Originally written/posted on 2nd Feb., 2012
In a country of 123 crores but a literacy rate of less than desirable, I know for a fact that it's not too many people who have the hobby of reading books. And, among those that do, I have my serious doubts about how big, really, is the population of Indians that read English books. And, even among those, the truly "serious" kind, those that read (or, some of them at least, CLAIM to read) the "high brow" works of such writers as Salman Rushdie, I guess, would be not more than a few thousands. Correct me, if I am wrong.
Given this, rather shamefully small minority of alleged readers, who, exactly, are the people who are offended by Satanic Verses, and that too so many years after the book got published (and, quietly, banned too)?
As a nation, we seem to have become - no, I'll amend that: we seem to have ALLOWED ourselves to become "victims of extra-sensitive interests". Our Constitution (given the number of amendments - 115 amendments in 63 years, if one is to believe Wikipedia - I think we ought to classify that as a bi-annual magazine!) promises us "Right to Freedom of Expression" but successive politicians (and the governments formed by those politicians) managed to manipulate their "vote banks" for their vested interests and "free speech" gets thrown into a dustbin, where it lies, rotting and putrefying.
So we have Muslims screaming at Rushdie for his remarks.
We have a whole country filled with people who get offended at the drop of a hat.
So, we have hartals, gheraos, bandhs, rasta rokos, chakki jams... we have violence, we have threats of violence, we have honour killings (we've even exported that concept to Canada, just earlier this very week!) and much, much more simply because "I do not like what you said, never mind I have not read what you said! Someobody told somebody who told the pretty, no-brainer TV journalist who then screamed it all over the country that so-and-so said such-and-such" What the hell is wrong with us?!!
All of this is bad enough by itself. But, then, what really and truly gets me irritated is when people start using "SECULARIST" as a bad word! I'm sick and tired of reading mails from some so called intellectual who thinks that what is wrong with this country is that we are "secular".
I got a mail, today, from a good friend, one of those chain mails that seem to go around the whole world and then on to the universe and keeps going round and round in a never ending cycle. This mail is, allegedly, authored by Gurumurthy (convener, Swadeshi Jagran Manch) and attacks our so-called "secularists" for a variety of ills.... to give just an example:
"Now something even more shameful. The ‘seculars’, including the media,had ceaselessly condemned the normal protests against shows displaying Husain’s painting and pontificated to Hindus about the need for tolerance. But they wouldn’t utter a word against the violence by Muslims nor ask them to be tolerant.
The reason is obvious. They are dishonest."
I've felt a compelling need to stand up and state this: If Muslims (anywhere in the world) can take offence to the writings of a Salman Rushdie or a Taslima Nasreen, or to cartoons in Danish newspapers; if Hindu's can take offence to paintings of Hindu Goddesses by MF Hussain; if Buddhists can take offence to "insults" to Ambedkar; if Catholics can take offence to Protestants; if Maratha's can take offence to James Laine's book on Shivaji; if Kannadigas can take offence to Tamils; Tamils take offence to Malayalis; Bengalis to the whole world that is not peopled by bhadralok; and so on.... where, for heaven's sake, do we go for some peace and quiet?
Why are we all so very over-sensitive, extra-touchy and willing to get offended for everything? Why should someone called Pramod Muthalik (remember him and his Sri Rama Sene in Mangalore?) become a "celebrity" on TV because he and some goons went around bashing up girls for "the audacity" of visiting bars?
I'm sick and tired of all this bashing and "feeling hurt" and the governments' repeated admissions that they are afraid of a "law & order" problem!
Interestingly, that chain mail from my friend, the one I referred to - I noticed it was sent to a mailing list consisting of Hindus! That's how "secular" we truly are, afraid of hurting the sentiments of people we know?
For my part, the word "secular" means to treat all groups of people in the same manner, not showing any favour or bias, nor revealing any prejudice. Sarva Dharma Sambhava.
So, this post is in defence to being secular in the truest sense of that word!
In a country of 123 crores but a literacy rate of less than desirable, I know for a fact that it's not too many people who have the hobby of reading books. And, among those that do, I have my serious doubts about how big, really, is the population of Indians that read English books. And, even among those, the truly "serious" kind, those that read (or, some of them at least, CLAIM to read) the "high brow" works of such writers as Salman Rushdie, I guess, would be not more than a few thousands. Correct me, if I am wrong.
Given this, rather shamefully small minority of alleged readers, who, exactly, are the people who are offended by Satanic Verses, and that too so many years after the book got published (and, quietly, banned too)?
As a nation, we seem to have become - no, I'll amend that: we seem to have ALLOWED ourselves to become "victims of extra-sensitive interests". Our Constitution (given the number of amendments - 115 amendments in 63 years, if one is to believe Wikipedia - I think we ought to classify that as a bi-annual magazine!) promises us "Right to Freedom of Expression" but successive politicians (and the governments formed by those politicians) managed to manipulate their "vote banks" for their vested interests and "free speech" gets thrown into a dustbin, where it lies, rotting and putrefying.
So we have Muslims screaming at Rushdie for his remarks.
And we have Hindus screaming at MF Hussain for his paintings and drawings.
And we have Christians screaming at Hindus in Madhya Pradesh because the BJP government wants to introduce teachings of the Bhagavad Gita as a part of the school curriculum. And we have the Buddhists going on a rampage in and around Shivaji Park because they want the government to allow them to erect a memorial to BR Ambedkar, in the process undermining the very Constitution and the rule of law that Ambedkar (never mind) wanted to uphold. And, to top them all, we have Anna (what a Gandhian idea) saying/practising that people who consume alcohol in his village should be/have been flogged in public.
We have a whole country filled with people who get offended at the drop of a hat.
So, we have hartals, gheraos, bandhs, rasta rokos, chakki jams... we have violence, we have threats of violence, we have honour killings (we've even exported that concept to Canada, just earlier this very week!) and much, much more simply because "I do not like what you said, never mind I have not read what you said! Someobody told somebody who told the pretty, no-brainer TV journalist who then screamed it all over the country that so-and-so said such-and-such" What the hell is wrong with us?!!
All of this is bad enough by itself. But, then, what really and truly gets me irritated is when people start using "SECULARIST" as a bad word! I'm sick and tired of reading mails from some so called intellectual who thinks that what is wrong with this country is that we are "secular".
I got a mail, today, from a good friend, one of those chain mails that seem to go around the whole world and then on to the universe and keeps going round and round in a never ending cycle. This mail is, allegedly, authored by Gurumurthy (convener, Swadeshi Jagran Manch) and attacks our so-called "secularists" for a variety of ills.... to give just an example:
"Now something even more shameful. The ‘seculars’, including the media,had ceaselessly condemned the normal protests against shows displaying Husain’s painting and pontificated to Hindus about the need for tolerance. But they wouldn’t utter a word against the violence by Muslims nor ask them to be tolerant.
The reason is obvious. They are dishonest."
I've felt a compelling need to stand up and state this: If Muslims (anywhere in the world) can take offence to the writings of a Salman Rushdie or a Taslima Nasreen, or to cartoons in Danish newspapers; if Hindu's can take offence to paintings of Hindu Goddesses by MF Hussain; if Buddhists can take offence to "insults" to Ambedkar; if Catholics can take offence to Protestants; if Maratha's can take offence to James Laine's book on Shivaji; if Kannadigas can take offence to Tamils; Tamils take offence to Malayalis; Bengalis to the whole world that is not peopled by bhadralok; and so on.... where, for heaven's sake, do we go for some peace and quiet?
Why are we all so very over-sensitive, extra-touchy and willing to get offended for everything? Why should someone called Pramod Muthalik (remember him and his Sri Rama Sene in Mangalore?) become a "celebrity" on TV because he and some goons went around bashing up girls for "the audacity" of visiting bars?
I'm sick and tired of all this bashing and "feeling hurt" and the governments' repeated admissions that they are afraid of a "law & order" problem!
Interestingly, that chain mail from my friend, the one I referred to - I noticed it was sent to a mailing list consisting of Hindus! That's how "secular" we truly are, afraid of hurting the sentiments of people we know?
For my part, the word "secular" means to treat all groups of people in the same manner, not showing any favour or bias, nor revealing any prejudice. Sarva Dharma Sambhava.
So, this post is in defence to being secular in the truest sense of that word!
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