Faith holds life with an unsaid intuition and drives human emotions to surpass worldly boundaries. In sway of unseen power something inside us guards our esteem faith in the Almighty. But can faith lead us to a contradictory state? Which faith can be judged right or wrong when modified with altered conscious?  These questions etched my mind when I came to know about a group which was protesting yesterday evening at Fatehsagar Paal against images of Gods and Goddesses on various products in market like Shankar Chaap, Om Chaap, Ganesh Chaap etc. They took signatures of local people as an affirmation in this movement which will get into action after filing case in Jodhpur High Court. They had various arguments stating their rightfulness on this issue.

First reason they gave was controversy that broke out in India when U.S. released stamps of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. This group advocated that after release of stamps many organizations protested this move and this lead to pardon from U.S. It was clarified later that postages were not issued by U.S. postal service. It was a private company owned by Indian American which released custom made postage stamps and that lead to mixed reactions everywhere.

This group known as “Barfani Sena” argued that, “Foreigners who came to visit India left surprised after observing dual policy and faith of Indians in their Gods and Goddesses. On one side we object U.S. based stamps but on another side in India numerous merchants exploit God’s name for various products. Be it packets of tobacco, incense sticks, crackers or kites, after usage they are seen lying on roads, drains, toilets and other profaned places, giving chance to foreigners on mocking our doubted faith.”

Here arise multiple faces of society and their meaning of faith. This time it is between small traders who either believes in attaching God’s name with their business to get blessings or to harness faith of their customers and such social group which resists biased ideology of Indians and regard God’s existence at only pious places. One solicits recognition another emplacement, which one is right will be a long fight though.

Covered by Sayeed Ahmed