An Intolerant India?
I am amazed at the amount of media attention, mind space and conversational footage the topic is attracting. I wonder - is it so easy for VIP's and celebrities to pass statements, which have far reaching influence, without giving it a second thought? A recent comment by aamir khan, stating that his wife feared for the safety of their child in India, as such, should they plan for relocating to another country?, made me pay attention to the topic which otherwise I was choosing to ignore, considering it to be politically driven. Can comments by a few political leaders make someone as educated and socially aware as Kiran Rao Khan feel unsafe? A lady, who has produced and directed socially relevant movies like Peepli live (which plays out the media drama of a farmer willing to commit suicide) can be so naive to be fearful of her safety based on few comments by politicians. Besides, she is herself a Hindu married to a Muslim as such should fully understand these hateful sentiments are not of the majority of Hindus.
Intolerance: Some Facts
Facts Speak Another Language
The facts show a different perspective. Recently, Times of India
reported that the number of deaths due to communal riots is less in the year
2015 compared to 2014, a report, which occupies miniscule space in the corner.
While, the Aamir comment and counter comments hog the majority of space.
Another news in the same paper on 27 November 2015, bestowed the
same fate, is that Muslims arranged Rs. 50,000 bail amount to secure release of
Hindus jailed for petty crimes.
Thriving Stars
Can the three Khans thrive, flourish, be respected, regarded and
loved in an intolerant Hindu dominant country? How can such a star feel unsafe?
Does he not possess the sensibilities to recognize that most of the comments
and incidents are politically driven? Has he suddenly stopped feeling the over
whelming love bestowed by his fans? Has he forgotten the box office record-breaking
results of his movie PK that questioned religious fundamentalism, illogical
religious practices and beliefs including Hinduism? Was it the intolerant India,
which was going in hordes and watching the movie, making it the biggest
commercial success of its time?
Give me another such example, from any other country, where the
general populace loves and adores the cinema stars of a minority community, the
way India does. Can this love really come out of intolerance?
Returning the Awards
Started by Nayantara Sahgal, the act of returning of awards has
been emulated by other literati as well. Incidentally, she is Pandit Nehru's niece,
obviously with a soft corner for congress. However, the returning the award is
no longer confined to India, a Pakistani director Khalid Hassan awarded by Delhi
International Film Festival (DIFF)
has also decided to do so. Quite ironical, isn't it? Countries populated by those
who issue fatwa, it appears are safe and tolerant. Each and every country of
the world has seen hate crimes, in the name of race, caste, creed, religion,
belief, gender, or even sexual orientation, take place. It doesn't prompt the
people to return national awards or contemplate of leaving the country. It raises
the question then, what is intolerance? Are we using the word correctly? Or are
we just flowing in the wave of some politically motivated agenda.
No doubt some of the events cited as reasons for returning of
the awards are deplorable and should be condemned. No amount of justification can
condone them. At the same time, they cannot be allowed to remain unnoticed and
a mechanism to draw attention and a proper recourse, such that future such occurrence
can be prevented, is required. However,
I fail to appreciate, such extreme steps like the returning of National awards
and issuing of statements as mentioned above, as a measure of showing ones
protest or drawing attention. A signature campaign by prominent personalities
itself could have had the desired impact without the controversy or politicizing
it. In fact, these actions seem to take the limelight away from the main
issues.
Food for Thought
Is the issue really
intolerance or is just a function of the current proliferation of social media
and the ability to exaggerate things exponentially in no time.
Are we witnessing a
manifestation of viral marketing where quick publicity can be derived from whatever
hot topic is running at the time and the more people delve into it, the longer
it lingers? It is almost giving a feeling that we are evolving and
experimenting with the power of internet and social media connectivity and we
do not understand to what limit we can go and how damaging and detrimental it
can get.
Is this something like
a nuclear bomb to think of it as an extreme where once a chain reaction starts
it is difficult to stop and one does not know the extent of damage?
Let's look at some
events in the past, where, I can remember "Ice Bucket Challenge", a
social cause which went quite viral across the world but was designed to stop
somewhere as interest or impact reduced with time. The social policing issues,
the recent women menstruation issue. Maybe when it gets politically motivated,
on time-tested hot domains including religion, the impact would be far greater
and far longer, and that is what we are witnessing today.
The article was penned
when Aamir Khan's issue triggered this thought. Is it a possibility that there
is a movie round the corner and this is a test of new marketing and publicity?
If it pans out positively, as envisioned, the impact on the business bottom-line
of the movie would be large. If it doesn’t, Indians are actually extremely tolerant, a simple sorry or a justifiably
acceptable answer, of which some indications have already started coming, would
be enough for everyone to forgive and forget. Though still being top of mind in
terms of marketing, generate a huge response again, for an Aamir Khan movie.
Incoming Search Terms :
Incoming Search Terms :
Intolerance, Politics, Political
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ReplyDeleteThanks for taking out time to read the post. You have your own perspective. Secularism is respecting all human beings irrespective of their beliefs and religion. At the same time, responding appropriately to anyone who endangers national security is equally important.
DeleteMadam , it is my strong feeling that " Intolerance " was intiated by Politicians who could not tolerate the Importance that is being given to Politicians such as Subhash Chandra Bose , Sardar Vallabhai Patel , PV Narasimha Rao etc who had been neglected all along leaving the space only for Nehru / Indira Gandhi family.Tolerance is in built in Hinduism and nobody need to teach them what is tolerance. If one child is given preference to the other ( both born out of same womb of mother ) , later will not tolerate which is Law of Nature. The fact that people of India are tolerating the politicians who for their own interests divided the society under varoius names caste , religion, state etc. It was stange to note Aamir Khan's statement whose Film PK collected record breaking revnues questioned religious fundamentalism, illogical religious practices and beliefs more on Hinduism compared to other religions. There is no country in the world that has seperate Laws for seperate religions other than India. As you rightly brought out , returning the Awards was started by Nayantara Sahgal, Pandit Nehru's niece and followed by few others who have political affiliations. The incidents that prompted these intellectuals to return the awards happened in States ruled by Non BJP parties and what was the role of BJP Government in Center to do with it ? Niether the Home minister nor the Prime Minister supported them as was done by Mr Shinde as Home Minister bringing Hindu Terrorism word.
ReplyDeleteBeing an educated , I know fully well that the Secularism that is being talked by our politicians is Psuedo Secularism.
Thanks
Agreed, exactly the point, it appears to be politically driven or with some vested interest. Completely misleading and attaching a new meaning to the word tolerance.
Delete