The Misguided Indian
“I disapprove of what you say,
but I will defend to the death your right to say it”
- Voltaire
These words by the eighteenth century philosopher and writer is so relevant in the the present day India, where nothing is debated but tagged as right or wrong based on your inclination and beliefs. India is intolerant if you on the side of award- returning intellectuals lead by Nayantara Sahgal , its as tolerant as it ever was if you are Anupam Kher or allegedly "Pro-Modi" supporters. Now which side is right ?
Well I am too less a human to answer that, but I will try to present the two sides of the case.
On 6 October 2015 , Nayantara Sahgal announced she will be returning her Sahitya Akademi award "in memory of the Indians who have been murdered and in support of all Indians who uphold the right to dissent, and of all dissenters who now live in fear and uncertainty " , it was in response to the Dadri lynching where a Muslim man was lynched to death on suspicion of eating beef and the killing of Kannada writer MM Kalburgi. She also complaint in her statement "The Unmaking of India" that PM Modi is silent on these act of terror and thus helping the cause of the right wing hindtva agenda.The action was soon followed by other literary artist returning their awards.
Well it cant be denied that the Dadri lynching and the killing of MM Kalburgi is most unfortunate and perpetrators must dealt with the harshest of punishment possible but the method of protest nay be questioned for the fact that thought PM Modi is at the centre but in both UP and Karnataka, the state government is non-BJP and since law and order is a state subject has the state government taken appropriate action and if they are incompetent in finding the evil-doers have they asked for a CBI investigation? Furthermore , before the steps of returning the awards were taken , in which the intellectuals were seen united, was there any effort made to reach out to the centre ?
The above are the basic tenet on which the second brigade of Anti-award wapsi are questioning the intellectuals. There claim being the episode is being politicised for personal gains, which stems from the fact that Nayantara Sahgal is the niece of Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru and the INC presently is sitting in the opposition.They also rake up past instances of intolerance and ask why similar steps were not taken in the past when much graver incident like the Sikh riots or the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits took place.
If both argument are put in perspective each has its share of merits and demerits.In a democratic country like India everyone has a right to dissent by any non-violent means and returning your awards , certainly is one way. But , it should ideally be the last resort , after dialogues and vocal protest doesn't work.Secondly , the cause of your protest should be clearly identified and the demands should be known to the government for the protest to yield results. Government should not be targeted just because a certain person heads it , and for whom one as an individual has adverse views.
The other brigade are correct in questioning the timing and the intent , because it seems by saying India as intolerant , there is a gross generalization. Do they actually mean the entire country has become intolerant or a people of one faith who are in majority in India ? Are the intellectuals returning their awards just t defame a particular who as per them is anti-secular ? . These question do have some credibility. But again there methods is too aggressive , belonging to the artist fraternity, they should have spoke to the award returnees and tried to convey their grievances to the government rather than taking a stance against them.
No word can ever justify acts like Dadri ,killing of MM Kalburgi , 1984 sikh riots , massacre of kashmiri pandits or for that matter any act of violence that is done due to the fact one affiliates to a certain faith. However , the course we take to protest these dark episode and the course correction we make determines our society.These episode affect different people in different ways ,some become radical and some could reason that what has been done is an act of few and not of an entire community, thus becoming compassionate to fellow humans and determined to pursue the tyrants under law at the same time.
This begs the last point , can the stand-off been avoided and positive change follow ? . In the most cynical of times , I am inclined to say "Yes,it can" and by the repeated offender , the media. Till now most media channels has just played the role of sitting on the fence and passing statement to either side. The debate that have happened are mostly shouting matches, of one alleging the other of being a opportunist. The need of the hour is for the the four stakeholder namely the government , award wapsi brigade , anti-award wapsi brigade and opposition leaders, to sit with an intent to resolve this issue, before these fine lines develop into deep ridges braking our society forever.
P.S : I personally admire the words of Mr Javed Akhtar in a recent interview where he says , we as a society should cherish that we are tolerant and can endure criticism of our most sacred beliefs and should not try to behave like Taliban.
The Unmaking of India By Nayantara Sahgal
Javed Akhtar Interview
If both argument are put in perspective each has its share of merits and demerits.In a democratic country like India everyone has a right to dissent by any non-violent means and returning your awards , certainly is one way. But , it should ideally be the last resort , after dialogues and vocal protest doesn't work.Secondly , the cause of your protest should be clearly identified and the demands should be known to the government for the protest to yield results. Government should not be targeted just because a certain person heads it , and for whom one as an individual has adverse views.
The other brigade are correct in questioning the timing and the intent , because it seems by saying India as intolerant , there is a gross generalization. Do they actually mean the entire country has become intolerant or a people of one faith who are in majority in India ? Are the intellectuals returning their awards just t defame a particular who as per them is anti-secular ? . These question do have some credibility. But again there methods is too aggressive , belonging to the artist fraternity, they should have spoke to the award returnees and tried to convey their grievances to the government rather than taking a stance against them.
No word can ever justify acts like Dadri ,killing of MM Kalburgi , 1984 sikh riots , massacre of kashmiri pandits or for that matter any act of violence that is done due to the fact one affiliates to a certain faith. However , the course we take to protest these dark episode and the course correction we make determines our society.These episode affect different people in different ways ,some become radical and some could reason that what has been done is an act of few and not of an entire community, thus becoming compassionate to fellow humans and determined to pursue the tyrants under law at the same time.
This begs the last point , can the stand-off been avoided and positive change follow ? . In the most cynical of times , I am inclined to say "Yes,it can" and by the repeated offender , the media. Till now most media channels has just played the role of sitting on the fence and passing statement to either side. The debate that have happened are mostly shouting matches, of one alleging the other of being a opportunist. The need of the hour is for the the four stakeholder namely the government , award wapsi brigade , anti-award wapsi brigade and opposition leaders, to sit with an intent to resolve this issue, before these fine lines develop into deep ridges braking our society forever.
P.S : I personally admire the words of Mr Javed Akhtar in a recent interview where he says , we as a society should cherish that we are tolerant and can endure criticism of our most sacred beliefs and should not try to behave like Taliban.
The Unmaking of India By Nayantara Sahgal
Javed Akhtar Interview
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