Waking up to Minority Appeasement
For most of the Indian media (especially English journalists), Indian Muslims have been holy cow. Most journalists and columnists bend over backwards to prove their “secular” credentials. Anybody who spoke about minority appeasement and reforms in Muslim personal law was a Hindu fundamentalist. Even after the Parliament attacks and Mumbai bomb blasts, no one spoke about Islamic fundamentalism in India. However, recently, some of the same columnists have changed sides, and are asking the Muslim community in India difficult questions.
The trend was started by Vir Sanghvi. In his editorials to the Hindustan times, he repeatedly asked why the moderate Indian Muslim is silent. Vir Sanghvi argued that the strongest criticism to Hindu fundamentalism came from within the Hindu community, but the silence of the Muslim communities silence over Haji Yaqoob’s prize offer was seen as tacit approval. Vir Sanghvi further went on to say that if moderate Muslims chose to remain quiet, the rest of India should speak up, so as to isolate such acts of fundamentalism.
One of the staunchest critics of the Saffron Brigade, Jug Suraiya joined in. In his article, Islam Agonistes, Jug Suraiya states lashes out at reactions of the Indian Muslims on the Danish cartoons. On the political reaction to the UP Hajj minister’s offer, Suraiya comments,
The latest addition to this list is Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar, noted economist, whose column Swaminomics has cult following. Known rarely to write on non-economic issues (or social issues without economic nitty-gritty), Aiyar attacks the virtual silence in India over the proposed execution of Abdul Rahman (The sad silence over Abdul Rahman). He goes on to state,
What, in the past few months has changed so much, that columnists are condemning the Indian political and social reaction to Islamic fundamentalism? As Vir Sanghvi himself explains, Islamic fundamentalism in India was, until recently, seen as an insecure reaction to Hindu fundamentalism. However ever since the extremist Muslim in India has started associating himself with the cause of global Islam, there is a growing sense of insecurity amongst Indians. The recent protests, whether against prophet caricatures, or the visit of George Bush, were on issues that hardly affected the Indian Muslim. And yet Indian Muslims turned out in large numbers to join the protests.
It is a clear case of double standards on the parts of the so-called moderate Muslims, as well as the Indian politicians. But at least, some of us have learnt to call a spade a spade.
The trend was started by Vir Sanghvi. In his editorials to the Hindustan times, he repeatedly asked why the moderate Indian Muslim is silent. Vir Sanghvi argued that the strongest criticism to Hindu fundamentalism came from within the Hindu community, but the silence of the Muslim communities silence over Haji Yaqoob’s prize offer was seen as tacit approval. Vir Sanghvi further went on to say that if moderate Muslims chose to remain quiet, the rest of India should speak up, so as to isolate such acts of fundamentalism.
One of the staunchest critics of the Saffron Brigade, Jug Suraiya joined in. In his article, Islam Agonistes, Jug Suraiya states lashes out at reactions of the Indian Muslims on the Danish cartoons. On the political reaction to the UP Hajj minister’s offer, Suraiya comments,
That he is walking around scot-free suggests a form of self-censorship, a
self-composed timidity of response (the Hindutva brigade would call it
appeasement) where Islam is concerned.
The latest addition to this list is Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar, noted economist, whose column Swaminomics has cult following. Known rarely to write on non-economic issues (or social issues without economic nitty-gritty), Aiyar attacks the virtual silence in India over the proposed execution of Abdul Rahman (The sad silence over Abdul Rahman). He goes on to state,
But I hear no outcry from moderate Muslims, or Hindu intellectuals who normally
wave the secular flag. None of the major secular parties seems interested in
deploring the horror
What, in the past few months has changed so much, that columnists are condemning the Indian political and social reaction to Islamic fundamentalism? As Vir Sanghvi himself explains, Islamic fundamentalism in India was, until recently, seen as an insecure reaction to Hindu fundamentalism. However ever since the extremist Muslim in India has started associating himself with the cause of global Islam, there is a growing sense of insecurity amongst Indians. The recent protests, whether against prophet caricatures, or the visit of George Bush, were on issues that hardly affected the Indian Muslim. And yet Indian Muslims turned out in large numbers to join the protests.
It is a clear case of double standards on the parts of the so-called moderate Muslims, as well as the Indian politicians. But at least, some of us have learnt to call a spade a spade.
Comments
Please read this article by Vir Sanghvi , Editor, Hindustan Times published on 9th April 2006
_________________________________________________________________________________
I AM NOT sure that you have followed the plagiarism case over Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code but my guess is that you’ve probably read the book: it is, after all, the best-selling novel in the history of the world. (Shame on you, world!) The point of the novel — and of the lawsuit that Brown won on Friday — is that modern Christianity is a gigantic hoax. Jesus Christ was having it off with Mary Magdalene (either that’s her in Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper or one of the apostles was a transvestite). The couple had a child on the quiet (I’m not sure I remember the entire plot but I seem to recall that even the Crucifixion is portrayed as a stunt: Jesus recovers and goes off to live with Mary Magdalene) and their bloodline survives to the present day. The Holy Grail, subject of innumerable pointless quests by poor King Arthur and his hapless knights of the Round Table, was not a cup at all but a metaphor for Mary Magdalene’s womb from which sprang forth a whole line of Jesus juniors. This secret is protected by a shadowy and sinister society of Christian monks who turn up whenever the action flags to try and murder the hero.
If you’ve read any of Dan Brown’s other books, then you will know that this is par for the course. Catholic priests are nearly always portrayed as murderers. The whole of Christiandom seems to be composed of secret societies whose principal business is assassination. The whole Jesus legend — as we know it — is a myth. And the Pope, poor man, is usually cast in what we would call the Gulshan Grover role in Bollywood.
The plagiarism case was brought by the authors of a nonfiction (I use the term loosely) book called Holy Blood and Holy Grail who advanced roughly the same thesis about Jesus-Mary and all the little ones around 24 years ago. At the time they claimed that this was fact. But as I understand it, their argument now is that they made it all up (thanks for letting us know, guys) and that by incorporating elements of their ludicrous theory, Dan Brown plagiarised from their book. Naturally, the judge ruled against them arguing that if they had put what they claimed was a historical thesis in the public domain, then any novelist was free to use parts of this thesis in his work.
My concern today is not with the case or even with the JesusMary-Happy Family theory (which is utterly absurd and completely unsupported by any evidence). It is with the success of Brown’s book which has not only outsold every other novel but is also the biggest bestseller ever in every single Christian country. By the time the Da Vinci movie (starring Tom Hanks in a role written for Harrison Ford) is released, the book will sell many more copies and its central thesis will be even more widely known and discussed.
Moreover, even the original Holy Blood and Holy Grail has become a bestseller all over again and the shelves are full of new Dan Brown clones who rework the Christianity-is-a-con hypothesis. I would go so far as to argue that the only reason why yesterday’s pa pers were full of the so-called Judas gospel — with its controversial claim that Judas was a patsy and Jesus made him do it — is because editors know that the Da Vinci fever has swept the world.
Now, close your eyes, think of The Da Vinci Code and transplant its central thesis to India.
It’s not so difficult. Think of the retelling of the Ramayana in which the relationship between the principal characters is portrayed in entirely different sexual terms. Think of the Krishna legend (which is pretty sexual in itself) and imagine somebody giving a completely bizarre twist to it. How about a secret society of murderous Hindu monks? What about portraying the Shankaracharya as an assassin? (Whoops! I seem to have read this already somewhere.) What about some speculation about Luv and Kush’s DNA?
How do you suppose we would react?
I’ll tell you. There would be riots in the streets. The offices of the publishers would be burnt down. LK Advani would go on television to rub his hands and declare that while he believed in freedom of speech, it should not be misused to hurt the sentiments of the long-suffering Hindu community. Praveen Togadia would allege that wealthy Gulf interests were behind the publication of the book. Distinguished editors would appear on television panels to declare that threats to public order demanded a strong governmental response. The book should be banned. The author should be arrested. His passport should be cancelled. His income tax returns should be re-opened.
The government would dilly dally. Ministers would say different things to different television channels. The BJP would go in for the kill, alleging that an Italianborn Congress president could not be expected to understand the simple sentiments of such great Hindus as Prakash Javadekar and Balbir Punj. Arun Jaitley would ask for a CBI enquiry and a letter rogatory to Switzerland to trace the source of the funds that had made the publication possible. Two weeks later, after everything had already been burnt down, the government would announce a ban on the book. Official spokesmen would say that the Prime Minister had been kept out of the loop but that, of course, he was very concerned.
So, here’s my question: why do we react so differently from the West? How come Dan Brown is a bestseller in the Christian world when anybody who attempted anything similar in our country would be lynched?
Everyone I have asked has offered a theory — but I have to say that none of these hypotheses has been convincing.
Theory one: India is a largely illiterate country, so we should not expect Indians to react as maturely as Europeans or Americans (this is a variation of the argument offered to justify Islamic protests over books and cartoons).
My problem with this is that I don’t regard Americans — and, especially, super-religious American Christians — as being terribly mature. These are people who want to teach creationism in schools, for God’s sake. Moreover, the illiteracy argument is doubleedged: if people are illiterate then they can’t read the book and get offended by it. And finally, how do you explain the manner in which literate people respond to anything with a slightly offbeat religious subtext? Praveen Togadia is not illiterate (honest! I’m told he is a doctor), nor is the rest of the Sangh Parivar. But the responses can be shrill, intolerant and violent.
Theory two: Hinduism is the sort of religion that takes its gods very seriously (like Islam, perhaps?) and therefore the potential for offence is much greater.
In my view, this is so much nonsense. Hinduism is nothing like Christianity or Islam (in fact, those two religions have much more in common). We are not monotheistic (we have hundreds of gods to offend, the Christians only have Jesus). We have no organised clergy: there is no equivalent of the Vatican. Our religion is entirely personal: you don’t need to go to a temple to worship.
Moreover, our gods tend to be much more human than the Islamic or Christian version. There are huge areas of moral ambiguity in the Ramayana (the Sugriv episode; the provocation to Ravana; the treatment of Sita at the end etc) and even in the Krishna legend (Krishna’s role in the Bhima-Duryodhan battle, for instance; or the married Radha’s status in Krishna’s polygamous existence). So, we should be much more tolerant of any suggestion of divine deviance from traditional morality than Christians.
Theory three: It’s all become a political issue. Almost all the books that create a controversy in India are books that none of those who demonstrate against them have ever read. The Shiv Sena thugs who attacked Pune’s Bhandarkar Institute had never read the Shivaji book that had allegedly upset them. The people who want to kill Salman Rushdie have never read The Satanic Verses (and not just for the usual reasons: it’s not the world’s most readable book anyway). And the gangsters who announce rewards for the murder of Danish cartoonists have never seen the cartoons.
I am not sure if this theory fits all the facts. After all, long before political Hinduism became an issue, Jawaharlal Nehru banned Aubrey Menen’s Rama Retold on the grounds that it might offend Hindus. In the 1970s, some foolish Jesuit priests demanded and secured a ban on the film of Jesus Christ Superstar arguing that it offended them.
So as tempting as it is to blame all the intolerance on the Sangh Parivar and the Muslim League, I suspect that the origins of our opposition to freedom of speech of religious matters date back to the early days of independent India. It may be true that political parties have exploited this intolerance for mass mobilisation but I don’t think that the narrow-mindedness is all LK Advani’s fault.
So none of these theories makes complete sense. The only observation I have is that all Indians, no matter what our religion is, regard three things as completely exempt from all criticism. The first is our armed forces (criticise the army and you are immediately dubbed ‘anti-national’). The second is our religion: our faith and our gods. And the third, of course, are our mothers.
Why should this be so? Perhaps we should ask a psychiatrist.
________________________________________________________________________
Now I ask a few Questions to Mr Vir Sanghvi:
What would have happened had had the book had been about Islamic God-
1. Massive Demonstrations all over the world?
2. Riots in muslim dominated cities of the world targetting minorities?
3. Attack on the embassies of Christian Countries?
4. Severe condemnation followed by ban by muslim Countries?
5. Allegation that this is a cospiracy of jews against Islam?
6. Death Threat to the writer, with a bounty announced on his head?
7. Boyott of products produced by the country of origin of the writer?
8. Threat of massive terrorist attacks against USA & European countries & Israel?
Please think about it and then tell me which is bigger threat to peace in India and elsewhere:
Hindu Fundamentalism which is generally not more than empty words, and to as a reaction to Islamic Fundamentalism and hatred towards Hindus.
OR
The Islamic Fundamentalism combined with Terrorism that has already resulted in deaths of millions and continues to remain a big threat to the world peace.
Please Give it a thought and reply.
You are obviously as careless as Dan Brown in your representation of facts and probably naive and a little stupid to believe the balderdash.