A Reply to Shashi Tharoor

This post was prompted by this article, where Shashi Tharoor addresses India's newest voters.

However at the outset let me make two disclaimers/confessions. I am an admirer of Shashi Tharoor, for his literary genius and for what he has achieved in his life. Also till date due to various reasons I have not been able to vote. Even for the forthcoming elections by the time I could think of registering myself the date was past. However I felt I had to mention a few points when I saw the letter.

The letter is a not-so-subtle repeat of Rahul Gandhi's "Congress is secular, BJP is communal" rant. For all the erudition and passion Tharoor puts into it the letter boils down to this simple statement. He claims that on one side is a grouping which has carried forward the lofty ideals of our founding fathers. I would like to point out a few more things about this grouping.

1. Did not Mahatma Gandhi call for disbanding this grouping after independence was achieved saying its objective was fulfilled?

2. This is a grouping which has propagated nepotism and family promotion at the highest levels of the government, at the Prime Minister's level no less.

3. For all its ranting in favour of its "inclusiveness" this is a grouping which has promoted concentration of power and individual worship throughout its existence, at least after independence.

4. For all its ranting about being "secular" the perpetrators of certain riots when the then PM was killed have not been brought to book till date. In fact one of the accused almost got tickets to contest some time back.

5. Two of its Prime Ministers were killed because of groups that directly or indirectly were initially encouraged by them, one of them being in a foreign land.

6. This grouping is so hungry for power that it went ahead and dismembered a state without regard to the feelings of more than half (?) the population. As somebody recently remarked there has been more haste to divide the state than to pass the women's reservation bill.

7. This grouping claims to have brought in the RTI. However as an article in yesterday's ET says most government departments have not yet fulfilled their obligations as part of implementing the RTI. Will this grouping compliment itself on having brought in the legislation only? Will they not be responsible for its implementation also?

8. This grouping set an extra-constitutional body headed by a person who "sacrificed" the PM's post, thus giving up responsibility but not giving up power. Most of the significant decisions made by the present government were actually initiated by this extra-constitutional body, unless I am mistaken.

9. It is felt that the last 10 years have seen the most corrupt phase of our society.

 

This list can probably go on and on. However I hope I have made my point. In today's India I am not very sure any party can truly claim a holier-than-thou attitude!

The Ramayana will lead to communalism!

I came across an article when I was browsing through Wikipedia. Apparently the hugely popular TV series, Ramayana was initially delayed because it was felt it would lead to communalism! Many a time one feels that the government or the powers-that-be are over cautious about people's reactions. We as a country seem to be very scared of ourselves. We pride ourselves on being a pluralistic society. However we reek of intolerance. The recent attack on Shanti Bhushan, after his Kashmir remarks are a case in point. I vehemently denounce his remarks, but after all, as a citizen of India, he is free to air his views. Remember the quote misattributed to Voltaire - "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Secularism might be a term that is semantically new to India (considering its long history). However India has always been nothing but tolerant of other cultures and practices. The "religion" Hinduism itself gives everyone the choice to worship (or reject) a deity as s/he pleases. Where is this tolerance in India today? The right wing parties might be pilloried for intolerance, however the pillorying parties are guilty of appeasement themselves. Our culture of appeasement and our knowledge of our own intolerance are probably what prompt the authorities to ban what might be even slightly provocative.

There exists a "work of art" called Piss Christ. M F Hussain (intentionally or unintentionally) represented Bharat Mata and Sita in the nude and was hounded out of the country. I can only wonder what would have happened to the creator of the aforementioned photograph in India.

On the other hand, as I have argued before also, the hounded parties might not be totally innocent. M F Hussain used a term noor-un-ala-noor in a song (a beautiful qawwali by the way) in his film Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities. Following Muslim protests at apparent use of Quranic words in a song the artist withdrew the movie. I do not know if he has ever apologized to all the people whose sentiments might have been hurt because of his paintings. One is reminded of the following story. Once a woman was walking on a pavement, twirling an umbrella in her hand. A man walking behind her was finding it difficult to avoid her umbrella. He went up to her and said, "Madam, your freedom ends where my nose begins!"

Moving on, there has been a recent news article saying upper class fares might be increased. In India, as probably in most places, freight rates are a very important source of revenue and profit. Businesses suffer high freight rates which are kept high to minimize the increase in the passenger fares. The government probably feels raising sleeper and other lower class (to quote Shashi Tharoor, the cattle class, another incident which raised a huge hue and cry) fares might lead a to a wider outpouring of popular anger against the government. I would like to suggest a simple alternative - ensure people do buy tickets on all trains. I am very sure there are thousands of people who hitch a ride on local and route trains without a buying a ticket. In some places in Bihar and Jharkhand there are people who travel in reserved compartments without tickets. Probably policing these people will increase the railways' revenue and at least temporarily remove the need to increase any fares.

Freedom of Speech

Shashi Tharoor is in the eye of a storm again, this time for criticizing the foreign policy of Nehru. He seems to have backed down and in the time-honoured way of politicians has taken refuge behind the excuse of having been 'misquoted'.

In the first place, I agree that Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi etc are pivotal figures in India's history. This does not mean that they were perfect, they were after all human. So why are we so intolerant about any criticism against these people? The Congress keeps harping about being a 'secular' party and about the tolerance of India. Why is it so intolerant about comments against its top leadership (erstwhile or current)? Gautama Buddha is supposed to have told his disciples not to accept his teachings blindly but to question and find out the truth for themselves. Are today's politicians so great that they are beyond reproach?

The Constitution gives every Indian the right to freedom of speech. What is the use of this if it is not implemented in spirit? Remember Voltaire's saying to an adversary - "I may not agree with what you say but I will defend till my death your right to say it." Where is such spirit in 'the world's largest democracy'?

I was surprised when Tharoor joined the Congress. He does not seem to be a very big fan of Nehru and Indira Gandhi as such. Read his The Great Indian Novel (spoiler warning). It is a modern take on the Mahabharata with political figures taking on the roles of the Mahabharata characters. It is quite an interesting read. Indira Gandhi is in Duryodhana's role and Nehru is the blind king Dhritarashtra. So I was surprised when he joined the Congress. Being in the Congress and in the government he might be expected to show some restraint but no one can curtail his right to free speech.