Who is more liberal - INDIA or USA

Bahubali is the greatest Jain muni. There is a majestic monolithic status of Gomateswara or Bahubali in Shravanabelugula of Karnataka state. Spiritually he is the most liberal person on this earth.

Statue of Liberty in NYC. She is a world-wide icon for liberty.

Does a statue can certify a country as the most liberal? Certainly not.

My 26 years of stay in INDIA and 1 year stay of USA, has brought some changes in my thinking on these issues.

Movies always try to get the Feel-good-factor onto theaters. Reality is left behind when they talk about this.

Should I say INDIA is more politically Liberal?

Well let’s consider these facts. We have had Muslim head of states in Majority Hindu people and vice versa. We had backward classes people being coming upon the stage where they were not imagined some years back. But does this mean all of them (minorities and downtrodden castes) are well off now, they have freedom now. To some extent YES. But the Scenarios in the majority villages are far from this ideal state. WE have had Woman Prime Minister for the first time in SOUTHASIA. We are currently having a WOMAN President; though this is post is considered as ceremonial (as per Newspapers I have read)

Then can I say USA is politically liberal?

They still fight on the race issue as we can see that in the primary elections which is going on now in 2008. There is an issue for them in electing a Lady as they ( as per the news channels , TV room discussions I have heard here gets me this feeling) feel that a LADY cannot handle the presidential duties. I don’t know whether they have read Manusmirti (as per those interpretations we have heard till now by so called Elders of the society) that women should always be under the protection of a man (be it father, husband or son). There is a feeling that so and so states are conservatives and not economically developed because of that. This is so similar to that we have in India.

I can conclude that, though the political conditions are different in both countries, the result is the same. NO THEY ARE NOT POLITICALLY LIBERAL.

Then to the next topic is CULTURE…

Should I say INDIA is culturally liberal?

AS our first PRIME MINISTER had once said, INDIA is UNITY in DIVERSITY. India a land of where multiple religions were born, are being coexisted side by side for so many many centuries. Yes there can be frictions between them. Next irritant to unity is the languages. I have heard that we have 16 National languages for INDIA (the languages on the INDIAN RUPEE NOTE are all National languages). There is a friction there. States are reorganized based on the languages. There is a section in political establishment trying to force a language being spoken by 45 percent of people on the remaining 55% people. There 55% includes kannadigas, Telugus, Konkanis, Malayalis, Tamils, Marathi’s, Oriyas, Bengalis, many more other languages. This occasionally comes out as a friction. Religion – a pawn used by both the religious heads and political parties for the personal gain. Unfortunately our people have fell for that. There is a divide based on religion, based on castes. Unfortunately no religion is without this hitch. But since Hinduism is being followed by majority, the schism in Hindu religion comes out wide open. There is a issue in inter-caste marriages, Inter-religion marriages, Same-sex marriages, Child marriages, Human Sacrifice, Untouchables, and many many more which are beyond my small brain.


Then can I say USA is culturally liberal?

They are still struggling to get a woman PRESIDENT nor a BLACK president (as they say in their NEWS papers). They have the issue of being over confident and bombing anyone and anything unless they find it profitable as per their CHURCH baptizer. They wish to be the protectors of the whole world when they don’t even know what the whole world looks like. They have the issue of Same-sex marriages, I guess they might have issues with different sects of Christianity; they have the issue of terrorism etc. They are certain states which are more open towards the issues concerning the society but some still clinging to the old beliefs.


So now where do we stand?

Well, this is a very difficult question to answer. As such, my thinking has changed from being awe for USA to think it is another country which is no different than my country INDIA. One issue which is marks a difference is the population and land. Apart from that, both countries are almost similar.


But I wish that we would make progress in all issues to make our country a SUCCESS.