A few days ago I came across a disturbing article titled “Food Democracy.” It was about a customer who cancelled his order for food and has forgone his refund also, for the reason that the person who was assigned to deliver his order was a non-Hindu. Later he even took pride in the fact that he had cancelled the order while forgoing the refund as well.
We know discrimination on the grounds of caste and religion exists in our society, and more so, in rural India where Dalits and tribals struggle even today for social acceptance. However Indian cities are finer examples of secular harmony, where people of all religions, castes, and creeds coexist and mingle freely with hardly a thought to ancient customs based on caste or religious prejudices.
But these days it has become a fashion to misuse social media forum to create needless controversy to create divisions on religious lines. How can such deeply embedded prejudices be given expression to, in this day and age in a cosmopolitan city in the 21st century India is baffling. This supercilious attitude might have been common 100 years ago.
This episode reflects highly polarised times that we are living in. However this is not the first time, earlier also it was reported that one customer had refused to ride a cab since the driver happened to be from a particular community. Imagine what would have happened if people from other communities started following the same? The extreme prejudice of one man has helped put the focus on what is still wrong with our society and how far we must go to erase the lines that divide us. It is also reported that MP police filed a case against the customer but harsh measures should be taken to prevent such religious prejudices.