Monday 12 January 2015

Decoding PK: Despite Fun and Frolic, the Undertone is Anti-Hindu

Let me state at the outset that PK is an eminently entertaining film, though it claims to raise serious issues. Cinematically, too, the film is a visual treat in many parts. The dialogues are crisp and punchy. The use of Bhojpuri dialect, with its quaint mixture of English words in their Bhojpuri-fied avatar, adds enormously to the fun and frolic in the film. All in all, there is a hardly a dull moment in the two-and-a-half hour saga of an alien creature landing on our planet and experiencing endless culture shocks in his encounters with the various specimens of humanity on earth.
But what gets him befuddled is the all-pervasive god obsession among human beings and how this sentiment is manipulated for personal aggrandisement by spiritual gurus. Exposing phony and crooked spiritual leaders is not a new or unusual theme in Bollywood films. From its days of inception, Bollywood has portrayed a whole range of holy men, from the innately compassionate and elevated ones to outright thugs and criminals masquerading as sadhus and swamis. Bollywood has also often ridiculed the tendency of people to put blind faith in people either claiming supernatural powers or speaking as though they are actual representatives of god on earth.
The relationship between humans and divine beings has been put through repeated scrutiny – both through a comic lens and hard-hitting satire as well as through the eyes of socio-religious reformers. But since there is no dearth ofgenuine spiritual gurus, ascetics and sanyasis in Bollywood films, no one really takes offence.
The most recent example of a very rigorous questioning of the very existence of god and those who claim to speak on his behalf was the Umesh Shukla directed film, Oh My God. A much earlier film in the same genre entitled Yehi Hai Zindagi (1977) was even more audacious in challenging the supremacy of god face to face rather than merely challenging his self-appointed representatives on earth. There are numerous other such examples of Bollywood presenting the relations between humans and divinities in ways that demand accountability of gods or challenges their wisdom in letting wrong-doers prosper.
Hindus are used to laughing at their gods and even picking quarrels with them. Therefore, films that indulge in rebellious dialogues with the divine have hardly ever caused upsets in the way PK has done. Instead of disdainfully dismissing the outrage around PK as a product of the resurgence of obscurantist Hindutva forces, we need to try and understand why this particular film has evoked such outrage.
To begin with, director Rajkumar Hirani has tried to be too clever by half by deviously proclaiming that he has the blessings of BJP leaders as well as that of one of the most popular spiritual gurus, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. The film begins with the following opening credits. The first one says:
Earnest Gratitude
LK Advani
Pratibha Advani
Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Jhunjhunwala
The second slide reads as follows:
Earnest Gratitude
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji (The Art of Living Foundation)
Dr Prannoy Roy (NDTV)
Andre Timmins, Sabbas Joseph & Virat Sarkari (Kingdom of Dreams)
One can understand NDTV or Kingdom of Dreams being thanked by Hirani because he used their facilities for shooting certain scenes of his film. But bringing in LK Advani and Amitabh Bachchan is clearly meant to use them as shields against criticism by Hindutva groups. Luckily for Hirani, LK Advani actually endorsed the film enthusiastically, but Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has good reason to be displeased with the use of his name and visual shots of his ashram in the film.
Hirani filmed the Shivratri Sangat at Sri Sri’s ashram under the false pretext that his projection of it would respect the spirit of the festival organised by the ashram. But then he superimposed the character of a very devious and thuggish spiritual guru on the real life sangat of Sri Sri’s ashram with the clear purpose of trashing the very institution ofdharma gurus. By this clever gimmick, Hirani not only betrayed Sri Sri’s trust but also played foul with thousands of Sri Sri devotees whom he filmed live. They are presented as gullible fools who dance to the tunes of an evil dharma guru.
Sri Sri is
Sri Sri's trust was betrayed by the makers of the film
It would have been quite another matter if Hirani had created his own filmy sangatwith hired actors playing mock devotees. But to caricature and demean real life people who come motivated by deep faith to their chosen dharma guru – without as much as a by-your-leave-- can only be called outright fraud.
Secondly, the phony credit line mentioning Sri Sri makes it out as if he has blessed the film. This puts Sri Sri in a very awkward position. Firstly, shots of his own ashram andsangat are being used to defame him by implication. Secondly, Hirani is making out as if Sri Sri actually endorses Hirani’s all-out attack on dharma gurus. This is a double whammy on Sri Sri, and totally unethical at that!
Many defenders of PK have raised the point that Hindu groups did not attack Oh My God even though it is no less devastating in exposing the frauds of those claiming to be spiritual gurus. They argue that attacks on PK are in large part because OMG had a Hindu hero while PK has Aamir Khan, a Muslim, as the hero.
There is no doubt that Aamir Khan has been the special target of ire of Hindu groups. But that is not because he is a Muslim but because he is the lead voice of the “secular brigade” which has demeaned and demonised Hindu groups and political parties like the BJP in the guise of fighting allegedly communal politics of BJP. Hindu groups are outraged at him because he was a lead player in the Teesta Setalvad-Tarun Tejpal-Shabana Azmi brigade that acted as the fighting sword of the Congress and Left parties against the BJP, in general, and Narendra Modi, in particular.
Aamir Khan’s attempts to cosy up to Modi and Modi’s willingness to befriend Aamir Khan has not softened Hindu groups because they feel their demonisation as fascists was totally unmerited. They are not quite ready to embrace Aamir Khan because he has not even expressed the slightest regret for his role in the Hate-BJP campaign.
It’s not easy to forget that Aamir Khan actually pleaded with voters to give a fractured verdict to prevent BJP from coming to power— not caring that India desperately needed a stable government after 10 years of disastrous coalitions cobbled together by the Congress party. People are angry because the “Secular Brigade” Aamir was part of did not fight an honourable political battle against the BJP; their politics was based largely on lies and hideous exaggerations.
Normally, people don’t hold actors responsible for the flaws of the story line or script. But Aamir is not just another actor. He is known to take deep interest in the minutest detail of the script, storyline and even technical aspects of any film he accepts to act in. Therefore, he can’t disown the political orientation of the film.
Comparison with Oh My God (OMG)
There is a world of difference between the content and intent as well as the approach ofOh My God, towards the issue of blind faith as compared to the worldview adopted inPKOh My God takes a very even-handed approach towards religious leaders of the three major faiths - Hindu, Christian and Islam. Even while the Hindu faith gurus get a special drubbing, it is fairly upfront in challenging the self-appointed guardians of other faiths.
But PK focuses obsessively on Hindu dharma gurus as well as Hindu deities. There is only one fleeting scene dealing with Christian priests promising redemption to poor families targeted for conversions. The scene involving a dargah very fleetingly shows the hero being chased out of the shrine because he naively carries wine bottles asprasad in a place of Islamic worship. But that only indicates the insensitivity of the iconoclastic hero, not a flaw in Islam. Likewise, he is shown causing a stir in a church because in his ignorance he tries to carry out Hindu puja rituals before an image of Jesus Christ. No words are exchanged, no pious sermons delivered by the hero challenging the Christian priests as to why Jesus is averse to accepting a coconut offering. In fact, the film studiously avoids dealing with the frauds within Christianity or Islam.
Other than these two harmless comic scenes, there is no attack on the core values or mythology of Christianity or Islam, whereas the core values - and not just the corruption of individual religious gurus of Hindu faith - are lampooned and caricatured mercilessly in diverse ways. While there is no denying that a certain number of hypocritical sants, swamis and gurus have brought a bad name to the Hindu faith, Hinduism is far from being the worst case example in this matter.
Core Values of Sanatan Dharma Attacked in PK
Some will argue that the film is not anti Hinduism per se but against the corrupt among Hindu dharma gurus. But Hinduism has perpetuated itself mainly through sampradaysand dharma gurus. They are not incidental to but an integral part of Hinduism. Therefore, an all-out attack on the very institution of dharma guru or sampraday is as good as an attack on Hinduism.
Most important of all, despite its ostensible intention of fighting harmful superstitions and unscrupulous gurus, the film is an outright, vicious attack against one of the core aspects of Sanatan Dharma—namely worship of the divine in its myriad, countless manifestations. Hindus are supposed to have 33 crore devis and devatas with new ones taking avatar whenever the devotees so desire. This freedom of devotees to call upon the divine to manifest to them in as many forms as the myriad devotees desire, as and when they desire, is something that none of the Abrahamic religions - Christianity, Islam and Judaism - have been able to stomach. In their world view, there is only ONEand ONLY ONE TRUE GOD. And each of them claims a monopoly over the exclusive way to reach this Almighty God. Each one of them rejects the god of the other Abrahamic religions as well as demonises the gods and goddesses of non-Abrahamic faiths as being not just “false” but also evil.
Representational image: AFP
Representational image: AFP
The Abrahamic god is also a “jealous” god who demands that his devotees wage relentless war against all “false gods” and their devotees who are derogatively termed as “kafirs and idol worshippers,” deserving the most hellish punishments. The believers of the one and only true god are expected and encouraged to wreak vengeance on worshippers of “false gods” as proof of their commitment to theOnly True God! This arrogance and claim to exclusivity has caused endless mayhem and havoc in the world, especially for people of Indic faith traditions as well as for Jews, who were ironically the originators of the idea of an almighty one and only true, ferociously jealous, god. The Jews faced an endless series of pogroms and ethnic cleansing all over the Christian and Islamic world. The only place they escaped persecution and violence has been India.
Hindus have been similar victims at the hands of Islamic invaders who carried out huge massacres and looted as well as vandalised and desecrated countless Hindu temples and deities. Allah’s zealous soldiers forced Hindus to give up their faith and convert to Islam largely through brutal means for over 1,000 years - all because the Allah of Muslims demanded ruthless elimination or subjugation of infidels. After them the British, Portuguese and French, who together colonised large parts of India, launched equally vicious attacks against the Hindu faiths as part of their “civilising missions” coupled with attempts to convert Hindus to Christianity. They may not have broken Hindu “idols” but they caused no less damage by enacting laws which allowed the state to control major shrines and temples and take away their landed properties and other assets.
This is not to deny that conversions to Islam and Christianity by the lower castes, especially untouchable groups, were at times a voluntary rejection of Hinduism on account of the demeaning treatment meted out to them. But most converts have been won over through a combination of force, violence, fraud and/or inducements.
Pluralism & Respect for “the Other” Innate to Hinduism
For most Hindus, the arrogant claims of Abrahamic prophets or religious leaders who present their god as such a mean-minded and tyrannical creature as to want the destruction of people of other faiths is an unacceptable way of dealing with the divine. As Tulsidas said in his inimitable way: “Jaaki rahi bhavna jaisi, Prabhu moorat tin dekhi taisi” (The temperament and emotional bent of the devotee determines the attributes he/she gives to his/her chosen god). The god of Abrahamic religions is tyrannical because through history most of those claiming to be sole spokespersons of that god have been tyrants. He shows mercy only to those who follow him exclusively and obey his commandments blindly. The commandments have come through prophets in the form of the one and only sacred book—the Bible for Christians, the Torah for Jews and the Koran for Muslims.
Representational image
Representational image
At the core of Classical Hinduism or Sanatan Dharmawith its philosophical moorings in Vedanta lie three basic propositions:
  1. God, or the divine power, is present in every living and non-living being. Thus there is no sharp divide between the human and divine, between human and other forms of life, between living and non-living. This finds popular expression in sayings such as “kan-kan mein hai Ram” (Ram, or the diving being, is present in every being, every atom in this universe). Hence, the worship of nature – in all its manifestations – rivers, mountains, trees, animals, birds and even pests and reptiles – is a characteristic feature of Sanatan Dharma.
  2. The purpose of life is to know and recognise this divinity not only within ourselves but also in each living and non-living being and become one within it. Once you accept the non-dualistic view of the world; there is no scope for “me” or “us” versus “others”. All religions, no matter how vast their theological differences and clash of dogmas or belief patterns, are supposed to lead one to union with the divine. Therefore, those who are truly spiritual, at one with the divine, cannot possibly have any quarrel with the followers of other theologies or religions or those following varied spiritual paths.
  3. Daily life is to be lived by codes of morality (dharmic codes) specific to different life situations, roles and relationships a person is involved in at different stages of life. Thus, there is pitra dharm (fatherly responsibilities and duties), matri dharm(those of a mother), padosi dharm (duty towards one’s neighbours) raj dharm(duties and responsibilities of a king), guru dharma (that of teachers), grihastha dharm (that of a householder), and so on. A person who performs his worldly duties in different situations and stations of life with integrity and steadfastness needs no formal prayers, no religious rituals to be close to god.
Just as Hindus have millions of devis and devatas, so also they have innumerable sacred texts, with each sampradaya free to choose whatever text it considers worthwhile. But none of these texts, including the two foundational texts of Hindu faith traditions - namely the Mahabharata and the Ramayana - claim to be the word of god or product of exclusive divine revelation. Each of them has been written by gifted mortals. None of our sacred epics, dharma shastras or even vedas issue commandments for their followers. Almost all of them state that the code of ethics to be followed by each person is time, culture and situation specific hence constantly evolving.
The most endearing part of Hindu faith traditions is that devotees and even non-devotees alike are allowed full freedom to laugh at, criticise and even punish their gods. Since there is no sharp divide between humans and divines, our gods and goddesses routinely take avatars and get born on earth as ordinary human beings. In their roles as sons, brothers, fathers, and friends they are judged by the same moral standards that you would judge ordinary human beings. They neither claim perfection nor any special rights in those roles. For instance, Lord Ram may be iconised as Maryada Purushottambut even today he was not been forgiven his ill-treatment of Ma Sita as depicted inValmiki Ramayana. Consequently, hundreds of Ramayanas have been written to force him to make amends for his unacceptable behaviour of subjecting Sita Ma to a fire ordeal and later abandoning her in a forest. In many latter-day Ramayanas, Ram is either an improved version of Tulsi Ramayana or is castigated harshly for his uncouth behaviour towards Sita. (For a detailed analysis read my essay, Yes to Sita, No to Ram” in Manushi issue No 98, 1999).
Likewise, Krishna died a tragic death because of the curse of Gandhari he willingly took upon himself for his role in the Mahabharata war. As Bal Gopal, he took endless scoldings and spankings from mother Yashoda for his naughty pranks as would any ordinary child. (For more details read my article “Of Humans & Divines in Manushi issue No 136 May-June 2003.
The Vedantic worldview was further strengthened and popularised by the Bhakti tradition that spread in wave after wave in different parts of India starting from the South in the 6th century AD. The sufi upsurge within Indic Islam in the medieval period popularised a version of this view among Muslims. The bhakti and sufi movements played a vital role in finding theological resolution to the historic clash between the polytheistic Indic faiths and the aggressively monotheistic Islamic worldview, building bridges of non-antagonistic communication and even friendship between the two. The essence of both these worldviews is that god dwells everywhere and in every being but especially among the humble and poor; that a good heart with love and compassion for all of god’s creatures brings a person much closer to god than any ritualistic practice, textual commandments or the dictates of any religious authority. To treat anyone as the “hostile other” is not to know god. A real heartfelt prayer reaches god, no matter whether performed in a church, mosque or mandir. Allah, Ishwar, Christ are different names for the same Divine Power.
ramayan
It is no coincidence that Mahatma Gandhi openly proclaimed that his idea of mutually respectful coexistence of diverse communities of India was deeply rooted in Sanatan Dharma and drew sustenance from the Bhakti tradition. His vision of Ram Rajya was that of an egalitarian society capable of protecting and respecting the rights of all citizens, irrespective of their caste, religious or class or gender identity. One of his favourite bhajans played in his regular prayer meetings, attended jointly by people of different faiths, says it all:

Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram, Patit pavan Sita Ram, Ishwar Allah tero naam, sabko samati de bhagwan.
(Lord Rama, Chief of the house of Raghu, Uplifters of the weak and the downtrodden, (O divine couple) Sita and Rama; Your name may be Ishwar or Allah, Please bless everyone with good sense and wisdom).
Such a prayer would be considered blasphemous by fundamentalists within Islam, Christianity or Judaism. For them such syncretic beliefs are the route to hell and perdition.
All these values give unique intellectual, social and spiritual freedom to followers of Hindu faiths. Devotees are free to choose their preferred deities, or even invoke new ones. One remains a Hindu even if one is an atheist, or agnostic. We are free to hold this or that book sacred or reject them all. We are also free to read the sacred texts of other faiths and imbibe in our conduct what we like of them. No one challenges a person’s right to be a Hindu even if the person goes and prays in a church or mosque rather than a temple. Belief in one’s own chosen deity/deities does not mean rejection of the gods and goddesses of other faiths as false or evil.
For most of us this easy and gracious acceptance of the right of each person to his/her own forms of worship as well as ways of relating to the divine is one of the greatest strengths of Hinduism.
PK’s Critique Identical to Islamic & Christian Critiques of Hinduism
The most objectionable part of PK is that it attacks these core values of Hinduism in the same vocabulary and spirit that Christianity and Islam have used to attack Hindu faiths. The message of the film given through PK is that people should worship the True Almighty God and not the various gods invented by human beings because that amounts to “dialing the wrong number”. PK would have us believe that “man-made gods” with distinct forms - Ganesh, Shiva etc - are invented by unscrupulous spiritual thugs to fleece and cheat people. He tells us that Lakshmi, Durga or Saraswati, or male gods like Shiva, Ram, Krishna or Ganesha, are all images created to mislead humanity. Praying to them amounts to “dialing the wrong number”. One will not get an answer simply because there is none there to answer. These are mere clay idols or “false gods”. The god who created us all is the ONLY ONE worth praying to. This is not one bit different from the theological basis of attacks by Christians and Muslims on Hinduism. This is why the film is offensive even to those of us not given to blind faith in spiritual entrepreneurs.
The Love Story Angle
Finally, let’s review the love story aspect that has irritated Hindu groups no less. At a time when the reported phenomenon of “love jihad”— ie, the entrapping of young Hindu, Christian or Sikh girls into phony love affairs and marriages with a view to converting them to Islam - has come to aggravate a large section of Hindus, this film projects the fleeting romance and sexual liaison between a Hindu girl from India with a Pakistani Muslim boy as the acme of the most sincere devoted love a man can ever have for a woman.
PK-love
To begin with, the objections of the heroine Jaggu’s father to her marrying a Pakistani are interpreted as a sign of Hindu communalism. The truth is that given the state of affairs in Pakistan, given the crude dominance of jihadi terrorist groups over Pakistani society and polity, even Indian Muslim parents are reluctant to marry their daughters to Pakistani grooms. The days when elite Indian Muslim families used to look across the border for suitable grooms and brides are well nigh over.

Today, the only ones keen to go to Pakistan are psychologically disturbed, Islamic zealots gravitating towards jihadi mayhem. They go to get arms training to spread terror. In such a situation, the concern of a Hindu father that his daughter might be endangering her very life by marrying a Pakistani is perfectly understandable. It is also well known that girls marrying even Indian Muslims have to convert to Islam and raise their children as Muslims. There is very little chance that a Hindu girl marrying a Pakistani Muslim can retain her faith, especially if the couple has to live in Pakistan. The systematic genocide and forced conversions of Hindus who were left in Pakistan following the 1947 partition as well as reports of large scale abductions of Hindu girls in Pakistan and Bangladesh would give nightmares to any parent at the prospect of his daughter having to live under the umbrella of terrorism and extremist Islam which has overtaken Pakistan. To project this anxiety as a subject of ridicule, as this film does, is to rub salt into deep, hurting wounds.
On the other hand, the euphoric response of the staff of the entire Pakistani embassy in Belgium to Jaggu’s reaching out to her long separated lover Imran makes it out as if getting Jaggu to marry Imran was a Pakistani state-sponsored project. The message: Hindus are all misguided and narrow-minded bigots whereas Pakistani Muslims are all tender-hearted liberals who embrace Hindu girls into their fold with love and warmth. One could have swallowed such an unrealistic scenario if the film was all fun and frolic. But under the humourous façade of this film is a serious message about the need to reject “false gods” while using stereotype versions of fraud gurus to proselytise people to worship the One and Only True God.
The same point of parental disapproval of an inter-faith, inter-country marriage could well have been driven home by picking on a Belgian or Spanish or even an African boyfriend for the film’s heroine. But projecting a marriage between a Pakistani Muslim man with a Hindu girl at a time when there is a virulent upsurge of jihadi elements within Pakistani and when the minuscule Hindu community in Pakistan is facing a literal genocide, when Hindu girls in Pakistan are being routinely abducted, subjected to sexual slavery and converted to Islam, the idea of a Hindu girl’s marriage to a Pakistani Muslim as the most idyllic example of matrimony can’t be digested that easily. If the purpose of the film is to say that all Muslims are not out to defraud Hindu women and that a Pakistani Muslim can also make a genuinely caring husband for a Hindu girl, there are better ways of getting across that message. But the gooey-gooey manner in which this film goes about projecting what on the surface appears like a casual, flippant romance makes one suspect a hidden agenda behind it all, especially since the Hindus are either presented as naïve, gullible idiots or as thugs and manipulators.
Hinduism has an infinite capacity for self-criticism, self-improvement and even withstanding attacks from outsiders. But the attacks hurt more when an insider attacks with the imperious arrogance of an outsider or when outsiders assume they have an exclusive copyright on perfection!
Post Script: Bizarre to Equate Paris Carnage with Protests over “PK”
Just as I finished writing this piece came the horrific news that three AI-Qaeda terrorists stormed the office of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, well known for lampooning politicians, public figures and religion, including Christianity and radical Islam. The attackers called out the names of these cartoonists they had come to wreak vengeance on. The masked gunmen shouted “Allahu Akbar” before gunning down and killing 12 people – two policemen and 10 journalists, including the editor of the weekly. Among the dead were four prominent cartoonists who had lampooned Islamic terrorists and Prophet Mohammad.
The spirit and tenor of the TV programmes discussing the Paris carnage was serious and non-aggressive. For instance, on Rajdeep Sardesai’s programme on Headlines Today, all the panelists, including those like Aamir Raza Hussain, who argued forcefully in favour of state censorship and self-censorship when dealing with matters of faith, were given a respectful hearing. There were no hysterical harangues against terrorists who gunned down French journalists and the condemnation was in measured tones.
AP
AP
This was in sharp contrast to the contempt and disdain with which critics of PK have been treated by media’s secular left liberals. The protestors againstPK were snubbed and humiliated on most TV channels as though they represented a sub-human species that did not understand the value of artistic freedom.
Most important of all, even while discussing the Paris carnage, almost every TV channel continuously referred to the intolerance shown by Hindu groups towards PK and other such portrayals as proof that Hindus were no less intolerant than Islamic jihadis. This attempt to draw equivalence between Hindu zealots and Islamic terrorists is indeed bizarre. Even the lunatic fringe of Hinduism has never gone for bloodshed and mayhem to express their religious hurt in the murderous manner in which militant jihadis are routinely expressing their defence of Islam.
The double-standard and attitude of open contempt displayed by left secular liberals towards Hinduism and its followers is what pushes a section of Hindu zealots into believing that their sentiments and hurt will be taken seriously only if they too start getting violent against people who outrage them. Centuries of being ridiculed and demeaned for their modes of worship and belief systems has unfortunately led a section of Hindus to think that they need to mould their gods and goddesses in the template of the ‘quick-to-take-offence’ Abrahamic God. To my mind, this would be the greatest tragedy for Hinduism.
It would be a great pity if we have to start treating our devis and devatas with the same awe and fear that the followers of Islam, Christianity and Judaism have to treat their Almighty God. In Hinduism, highly evolved human beings are even allowed to acquire greater power than gods. Hindu lore is full of stories of great tapasvis whose tapa gave them such exceptional powers that even gods had to do their bidding. Any woman who displays extraordinary valour or courage often gets to be called and even treated as Durga incarnate!
As pointed out by Sharda Ratan in his Open Letter to Bollywood,  "God Fearing is an English Term”, rooted in Christian theology. The Hindus use the term “Prabhu premi”(god loving). The ultimate aim of life for a Hindu is discover the divine within, not be fearful of god up above.
I pray and hope that we find better ways of protecting our faith traditions from ugly, gratitutous attacks than emulate the negative aspects of Judaic faiths by making our deities as quick to take offence and demand vengeance, as does the Abrahamic God. The fact that the Bajrang Dal and allied outfits who vandalised theatres running PK could not find more than 15-20 persons to join their hoodlum protests shows that the Hindu samaj is not endorsing their lawless ways of expressing hurt.
First posted at First Post: http://www.firstpost.com/bollywood/outrage-pk-really-sign-hindu-intolerance-2041285.html 

Friday 26 December 2014

धर्मान्तरण के पीछे की राजनीति

लगता है कि संघ परिवार से जुड़े कुछ संगठनों ने धर्मांतरण के मुद्दे को एक बहुत सोच समझ के ज्‍वलन्‍त समस्‍या के रूप में खड़ा कर दिया है। अभी तक धर्मान्‍तरण का विरोध अधि‍कतर हिन्‍दु संगठन ही करते रहे क्‍योंकि धर्म परिवर्तन की मुहिम ईसाई व मुस्लिम संगठनही चलाते रहे है। यह धर्मान्‍तरण का ही कमाल है कि देश के उत्तर पूर्वी प्रान्‍तों में विभिन्‍न ईसाई संगठनों ने मिलकर देश के उत्तर पूर्वी प्रान्‍तों की demographic profile पूर्णतया बदल डाली। मसलम देश की आजादी के समय नागालैंड में केवल 2 प्रतिशत ईसाई जनसंख्‍या थी। आज नागालैंड में करीब 98 प्रतिशत लोग ईसाई हो चुके हैं। झारखंड, छत्तीसगढ, उड़ीसा इत्‍यादि प्रान्‍तों की आदिवासी कहलाने वाली जातियां भी ईसाई मिशनरियों के लपेटे में आ चुकी हैं।
मुस्लिम संगठन भी कई प्रान्‍तों में गरीब दलित तबकों को धर्म परिवर्तन का शिकार बनाते आये है। इससे आसाम व बंगाल जैसे सीमान्‍तर प्रान्तों में तो बहुत से हिन्‍दु बहुल्‍य जिले मुस्लिम बहुल्‍य जिलोंमें बदल चुके हैं। यह कोई संयोग की बात नहीं कि जहां जहां हिन्‍दु धर्म से काट कर गरीब तबकों को ईसाई धर्म या इस्‍लाम के दायरे में शामिल कर लिया गया ऐसे सभी प्रान्‍तों व जिलों में अलगाव वादी, आंतकवादी व माओवादी विचारधारा व संगठन मजबूत हुये हैं। जब भी भाजपा या हिन्‍दु संगठनों ने धर्मान्‍तरण के इन खतरनाक पहलूओं की ओर ध्‍यान दिलाया तो काग्रेंस व वामपंथी पार्टियों ने धर्मनिरपेक्षता व संविधान में धार्मिक स्‍वतन्‍त्रता की दी आजादी का हवाला देकर भाजपा को चुप करा दिया और उन्‍हें फासिस्‍ट व अल्‍पसंख्‍यक विरोधी करार दिया।

इस मामले में भाजपा की मांग कि धर्मान्‍तरण पर कानूनी प्रतिबन्‍ध लगाया जाये, महात्‍मा गांधी के विचारों से बिल्‍कुल मेल खाती है। बापू का भी ये मानना था कि धर्मान्‍तरण के पीछे बहुत ही हिंसात्‍मक सोच छुपी हुई है, क्‍योकि यह काम दूसरों के पैदायशी धर्म व संस्‍कारों पर घटिया आक्षेप लगाये बगैर होता ही नहीं। ईसाई व इस्‍लामी मिशनरी हिन्‍दु आस्‍थाओं, देवीदेवताओं व संस्‍कृतिपर बहुत ही भद्दे व आपत्तिजनक कटाक्षोंको ही हथियार बनाकर धर्मपरिवर्तन का काम करते आये हैं। जहां जहां वे सफल हुये है वहां वहां समाज और पारिवारिक रिश्‍ते दोनों टूटे हैं।
अब जब हिन्‍दु संगठनों ने खुलेआम ‘’घर वापसी’’ के नाम पर धर्म परिवर्तन की लड़ाकू मुहिम छेड़ दी है तो इस सवाल पर दोहरे मापदंड की राजनीति चलाना कठिन हो जायेगा। यदि ईसाई व मुस्लिम संगठनों द्वारा किये जा रहे धर्म परिवर्तनों का बचाव कांग्रेस व वामपंथी सगंठन धार्मिक स्‍वतन्‍त्रता का नाम देकर करते हैं तो यह हक हिन्‍दु संगठनों को भी देना पड़ेगा। यदि इस पक्ष के लोग हिन्‍दुओं द्वारा किये जा रहे धर्म परिवर्तन के खिलाफ उठ खड़े होते है तो उन्‍हें ईसाईयों व मुसलमानों पर भी बंदिशें स्‍वीकार करनी पड़ेगी। इस लिहाज से विश्‍व हिन्‍दु परिषद, आर्यसमाज व आरएसएस इत्‍यादि ने बहुत ही शातिर चाल चली है।
परन्‍तु दुख इस बात का है कि हिन्‍दु संगठनों ने आगरा में जो घटिया हथकंडें अपना कर 200 गरीब फटेहाल कूडा बीनने वाले बांगलादेशीयों के साथ ‘’घर वापसी’’ की नौटंकी रची, वह सभी संवेदनशील हिन्‍दुओं के आत्‍म सम्‍मान पर गहरी चोट पहुंचाती है। यदि हिन्‍दु संगठन ईसाई व मुस्लिम संगठनों के साथ इस सवाल पर टक्‍कर लेना चाहते हैं तो उनके शातिर तौर तरीकों से कुछ सबक लें। नहीं तो उन्‍हें बहुत जग हंसाई झेलनी पड़ेगी और इन हरकतों से हिन्‍दु धर्म की छवि बहुत बिगड़ेगी।
जब ईसाई लोग किसी दलित या आदीवासी परिवार को अपने धर्म के आगोश में ले लेते है तो अक्‍सर उस परिवार को बेहतर शिक्षा व स्‍वास्‍थ्‍य सेवाओं की गारंटी भी मिल जाती है। इसके अलावा उनके नेटवर्क द्वारा उन्‍हें नौकरी इत्‍यादि ढ़ूढ़ने में भी बहुत मदद मिलती है। इसके साथ साथ तिरस्‍कृत जीवन से भी काफी हद तक मुक्ति मिल जाती है।
इसी प्रकार मुस्लिम धर्म में शामिल होने वाले परिवारों को भी पिछड़े और अछूत होने की मोहर से कुछ राहत मिल जाती है व कई प्रकार की आर्थिक व सामाजिक सुविधायें भी उन्‍हें मुहैया कराई जाती है। परन्‍तु हिन्‍दु संगठनों ने अपने को इस दिशा में बहुत कम सक्षम किया है। आज भी अनुसूचित जाति या जनजाति के प्रति तिरस्‍कार और घृणा की भावना से हिन्‍दु समाज अपने को मुक्‍त नहीं कर पाया है। इनकी तुलना में आर्ट ऑफ लिविंग जैसे नये हिन्‍दु संगठन जो जात पांत के फसादों से ऊपर उठकर काम कर रहे हैं और जिन्‍होनें बहतरीन जीवन शैली प्रदान करने के कुछ असरदार प्रयास किये है-- उनकी ओर लाखों लोग स्‍वंय ही खिंचे आ रहे हैं हालांकि वो कभी धर्मपरिवर्तन जैसा शब्‍द जुबां पर भी नहीं लाते। आर्यसमाज और विश्‍व हिन्‍दु परिवर्तन को आर्ट ऑफ लिविंग जैसे संगठनों से ये सीखने की जरूरत है कि कैसे हिन्‍दु धर्म की अंदरूनी विशाल हृदयता के सहारे उसे इतना आकर्षक बनाया जा सकता है कि किसी को अन्‍य धर्मो की ओर तांकझांक करने की आवश्‍यकता ही न पड़े।

Tuesday 16 December 2014

Has 7 Race Course Road Disoriented Modi?

Reproduced below is the unedited version of my interview with Vrinda Gopinath which was first published on Scroll.in
--------------------------------
Noted academician Madhu Purnima Kishwar of the Centre for Study of Developing Societies and founder of Manushi, a women’s rights journal, has been in the news a lot. First, for her chronicles on Modi, called Modinama, in which she critiqued the media and human rights activists for “falsely demonising” Modi after the Gujarat riots of 2002. Then for her criticism of Smriti Irani’s “incompetence” as human resource development minister and “fraudulent qualifications”.  In a freewheeling interview with Vrinda Gopinath, Kishwar talks about the disappointment and general despondency six months into Modi’s reign.

Q. Has your enthusiasm for Modi waned vis a vis his appointment of Smriti Irani as HRD Minister?
A. My enthusiasm for Modi as PM came because of the good work he had done as Gujarat chief minister, which I took the trouble to go and assess firsthand. It’s when I saw solid evidence that he was being demonized that I decided to document his tenure as Gujarat CM starting October 2001 when he took the oath of office.
Among other things, I saw a man who recognizes the importance of investing heavily in knowledge, skill development and learning, and who believes India should occupy its rightful place in this domain in the 21st century. He repeatedly emphasized this with conviction and passion in my conversations with him.
Since I have spent my entire life in the world of academia, I feel passionately about it too. For years I taught in a Delhi University college and witnessed the tragic deterioration in teaching standards; Teacher absenteeism even in a supposedly elite university of Delhi is very high. Our colleges and universities all over India are producing unemployable lumpens by millions.  We are wasting generation after generation to bad education.
Therefore, Modi’s appointment of Smriti Irani came as a horrible shock to me. Here’s someone who is not just poorly educated, — she’s just 12th Pass — but she even lied about her qualifications in each of her three affidavits to the Election Commission.  Nor has she garnered the knowledge that comes from engaging with learned people and the life of ordinary people in a serious manner—the way Modi has done. Look at the trajectory of this woman – at 18, she leaves home for the glamour industry, to become a fashion model, a beauty queen, then gets into saas-bahu serials which even by the standards of the entertainment industry, is the lowest and most brainless genre. She does not even have the qualifications to head the National School of Drama.
If Modi is talking about taking India to make up for its lost centuries in education, you need a person with vision, experience of varied domains of knowledge. Given the life she has lived, she sadly lacks on this front. She proved it fast and furious when she said I’ve a Yale degree on the basis of a five-day course she was taken to attend! Such courses are offered by American universities to bring our MPs etc under the influence of the American establishment.
She actually thought it was a badge of honour,– a recognition of her “leadership qualities” whereas it was actually meant to give ‘leadership training” to our naïve MPs. Even I couldn’t believe she was that dumb.

Q. Did you speak to Modi about this? Did he respond to your tweets of anguish?
A. I don’t expect Modi to respond to my protests in social media. He’s not the kind of person who will try to shut up his critics by his having his office phone them. As for me getting in touch with him, I avoided doing that for the simple reason that if in our meeting he had said, ‘Madhuji, chhodo na. Please trust that I know what is best for my government’, it would have been very difficult to say no.  Milne se lihaaz aa hi jaata hai. I didn’t want to drop this matter or surrender my freedom vis a vis other harmful decisions of Modi government.

Q. So, do you think Modi Government is serious about education? Where does this leave Modi?
A. Her appointment is a shocker not just for me but also for people within BJP. It is a trauma I haven’t recovered from because I took Modi’s promises very seriously. I wouldn’t have been surprised if a Laloo Yadav had appointed Smriti Irani as HRD minister. After all, didn’t we take a Rabri Devi’s appointment in our stride, but you don’t expect a Rabri Devi from Narendra Modi, to come head a very key ministry.  You cannot fix anything in India unless we fix our education system. Whether you want good doctors, nurses, competent bureaucrats, well trained engineers and highly professional cops, you need to bring far reaching changes in our education system at all levels. And we have an HRD minister who doesn’t even know the difference between a casual five day course and a university degree!
In fact, it is BJP leaders who introduced me to her colourful background and the questionable means she has used over the years to climb up. Her entry into BJP was apparently facilitated by Pramod Mahajan who got her the ticket to fight against Kapil Sibal in the 2004 election. Smriti’s clout comes from the fact that she is good at latching on to men who are at the top of political power structure. First it was Pramod Mahajan, and then came Gopinath Munde, followed by several others till she found the most powerful patron in Modi.
The rise of such women sends very negative message to other women in the Party—that your work does not count for much. All that counts is patronage of powerful leaders. The kinds of things BJP workers say about Smriti would make anyone cringe. Among other things, she is also an inveterate liar. But she delivers those lies with such passion that she starts believing them herself. The actress that she is, she thinks she can adopt any persona which helps her career at that point. For instance, in an interview to Karan Thapar on 22/12/2001 while describing her initial years of struggle in Mumbai, she proudly said, “It was a learning experience because here I was in Delhi throwing tantrums, you are a rich man’s daughter telling people, Tumhe pataa hai mein kiski beti hoon? Suddenly, cut to wiping floors and cleaning dishes.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N5m5ahVxYo&feature=youtu.be
In another early interview, (www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020310/spectrum/main8.htm) she told Vimla Patil how she had borrowed Rs 2 lakhs from her father to prepare herself for Miss India contest. Come 2014 election, Modi makes it politically fashionable to talk of his humble chaiwala background. Suddenly, Irani too follows suit and adopts a new persona to match Modi’s chaiwala image. She then starts playing the rags to riches story by saying her family was so poor that she had to give up education after class 12 and do low paying jobs like selling cosmetics on Janpath and sweeping floors in McDonalds to support her family. Tell me which poor family educates their daughter in a hi-fi Convent school of Delhi and which poor father could have afforded to spare Rs 2 lakhs in 1991-2 to indulge his daughter’s ambition of becoming a fashion model or beauty queen?
So lying about her education is not the only fraud she has committed. She has lied about her assets and much else.
Another lie she has suddenly begun peddling is to claim that her family has been with the RSS for three generations. This sudden love for the RSS does not come from any conviction but the belief that if she keeps them pleased, she is secure in her job.

Q. You still haven’t answered about your disappointment with the Modi Government?
A. Look, I still stand by my commendation of his tenure as Gujarat chief minister.  I examined that period carefully, travelled all over the state, met thousands of people, interviewed hundreds—both in and outside the government– and saw things for myself  He got rewarded for his work in Gujarat, he is now PM. But now starts a new chapter, he’s going to be assessed afresh on the basis of his performance as PM.
However, nobody can make sense of some of his decisions and appointments, neither me nor anyone else. Maybe it’s the evil influence of being ensconced in 7 Race Course Road or may be someone has done black magic on him. Maybe Modi has not got a grip over his government yet. Maybe Delhi has disoriented him. Honestly, I cannot believe this is happening. But it’s too premature to pass a final verdict. This government needs to be given time to prove its worth and I’m waiting and watching like a hawk, weighing its actions carefully while maintaining a safe distance so that I can remain non partisan.

Q. There are stories agog of Smriti’s arrogance and imperiousness.
A. I’ve met several people who have had to interact with her and almost all come back with horrific stories. For instance, a high powered team from FICCI went to make a presentation to her on important new initiatives required in the higher education sector. They came out despairing because she wouldn’t listen nor watch their power point presentation. She just shrugged them off disdainfully saying, “I know it all and we are doing all that needs to be done”. Similarly, vice chancellors and other educationists who have met her say that she acts like a bully—talks and talks aggressively to hide her incompetence, but doesn’t listen.
I recently got a letter written by a person who attended her session on education at the World Hindu Conference at Ashoka Hotel in Delhi. He has expressed deep anguish and outrage at her rough and rude behavior vis a vis participants. The poor man pleaded with her to accept a document he had prepared on education reforms. She was disdainful and refused to even touch that piece of paper leave alone look at it.
Bureaucrats are being screamed at and given sultani farmans. I am told IAS officers are reluctant to work with her because she is overbearing and arrogant. They are asking for transfers out of her ministry. She has changed three information officers in six months because she feels she is not kind of media coverage. Trouble is she is not willing to work quietly, pick up the ropes; she is hungry for media coverage and in the process exposing her incompetence more and more.

Q. Perhaps Modi is not what he’s cracked up to be?
A. I have based my assessment of Modi from the ground – people may have voted for him from what they’ve heard, but I spent a lot of time trying to understand his work. His choice of Irani as HRD minister is not in tune with his track record in Gujarat. This is completely out of character, it’s inexplicable. One of the things he earned respect for was his ability to pick the right person for the right job. He was also known for not encouraging sycophants to hang around him. Nor was he known to cultivate worthless people as favorites.

Q. Is he playing the Delhi game of keeping everyone happy?
A. Given the free hand he has in BJP today, he cannot use that excuse. After all he has marginalized many senior people because they do not fit in with his scheme of things. This is important as it’s made out to look as if Modi owes Smriti something but I don’t buy that argument. She has no political base; there is not a single constituency where she can win a single election on her own steam – even though she was vice-president of BJP. She’s not a Vasundhara Raje Scindia who not only win her own election but also plays a key role in bringing her party into power.  She is not even a Varun Gandhi who wins his own seat on his own steam and also helps several MLAs get elected.
Irani is not credited with having made any contribution towards building the party– she’s no Amit Shah who helped to bring about a tectonic shift in the electoral fortunes of BJP. She simply gives speeches that are fed to her. But no one can accuse her of coming up with any creative new ideas or a vision for the future of India.
Some say she had to be rewarded for giving Rahul Gandhi a tough fight in Amethi. If that were the case, how come nobody talks about rewarding Ajay Agrawal, the BJP candidate who fought Sonia Gandhi and garnered nearly 1.75 lakh votes, despite all odds?  Smriti had unlimited resources at her disposal – money, national media, with numerous top BJP leaders, including Modi campaigning for her. Several bigwigs of BJP, including BJP CMs camped in Amethi for days on end. Modi himself went and pleaded for her as his “chhoti behan”.
By contrast, Ajay Aggrawal was given a ticket last minute and deprived of even monetary support while money flowed like water for Smriti’s campaign.  Not a single BJP leader campaigned for Agrawal. Modi had promised he would hold at least one meeting in Sonia’s constituency but did not keep that promise nor sent other leaders to lend support to Aggrawal. No one in media paid the slightest attention to Aggrawal. Yet he secured 1.75 lakh votes in a constituency where BJP vote tally used to be around 25,000 or less. Did anyone in BJP even acknowledge the fight he put up, leave alone reward him? Not surprisingly, he is a very demoralized man today.

Q. Where else has the Modi government let you down?
A. It’s not a case of this Government letting Madhu Kishwar down. I don’t count for much and Modi doesn’t owe me anything. But the BJP government is letting the people of India down by their reneging on some key promises and their frequent U Turns. The black money case is another blow. Modi had made the return of India’s looted wealth a core issue of his election campaign. Arun Jaitley has deceived the public by pretending he’s doing something. But what he is doing is a joke- like releasing three insignificant names out of 700 while studiously protecting the real culprits—many of who are hios close friends. This is forcing people to believe that this Government is trying to shield the looters. Remember, Jaitley played similar tricks in the Bofors case during the Vajpayee regime.
Similarly, this government is also going out of its way to protect NDTV and Chidambram in the Rs 5500 crore hawala scam.  t has not even reinstated the Income Tax Commissioner who exposed the fraud. It reflects very badly on Modi. Likewise, there is very little sign of the governance reform agenda promised by Modi being put into action. How I really want this government to succeed.

Q. There are rumors that Smriti Irani may be appointed as Delhi CM if BJP comes to power?
A. Anything to rid her from the HRD Ministry. Make her the Deputy PM, if you will but get her out of education. Of course I wouldn’t trust her with any ministry, I don’t think Delhi chief minister is such a lightweight job; it’s a difficult state to run.  All this tells me that nepotism of a very venal variety is at playFor, even if you have favorites, you must at least have talented favorites. That’s what we expect of Modi, to nurture talent.  Modi shouldn’t be doing things that even shock his party.

Q. You’ve listed her lies about her education qualifications in her affidavit. You’ve said she’s lied about her assets. There is also talk of her growing assets since she came to the Rajya Sabha–the fibre glass boats and farm lands she owns. Are you planning to take legal recourse?
A. Unfortunately, the media is not sophisticated enough to see the merits of the case, they would make it a personal issue between her and me. That becomes very ugly. When I tweeted against Smriti’s appointment in May, I had to face very low level, crass and obscene attacks in the social media. I don’t think serious politicians gather such a large army of crass followers as does Smriti. She had her trolls making the most obscene insinuations against me.
However, why me? Why isn’t anyone else’s blood boiling at her lies on oath? Why is the Congress not filing a case against Irani on her false affidavits? Is it because it would expose Sonia Gandhi’s lies in her affidavit? Do you know the offence she has committed would invite a six month imprisonment and her election can be nullified?  I was very forthright, I put my head on the chopping block, I went on national television and spoke my mind openly.
However, getting a credible lawyer to fight such a case is very difficult. You need some top notch, heavy weight lawyer for this along with unlimited resources. These petitions can go on forever. Get me a heavyweight lawyer to back me without charging a bomb and I shall take up the case. Smriti’s lies deserve to be challenged. However, I don’t want to engage a lawyer who has a pathological hatred for Modi, I don’t want to end up in the camp of Modi baiters. I’m not against Modi, In fact, I want him to live up to his promises in letter and spirit because India can’t afford another disappointing PM and another failed regime.

Q. Where do you stand today vis a vis Modi?
A.  I would say I am where Arun Shourie is today, his criticisms are valid. But unlike Shourie, I am not in the party, nor am I in the power game.  
I’m exactly where I was when I supported Modi. At that time too I told truth to power and exposed the lies being peddled by the Congress and its allies in demonizing Modi and the BJP.
Similarly, I have made sure that I retain the freedom to speak my mind fearlessly by maintaining a healthy distance from this government. I have never visited BJP office nor do I go cultivating this or that leader. I will gladly applaud and celebrate good policies and programs of Modi Government. But I will not hesitate to criticize when they go wrong or act in a malafide manner.  
I want to be in the space of a creative, constructive opposition so that I am among those who give timely warning signals against misuse of power.



Madhu Kishwar

Madhu Kishwar
इक उम्र असर होने तक… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …اک عمر اثر ہونے تک