The racial bias

Two instances in less than 24 hours compelled me to sit down to write.
Incident 1: Packed train. Lady does not find place to sit. She gets bugged. Which is but natural. But then she says something which is outright offensive. 'You will give place to people only of our community.' The community she is referring to is the Muslim community.
Incident 2: Shah Rukh Khan gets detained for two hours at the US airport. Reason: His ‘surname’ pops up on the computer.
I personally get quite disturbed when such issues crop up. The very fact that an entire community is forced to remain apologetic just because few people from that community have been involved in terrorist activities is appalling. I am a Hindu and if I were to be discriminated against just because Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur has allegedly done something, I wouldn’t feel too good about it.
Now, let’s turn our attention to SRK issue. There are too many things entangled in it. A) US is bothered about the security of their people. (This is commendable) B) Their rules are same irrespective of your social status. (Hope India learns). C) They have a bias against one particular community owing to its past record.
Here is the cause of concern. An SRK can afford to have people like Vikram Chatwal to vouch for him, but a common Muslim can’t. (Does not mean, I am not sympathising with SRK. But, the issue larger than his ‘iconic status’ needs to be highlighted.) In which case, what is he supposed to do if his name ‘pops up’ on the computer screen. With all the technologies that US apparently has can they really compensate a human being for the humiliation he is subjected to as a part of this drill. Let me clarify, I am not against security checks per se either. They are required and should be carried out. But, the problem is with the suspicious eyes with which I may be viewed. If there is uniformity in the checks, I will more than stand for them.
When anyone is viewed with suspicion owing to lineage or your religion and not due to the criminal record, it primarily baffles the person concerned. After which, either one starts making an effort to hide the identity or revolts. This, in turn, could possibly create criminal minds.
Security, no doubt, has to be taken care of. But also what needs to be looked into is that innocent people don’t suffer because of it. A detention on the basis of a record of involvement in crime is required. But, detention just because one is born in a particular religion is condemnable. Coz being born in a religion is beyond one’s control. And so, one should never be penalised for it.

Manjiri