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Undoubtedly India is the world’s
largest democracy and our democratic system is uninterruptedly
functioning for last 6 decades. Two days back Indians have
celebrated the 63rd Republic Day with fanfare and glittering
colours. Though we have gone through tough challenges at several
occasions in the past, we have innumerable issues yet to cope with
at present and, I am sure, we would face new democratic tests in
future too, yet we can boldly showcase our Indainness at any world
stage as citizens of a democratic secular and republican country –
India.
The six fundamental rights in Indian constitution acts as a
guarantee that all Indian citizens can and will live their lives
in peace and freedom, with mutual respect and communal harmony.
They include individual rights, common to most liberal democracies
of the world, such as equality before the law, freedom of speech
and expression, freedom of association and peaceful assembly,
freedom of religion, and the right to constitutional remedies for
the protection of civil rights and ‘soul of constitution’ itself.
Make no mistake, our freedom is not wild nor it is beyond
expurgation – the constitution has wisely walled our system and
balanced it with individual rights and responsibilities. In a sane
world no freedom is absolute, and logically it is not viable too;
every right comes with same degree of responsibility. It is the
duty of an individual to enjoy his rights without breaking into to
others’ wall.
The recent fiasco over infamous Salman Rushdie’s attendance at the
Jaipur Literary Festival (JLF) and later his failed video
conference link issue, to me, is a classical nexus between certain
media houses, especially 24X7 news channels and the Jaipur Fest
organizers in the run to TV TRP and popularity gain. The DSC
Limited sponsored Literary Fest at Jaipur has been on place for
last five years but very few people even in Jaipur knew about it
or attended it in the past, let alone its popularity in India or
worldwide.
Just a few years ago Rushdie has made his presence in the same JLF
and more so he visited India several times in the recent past
including his latest participation in the India Today Conclave
last year. But then nobody noticed about Rushdie nor there was
such a massive nationwide hue and cry, simply because nobody was
informed about his presence earlier or there was no pre-campaign
on his arrival in the press. This time around, it is clearly
visible; that the JLF organizers have well-architected plans to
cash in the Rushdie hates in their favour and take their ‘stage’
beyond Jaipur. They actually sold Rushdie to the television
botchery where the world of news bonanza is selling him again and
again.
Salman Rushdie, for his blasphemous Satanic Verses, is a
sacrilegious, unanimously hated person in the length and breadth
of the Muslim world since 1988. The playboy style, soft
pornographic novelist was awarded the knighthood by Queen
Elizabeth of Britain in 2008 which was as if the UK was in a
teasing mod with Muslims – it amounted nothing less than adding
fuel to the fire.
Interestingly, the same UK, the upholder of so-called free speech
has banned a mainstream news channel as recently as on this
January. “The Zionist Britain Israel Communications & Research
Centre (Bicom) has collaborated with the state-controlled British
Office of Communications (Ofcom) to ban the alternative
English-language channel Press TV in the UK”, a political analyst
says. The ban on Iranian Press TV was also partly because of that
the channel has not exercised the same amount of ‘freedom’ that
Western channels like BBC or CNN exercised while airing the Royal
Wedding of Birmingham palace last year.
It was awful to observe nasty behaviour of TV journalist Barkha
Dutt and Bollywood lyricist Javed Akhtar at a session on ‘freedom
of speech’ on 24th January at Jaipur Fest and later that day
during Barkha’s ‘exclusive’ televised interview with Salman
Rushdie.
Akhtar himself on that very stage says ‘I am an atheist and I do
not hide it’ which obviously means that he is not among Muslim and
he cannot understand what is dearer to Muslim and what is not. All
his arguments in favour of a person who abused the Prophet of
Islam Mohammad (saws) and the mother of all Muslims – Aisha (ra)
are not less than madness of an atheist – he is no way a
spokesperson of the Muslim community in India. Akhtar is naïve
about Islam without discrediting his works in certain narrow
corners.
Even before it was quite clear that Salman Rushdie won’t be able
to thorough his video link from London, Barkha twitted about her
‘exclusive’ interview with Rushdie to ‘be aired at 8 pm tonight’.
It sounded like things were fixed. What we know is a journalist is
a messenger but Barkha that day willfully became a party against
174 million Muslim Indians. The TV anchor shot shockers “a
militant minority of the Muslim minority is against Rushdie’s
visit to India”.
In the TV newsology visuals are main ingredients thus, as long as
an agitation does not become violent, it is not agitation – thus
not a news, for, they want ‘bites’ to show – how ugly it may be.
Muslims – cutting across ideological differences – be it the most
prestigious seat of learning Darul Uloom Deoband or organizations
like Jamiat Ulama-e Hind, All India Muslim Personal Law Board,
Jamat-e Islami Hind, All India Milli Council or Reza Academy of
Mumbai – all most all are fairly unanimous that Rushdie has
committed a suicidal blunder and at no point of time he is
welcomed in India. They have democratically put it before the
concerned authorities in the Centre as well as in the State.
According to Barkha Dutt, all those who were against Rushdie’s
visit are ‘militant’. As her mentor Salma Rushdie delivered a new
‘fatwa’ Darul Uloom Deoband and those against him are ‘extremist
fundamentalist’ and are ‘enemy of Islam’. As if Rushdie, Barkha
and Javed Akhtar are servants of Islam!
The Rajasthan police and the protesters against Rushdie at Jaipur
– people from Milli Council and Jamat-e Islami have demonstrated
maturity. They saved our country from uncalled for confrontation
else who knows it could be an untoward incidence like that of 1988
when 10 people including two police men were killed in Mumbai
alone during protest against Satanic Verses.
India is the land of religions where out of ten world’s popular
religions four – Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism are born.
The other six are Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Shintoism, Taoism
and Bahaism – which are also originated in Asia only. It means no
major, popular or unpopular world religion is originated in the
land of Europe America or Australia; this precisely can be among
the reasons of their being at cross with religions and religious
practices.
Indian freedom of expression does not allow portraying of Hindu
gods and goddess on panties to showcase by half nude models in the
fashion shows. It neither encourages painting of deities in bad
colour. Our free speech does not rationalize Golden Temple to be
degraded as an entertaining holyday spot. It is as simple as you
cannot abuse my mother in the name of free speech.
Religious practices, respect for religious people and places are
enshrined within Indian souls. Abuse of religion in the name of
‘free speech’ is completely intolerable both in Indian society and
constitution. Our secular definition embraces religions as crucial
component of a morally sound and spiritually healthy society. Our
strength is unity in diversity and we simply believe in ‘live and
let live’ theory.
The author M. Burhanuddin Qasmi is editor of Eastern Crescent
magazine, an alumnus of Darul Uloom Deoabnd and director of Mumbai
based Markazul Ma’arif Education & Research Centre. He can be
contacted at manager@markazulmaarif.org
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