Formidable Force

Why is it that even when India has marched into the twenty-first century with great aplomb and things are really looking up for this ''great and forward looking country'', we have still not been able to break the shackles of some traditions which show us in a bad light?
What is it about caste, religion, gotra etc. which never fails to instigate public sentiment to the extent that we are willing to kill or die for it?
If it is really that important, let love be your religion, humanity your caste, and if gotra matters that much let it be integrity....let the flame in you burn for the cause of saving another from the clutches of fundamentalism and violence.Why is it that we can still kill in the name of religion? Why have we not understood that to progress we have to work together for a common goal and to have an environment which is conducive to progress we have to be tolerant and have a great degree of acceptance towards ideas and opinions which might not be the same as ours.
It is more important to fight poverty, corruption, violation of human and child rights,terrorism rather than keeping on harping about religion gotras and the likes. How can brothers and fathers kill daughters and sisters in the name of misplaced honour? How can the man turn against the woman who might be depending on him for financial and emotional support? And what does he want to prove by physically assaulting her? That the trust she might have placed in her family for standing up for her was sadly misplaced? It is a sad day for women when their own parents do not want to protect their rights to marry the man that they want to.
I feel we need to create a force which fights this kind of oppression by only believing in love.....which speaks the language of peace, justice, humanity....which surges forward in the common belief that whatever little their contribution may be, they have done the right thing in any given situation.It is only then that we will transcend these narrow boundaries which we have created over centuries and cannot break down. That will be a real awakening for the youth of India.