Is India Intolerant?

Aamir Khan the brand ambassador of ‘Incredible India” & “Attithi Devo Bhava”  was trolled on social media for speaking his mind on an “Intolerant India” & revealing his wife, Kiran Rao’s poser: Should we leave India for the sake of our child? Aamir is within his rights to express his views just as critics on the other side are in deciding not to view his next movie “Dangal”, to prove that it was only the tolerance of the majority Hindus of this country that has made him a superstar; withdrawal of that patronage would drop him from both the 300 crore collection & superstar clubs, they aver. Staying away from a movie screening is a legitimate form of protest but violence, preventing others from viewing pleasure,is not & the occurrence of the latter should be seen as nothing more than a “law & order” problem by state authorities & action should be initiated accordingly.

The BJP spokespersons claim that while Mohammed Yusuf Khan & Mahjabeen Bano had to rechristen themselves as Dilip Kumar & Meena Kumari respectively, hiding their Muslim ancestry, to gain cinematic acceptance, the 3 superstars, today, of Indian Cinema – the Khans - were not required to replicate the same practice, which is a reflection of Indian tolerance or more so majoritarian Hindu tolerance. They are not wrong since both the aforementioned superstars of yesteryears also had to marry from within their own religion – while another Hindu superstar, Raj Kapoor, could not marry outside, perhaps out of compulsion & not out of choice; contrast that with 2 of our current superstars, who have married Hindus - the other remaining the eternal most eligible bachelor - out of choice, exemplifying greater assimilation amongst religious communities & enhanced amity.  Perhaps, one would have bought that BJP's logic had the campaign of “Love Jihad” not showcased Kareena Kapoor & Saif Ali Khan as an example to whip up passions. Kiran Rao might not have felt quite as frightened had “Love Jihad” not been followed up by other vitriolic campaigns like the “beef ban”, leading to the Dadri lynching of a Muslim youth; combine that with the lingering memory of a Muslim youth, in Mumbai, killed last year, for sporting a skull cap that revealed his religious identity & she must have experienced Goosebumps. Any mother would be protective of her son – who in this case would be seen as a Muslim - & Kiran is no different. The shrill rhetoric of “Go to Pakistan” by Giriraj Kishore or other deplorable statements made by Yogi Adityanath & Sakshi Maharaj & no efforts made to rein them in, does not bestow confidence even to the moderates in the country to hold forth, on a bold stance, that incidents such as those are only coincidental & not courtesy the new govt. sworn in 16 months ago.

While the BJP has much to answer for, the parties that have arrogated to themselves the exalted status of “moral messiahs” are not unscathed either. The Congress  Party stands accused for the excesses committed during the dark days of  emergency & the 1984 Sikh massacre while the SP was an equal partner in crime during the Muzzafarnagar riots; the TMC is indulging in eliminating the cadre of the CPM displaying “Political intolerance” which the CPM exhibited in good measure when in power. The abject silence on the fate of the Kashmiri Pandits when they were cruelly thrown out of their native land to become refugees in their own country does not inspire confidence  in the "secular" opposition. Therefore, none from either the Left, Right or Centre are un-smeared. 2 wrongs do not make a right though & therefore the debate should continue in all earnestness.

Rahul Pandita, a journalist cum novelist, generally seen as right leaning, currently at Yale, says that he too is frightened since a contrarian view expressed invites trolling, being smeared with black ink or inflicted with violence. While it is easy to dump Arun Shourie or Narayan Murty’s recent criticism on the pervading environment of "intolerance", claiming that the former is smarting post denial of a berth in the cabinet while the latter was generally seen as closer to the Congress, the statements of Bharat Ratna CNR Rao or the President Pranab Mukherjee, both of whom are meant to be apolitical, should make people sit up & take notice. At least lend them your ears.

The right wing rubbishes the opposing strands of opinion arguing that Dadri happened in UP & the murders of rationalist, Kalburgi, happened in Karnataka, both being opposition ruled states; the murder of Pansare happened when Maharashtra was ruled by the Congress & hence they argue that rather than blame the BJP, it is the concerned state govt. that need to be chastised for failing to  in their constitutional mandate to maintain law & order. Solid argument, it definitely is, but for the fact that despite the change in govt., at Maharashtra’s Mantralaya, we are yet to see Pansare’s murders being brought to book. Taking the logic further, the bail approvals for Maya Kodnani, indicted by the courts in the 2002 riots case, or the generous reprieve granted to DG Vanzara, the infamous police officer of the Gujarat cadre, does not inspire confidence.

The intolerance debate is currently not restricted to the religious or the political  but is making its way into art too. Cinematic freedom, the right wing argues, does not mean poking fun at other religions while being non satirical on one’s own.  Had Charlie Hebdo caricatured the Prophet & the Pope would a sense of proportion been achieved in the aggrieved minds? Would it lead to a balance between “freedom of religion” & “freedom of expression” leading to greater social harmony? If Aamir was liberal in lampooning Hindu religious practices in “PK” would he be equally enthusiastic is doing so against Islamic practices? Would be keep quiet thinking that a fatwa that had befallen Salman Rushdie would welcome him too or would he follow in the footsteps of Javed Akhtar or Tarek Fatah & condemn extremist practices in his religion & work towards a genuine religious reform?

MF Hussain faced a barrage of criticism for his nude Saraswati images many years after he painted them & was forced to die in a foreign land; hope Aamir does not meet the same fate. We would lose a fine actor then!!