want to be identified with. Like Capitalism, Socialism and Communism. Again economical identities also had been the reason of conflicts. The popular cold-war was a war of ideologies(socialism v/s capitalism). Now, it has become communism v/s capitalism. At micro level it's a conflict between the rich and the poor. Naxalism is a good example of a conflict because of economic disparity.

3. Governance Identity: There are various forms of governance. Democracy, Dictatorship, Autocracy, Arsitocracy.These forms of governance are also the reason of conflict among various nations like: The US, China, Libiya, Iraq, Iran, North Korea and South Korea. The western countries follow an ideology of democracy so they ousted a dictator like Saddam Hussen and oppose rulers like Kim Jong Il. Recently NATO attacked Libya to oust the dictator. These all conflicts happened because of identity or ideological differences.

 4. Nationalistic identity: It is not only the religion people always fight for. By the time when the feeling of nationalism becomes stronger among people than the feeling of religion. People start fighting for their nations. Like Korean countries,  India -Pakistan, US-China, India-China

5. Identity of Colour:  There had been conflicts amongst Blacks and white. In the US and in South Africa by Britishers. Who are you? what is your identity? I am Black/white. So, I should fight the white/black. That's how again identity becomes the reason of conflict.

6. Identity of Gender: Who are you, man-woman/boy-girl? Such identities based on gender also lead to various conflicts like gender discrimination, gendercide, distorted sex ration and other social problems, social crimes, social disorders.

7. Identity of cast: Who am I? Whether Jat, Rajput, Gujjar, Meena, Brahamin? And we find a reason to fight for. And hence we find a reason of conflict. Now, let's take some recent examples of the protests by Jats, Rajputs and Gujjars for reservation. These people stopped the trains, blocked National Highways so that their casts can take the benefits of reservation. These people do so much for their casts. But Anna Hazare will be on indefinite fast from 5th of April. And let's see how many of these(Jats, Rajputs and Gujjars Support him). You also know, how many of these will support him. And this simply reflects that these all associate themselves more strongly with their casts than with their nation. 
If these all casts and their leaders unite and support Anna Hazare to make the GOI enact the Jan Lokpal. I don't think that the bill will not be enacted.

So, the essence of this blog is that we should set a priority of how should we identify ourselves. We all should identify ourselves as Global Citizens, as human beings. The ideology of "Vasudev-Kutumbkum" should prevail over all other identities.

Believe you me, it's just a matter of thinking. People kill each other because of their religion, casts, nations and even because of their colour.
Tomorrow people can kill each other because the colour of their dresses, even because of the kinds of their dresses: Taliban is an example. People can kill each other because of the kind of music they listen. Again Taliban is an example.
So, logically the reason lies in mind. Just a matter of thinking. As somebody said "meri aankh me hain jo ye aansu, jo samajho to moti, jo samjho to paani."

 Don't miss the song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPd_0HcR064&feature=related

I welcome your constructive criticisms. I know this was a bit controversial kind of blog, though I didn't intend it. But the topic was such. I wanted to add a lot in this blog, but then thought let's complete it today. I apologize if I have hurt anyone's feelings.