Fear is a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain or threat. The fear could be real or imagined, often accompanied by increased autonomic activity. Seeing a rope lying on the floor at dusk one jumps over, gasping for breath, thinking that it is a snake which is about to bite. It takes few minutes before to know that it was, in fact, the rope. The imagined snake is verily, the stationary snake or it may be elsewhere! Some Psychologists claim that the fear is not real, only an imagination and while the others claim the contra view. Medically, it is an autonomic reaction to cope with an impending threat. Whatever may be the case, I am not reflecting in this line of thought. What I do draw from here is a reaction emerging from this threat.

Fear of existence is the reaction drawn by the existence of the other who pose an imagined or real threat to the one who is frightened. The resulting reaction can move in two directions: either can challenge the other or can integrate the other. When it is challenged, the end result is devastating. When the other is accommodated, the fear changes into joy and peace.

The inbreeding fundamentalistic tendencies, the growing anti-social hidden activities, and agendas, ‘white-washed’ developmental projects of the state and the country are nothing but few traces of the alienation of the other. The existence of the one threatens the existence of the other. And this is the existential reality.

Often it is understood as the dictum goes, ‘the might is right’. Powerful are the rulers and the powerless are the subjects to be enslaved. Be that, it might be. A question very well can pose here is, “to what does the present authority is threatened of?” Is it that it has no power to lord over, or is it that the purpose is to have a holistic development, or has it got any other agendas to accomplish? The very simple reason could be the fear of the existence of the minority. Sounds very strange!

The Muslim population in the country is just 14.2%, while the Christian population is just 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, Buddhism 0.8% and Jainism 0.4% according to the 2011 census. However, the threat posed to majority religion that forms 80% of the total population is mostly by the first two minority groups. This is very clear from the number of atrocities and persecution done against Muslims and Christians.

This difference in opinion towards the minority religion is due to the threat the majority religion is now facing, the threat of its existence. This threat is inflicted from three sides: i.) Materialism and agnosticism of the postmodern time and thus the declining religiosity, ii.) Growing worldwide minority population and strength creating certain uncertainty, iii.) Literary revolution which is creating a social awareness.

The religion once ruled the whole nation without much struggle is on the verge of division and separation. Several vested interested groups and people are claiming to be the real custodians of the religion. At the same time, agnosticism moved by the postmodernism and materialistic culture is growing. While the other minority religions having distinct commander-in-chief guide the integrity of it, the majority religion of the country lacks it. Too many deafening and inhuman practices are being questioned by the educated society. And therefore, many opt to be ‘skeptics’ or ‘agnostics’. The literary revolution brought by Christian missionaries is yielding its fruit in the country. The opening of several educational institutions in the urban and villages have opened the windows to the new waves of thinking. Higher education has become the need of the hour. What has made here is the growing rationality amongst the people to judge right from wrong (or at least from dangerous thinking). The existential awareness of the situation coupled with the education is not ready to accept anything for granted. The perceived threat here is not to the thousands of educated people but by a mere 2% educated think-tanks of the society. It is this minor percentage of educated among the total educated who bring out any change in the society. It is these 2% who think ahead of 20 years and bring out a new vision for the society. Till 200 hundred years ago ordinary people simply followed word to word what the influential people said may be with or without reasoning. Today, even an ordinary person looks for justification of such claims made.

Along with this, the ruling elite is trying to silence the voices of the common man. The existential fear can be seen here in three ways: by ignoring the weak, by silencing the voices and by diverting the attention. As long as the oppressed people’s movements, voices, and struggles are weak and imperceptible, the fearing elite will tend to ignore the weak. At times they will give an impression as if nothing wrong has happened or everything is normal. They will give such statements as if there is no hell on earth; everything is in its heavenly bliss.

If this does not work, then they will go for the second option – silencing the oppressed. The main target group of silence is the leaders of the oppressed. Often, the demand for justice is brought into fore by some emergent charismatic leaders. Now the elite class will stifle the movement by neutralizing the leadership by hook or crook. They will allure them with money, power, and position and if this plan fails, then the path chosen is physical elimination. This is followed by silencing the potential leaders of the group if needed.

At the failure of both the above plans, the third trick is put into practice – diversion of the attention. It is scientifically proved that human memory is often short-termed. After a few days, the incident, however, brutal it might, the event is forgotten or at least bears less significance. Similarly, the fearful class when it senses mass movement opts for a radical movement. It is a well-thought out diversions and distractions into the scenario that the original thrust of the movement and struggle are diluted. They effectively bring out ‘development-ism’, ‘regional autonomy’, ‘constitutionality’, ‘amendments’, ‘law and order’ etc. weapons to divert the issues.

A genuine well-being will have no opposition whatever situation it might be or at least it will survive all the odds posed against it. The sixth sense of the beneficiaries will perceive the goodness by which it is implemented without having any issues. But today, most of the welfare schemes of the government, however, excellent, are not reaching to the ordinary people because of the motive with which they are prepared. We can note this very well in our own families. If the mother is full of vengeance towards a person, the child who sucks her breasts will constantly fall sick. From a positive thought, a positive vibration or aura and from the negativity only a destructive aura is created.

The genuine integration safeguards every culture, tradition, ethnicity, identity, class and structure. The democracy and the constitutional rights are well protected in a genuine integrated system. The government has no moral right to imposes something on a certain section of the society just because it needs to come under mainstream culture. One section of the society cannot uphold that it is the mainstream culture and others as primitive. Drawing one into other is not the integration, but the murder of culture. It is this psychological threat of existence of one’s superiority that takes up the drastic step to eliminate the other.

Author – Raju Felix Crasta