That bigotry and intolerance flourish unchecked is due in the main to the failures of the political class and the media (especially the electronic media). In and out of power, the Bharatiya Janata Party has given sustenance to religious extremists. But our supposedly secular parties have behaved no better. Back in the Eighties, the Congress banned Salman Rushdie’s books and did not allow him to travel to India. Now, the Congress does not have the guts to ensure that Maqbool Fida Husain can live and paint in his own country. And the Communist Party of India (Marxist) does not have the courage to keep Taslima Nasreen in the state of West Bengal.
Most recently, Raj Thackeray’s speeches have been little less than a call to murder. It took the state government ten days to arrest him; and ten minutes to set him free. They were encouraged in their inaction by the shocking silence of the prime minister and the Congress president. The former had evidently forgotten his constitutional oath to act on behalf of all of India and all Indians. The latter had merely forgotten her mother-in-law’s memory.
The voyeurism of commercial TV has also provided encouragement to the bigots and fanatics. Raj Thackeray’s men ‘invite’ a channel to witness an act of vandalism; instead of calling the police to take action, they go ahead and publicize it. An obscure mullah issues a fatwa against Sania Mirza; instead of asking how many Indians the mullah represents or speaks for, his demagoguery is given top billing.
Take a look!
Tags: Amitach Bachchan, BJP, Communist party of India (Marxist), Congress, electronic media, M F Hussain, Raj Thackeray, Salman Rushdie, Sania Mirza, Taslima Nasreen
