I Am An Atheist, But I Will Pray Tonight......

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Prantik Sarkar
May 22, 2019   •  63 views

I am a Bengali teenager, brought up in Kolkata, amidst a cultural melting pot of culture and beliefs. The teenager who has not had Dahi Chandan tika before an exam, the one without fingers and armlets to scare the spirits away, the one who has been sceptical about religion throughout his life. Honestly, it was not religious orthodoxy or rites, that made me an atheist. It was the hysteria that runs with religion, that leads to bloodshed, that made feel that the existence of gods to be absolutely unnecessary. Yes, of course, religions stimulate wars. The Crusades were fought over religion, the entire Nazi propaganda worked over religion, and the terrorist organizations run in the name of upholding religious sanctity. So, why will I pray tonight? I will pray because I am scared. For myself. For my brethren. I am scared for my country. Why?

Tomorrow will be the declarations of 17th Lok Sabha, and as the exit polls have pointed out, the NDA may for the government for the second term. And this scares me, a lot.

Why you may ask?
Because I know that our lives may not be the same ever again. This government has shoved the pills of nationalism down my throat every single day of these five years, made me stand up in cinema halls for 56 seconds of the national anthem to lit up a fake sense of patriotism inside me, for every single question of mine regarding corruption, inefficient government practice, using the state machinery to uphold a party's interests, I have been answered with how our army is dying at Siachen. Every time Iasked why there was not enough oxygen for the children at Gorakhpur, why a BSF jawan had to complain about getting a pinch of spice in his dal and an unburnt chapati, why there was a procession in support of the rapists of Asifa, why the education budget is being cut every Budget session, why BSNL, HAL are being systematically downgraded and Ambani and Adani are turning the country into a private monopoly, I have been labelled as an anti-national and shouted upon the same three words, "Jai Shree Ram."

I know that murderers of Gauri Lankesh are still out there, waiting to hunt the next outspoken freethinker. I know that Najib will never be found. I know that again there will be a press meeting where a party spokesperson will talk on behalf of my Prime Minister.

My life might never be the same . I might not have the chance to enjoy the beef kebabs or order a late-night dish of chilly pork from my favourite Chinese restaurant. So, I will pray. I will pray to Allah, I will pray to Jesus, I will pray to Guru Nanak, I will pray to Vishnu and I will pray to every single god there is in this universe. I know that the fascists are bound to lose, tomorrow if not today. But, I don't want more of my brethren to die. There has been too much bloodshed.

Dear countrymen, I hope you realize too many people have died. I hope you have voted wisely.

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