Pseudo-secularism

Its election time, and once again, I’m disappointed, like millions of other Indian citizens.

I could write at length, analyse to the last bit, but all the mainstream media to do that quite well, so I’m just going to provide my view on one tiny aspect: ‘pseudo-secularism’.

Its a term used by many a BJP supporters. They use to mean that the ‘secularism’ displayed by their rival parties is half-hearted, and that the bottom line is that these parties are playing vote bank politics. The implication is that the BJP is not so. This is where they lose me.

How can a bunch of people who openly demolish places of worship (Babri mosque), fuel riots (Gujarat), among several other heinous crimes, go around calling themselves secular? Its an ulta chor kotwal ko daate!!

To BJP and supporters: Seriously, your actions make you the real pseudo-secularists !!! India is and has been a diverse society for ages. This is the truth. Satyamev Jayate.

Root Cause

The recent horrific attacks in Mumbai has 'awakened' the Indian public, government, as well as caused some fear and negative sentiment among Pakistan's public and media. Accusations have been made that the terrorists were 'home-grown', i.e. Indian based, whereas India finds evidence and backing by the US to say that they were in fact Pakistan based.

However, terrorism is a long term problem, and even if these attacks were not by home grown terrorists, there is a no doubt that there are Muslim communities in India, particularly so in Kashmir, which are hostile towards India. (This is NOT to say that all Muslims in India are like this). Why so?

In theory Muslims across India can command equal treatment like any other Indian, and Kashmiris especially have some privileges since its inception. But that theory has not been put into practice effectively. The real success of these would be achieved when every Muslim in India feels proud to be an Indian. This would be an enormous blow to all the terrorists who try to expand in India.

Sure it may be too idealistic, but so are all real goals. So people of India - yes we shall condemn terror, yes we shall make our government be more responsible, but lets make sure that responsibility spans across internal affairs as well as external ones.

Waging War With Water

Just saw Deepa Mehta's Water. First, a view of the film. Although her previous films from 'elements trilogy' could be classified as one of those films that use controversy as a tool to generate hype and hence more revenues, this one is more pure. Everything about the film - the casting, cinematography, soundtrack, screenplay, acting and direction - oozes a brilliance that puts a halo on the film's original plot, which highlights an issue in way which keeps you from saying "yet another social issue".

The issue at hand is the plight of Hindu widows. Naturally in India, anything remotely condemning anything religious faces steep opposition from the extremists groups 'representing' the particular religion. Burning of effigies and vandalism in cinemas has become a norm. But when a movie causes violent demonstations even while being filmed, and when an entire cinema is burnt to ashes, loud alarm bells should be ringing among Indians that something that they value the most is in jeopardy - their freedom of speech.

The extent of the troubles that Deepa Mehta and her crew went through, and which led her to lose 80% of the film's budget and drove her filming activities out of the India completely, is a prime example of the lunacy of Hindu extremists and the sad state of affairs that are the Indian state governments and police forces.

And in the wider view, this is another reason why its people leave the land to enrich themselves and the lands abroad, and why India puts off business and investment. No wonder the film is recognised as a Canadian one (Deepa Mehta is a resident of Canada), and why most of the successful Indians gained their success abroad. Hats off to Deepa Mehta for a valuable contribution to an otherwise silent war that is social change in India.

Integrated India

The stark contrasts and diversity found in India are tough to parallel. For example, take this news article about matrilineal tribal custom in the state of Meghalaya. Its at odds with the rest of India and the world in general, but in principle there's nothing wrong with it.

Being one of the few such tribal societies in the world today, it can be argued that had a Uniform Civil Code been implemented in the Constitution of India, these customs would surely have disappeared. India being a land proud of maintaining its customs for thousands of years, might not let that happen, and well - does not need to let that happen.

Yet other elements of Indian society urgently demand such a code to be put in place to avoid social breakdown. The challenge posed is clear: India must not let its diversity be at odds with its integration, even if it requires, in the words of Gurcharan Das, the 'million negotiations of democracy'.

Aftermath

Okay, it seems that twenty20 is likely to gain popularity after that immensely exhilirating final. You've seen it all in pictures, on TV, in the news... or have you? Besides the cheerful celebrations, there has been a sad aftermath at the same time:

1. Shoib Malik's rather apologetic 'thanks' to Muslims all over the world -- caused outrage by Indian Muslims and non-Muslim Pakistanis alike. Many reasons why this might have happened: was he scared ? (think Bob Woolmer conspiracies). A case of miscommunication due to poor English perhaps? Whatever the cause, spare the man; he's a good cricketer!

2. Hindu-Muslim clashes in Rajouri (J&K) and in other parts of India. Did not see a single mention of this on TV news, and even online I had to dig it out. Comparing the different sources which do have this story, I can say that some Pakistani sources do seem to have exaggerated the story. Kashmiri sources have a slightly different way of presenting the news; some describing the Rajouri incident as a mere misunderstanding between two groups of people - not labelled by religion - and some clearly describing a apparent religious basis, and involvement of hardline groups like the Bajrang Dal - as opposed to the common man. And the national news? Well you know that most of them are
pathetic...

The saddest thing of all? In this global infomation age, a person who keenly seeks out information still cannot obtain it. Oh well, i'd still like to believe Darwin: "The Truth Will Out."