Toleration is the acceptance of an action, object, or person which one dislikes or disagrees with, where one is in a position to disallow it but chooses not to. It has also been defined as “to bear or endure” or “to nourish, sustain or preserve” or as “a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, beliefs, practices, racial or ethnic origins, etc., differ from one’s own; freedom from bigotry” too.

Toleration in India is often linked only with the religious issues but it must be practiced in wide dimensions of thoughts, opinions, rights, living styles etc

Why are Indians more tolerant :-

1. Hinduism way of life of majority people :- Hindutva was not a religion, but a way of life and a state of mind. Unlike many other major religions (this is especially the case for Islam and Christianity), there is no expectation or obligation on the adherents to propagate the faith to new followers or converts. This is a core reason for Hinduism’s inherent tolerance: Hindus usually have no reason to believe that the way proposed by another faith is false. So potentially multiple ways, including those proposed by other faiths, could be legitimate. This too is in sharp contrast to many other major religions, which do mandate a firm adherence to a strictly laid path (often with a single book, a single founder) and tend to reject other belief systems.
2. Historical reasons :- India is a melting pot of civilisations. It was never an aloof country and kept its door wide open for every foreigner right from shaka, Kushana to Islamic invaders like Mohummad Ghori, Mughal dynasty etc.
3. India birthland of many religions :- Many important religion of world like Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism were originated in India. All of them taught principles of toleration and mutual respects for each others. Also hundreds of heterodox sects were also originated in India.
4. Geographical factors :- India is surrounded by seas on three side and situated at major trade routes between east and west ex Silk route. Many traders, foreign travellers visited this land like Morco Polo, Al Beruni, Fa Hein, Ibna Batuta since ancient times and introduced different cultural elements which got mingled into Indian society making people tolerant for differences and variations.
5. Diversity :- Hundreds of different religions, languages, sects, dress styles, festivals, cultures, folk traditions makes India a diverse and unique country which also pushes toleration in order to ensure survival of all.
6. National Freedom Movement :- It played very important role in generating the feeling of One Nation on the basis of toleration. Our forefathers ensured that we practice it in our very nerve and vein. They set high examples in it. Gandhiji’s satyagraha was example of toleration even to foreign rule, Nehru carved out his first cabinet out of diverse parties and opinions even with those who were most critical to him. Even our constitution was framed in most possible free manner by incorporating freedom of speech, expression, religion by our constitution makers.

Intolerance stems from an invincible assumption of the infallibility and truth of one’s beliefs, the dogmatic conviction about the rightness of one’s tenets and their superiority over others, and with the passage of time, this leads to forcible imposition of one’s ideology on others, often resulting in violence.

Consider some events they shows that tolerance is under threat in India :-

• Salman Rushdie is driven out of Mumbai by protests at his presence organised by Samajwadi Party hooligans and extremist Muslim groups.
• Taslima Nasreen is not only obliged to live in hiding, but the Communist Government of West Bengal claims it is unable to protect her, and a Congress Union Minister from that State, once a byword for liberal culture and intellectual freedom, demands that she apologise “with folded hands” to her tormentors.
• India’s Picasso, M.F. Husain, a national treasure, spends his 90s in exile in Dubai and London because he cannot stand the harassment of multiple lawsuits that have been filed against him and fears he cannot set foot in his native land without being hauled off to a police lock-up.
• A not too recent instance was the determined effort to ban the exhibition of the film Ore Oru Gramathiley by a group of persons who regarded its theme and presentation as hostile to the policy of reservation of jobs in public employment and seats in educational institutions in favour of Scheduled Castes and backward classes. There were threats of attacking cinema houses where the film would be shown.
• There is emerging and aggressive emphasis on culture of ‘ism’ may it be regionalism, linguism, communalism, secessionism and may it be jingoism. They are seen as attacks on the tolerant fabric of nation.

However such incidences can’t be taken as regular norm in society. India is home to second largest Muslim population in world, our constitution and judiciary defend freedom of thought, expression to its greatest extent, support and protest by civil society like recently organised Not in my name campaign shows tolerance is very much alive in India. It can be said the India is a tolerant country with a few intolerant people.

The problem with tolerance is that it’s an independent, individual choice and cannot be forced onto anyone. It is also a deeply patronising value. Its exercise rests on perceptions an individual possesses about another community and its implementation then becomes a matter of individual dispensation and benevolence.

Conclusion :- An unmistakable feature of any nation which professes to be democratic is the prevalence of tolerance therein. Tolerance is not merely a goody-goody virtue. It is vital because it promotes the receiving or acknowledging of new ideas and this helps to break the status quo mentality. Tolerance is particularly needed in large and complex societies comprising people with varied beliefs, as in India. This is because readiness to tolerate views other than one’s own facilitates harmonious coexistence. Let us resolve to promote tolerance in our multi-religious, multi-cultural nation and thereby strengthen and enrich our pluralist democracy which is the pride of our nation.