What kind of secularism we are having?

There was a time till my childhood when I used to feel proud by saying that India is a secular country. But as I passed my childhood stage I started to realize that probably the definition of secularism, which was there in my mind, is different than the secularism being followed in India.

If we talk about the true secularism then there should be the same parameters related to any religious matters for all the religions. But how many people can say that it’s the same today in India. Difference in these parameters gets very clear each and every time when any such issue arises.

If we closely watch the recent events it will be clear to every one of us. In Barodara, the Municipal Corporation demolished several temples on the name of master plan of the city and every one was silent about it. 17 temples were demolished but there was no statement from anyone because everyone had the opinion that to make the city a better place to live, master plan should be implemented. I appreciate the Hindu community that they accepted this fact and cooperated with the government officials. But after demolishing 17 temples, as soon as they demolished a Mosque, there was huge protest and law and order problem. I would not have put a question mark on the secularism if it would have only till this point but the way all the politicians came forward and gave their statement showing soft corner for those who were protesting and allegations were made against the state government was clearly a matter on which everyone of us who think of a united and strong India should care about. Even actors like Amir Khan registered his protest and was given lots of hype in media. Pictures of mosque being demolished was shown in media again and again but was there any mention of those 17 temples which got demolished and even then there was complete peace in the city. Were there anyone who raised his/her voice that if so many temples got demolished and one mosque, why are we discussing only that mosque?

Almost all the Christian countries have allowed release of the movie Da Vinci Code but in India it had to face problems. Government formed a special committee of Christian people who reviewed it and then it got cleared from the censor board with ‘A’ certificate. Lots of leaders came forward in support of the protest against it and even after getting clearance from censor board this movie could not be released last Friday.

By mentioning these entire incidents I am not saying that government or politicians did any wrong thing. I appreciate them for being so concerned about the sentiments of those people who are involved. But major question is why all this concern comes forward only when there goes anything wrong with any other religions other than Hinduism.

Several years ago MF Hussain painted objectionable pictures of Hindu Goddess. There was nation wide protest against it and even at that time there were several leaders and progressive thinkers of this country who supported his act on the name of creativity. Just few days back NDTV aired a program where its very talented reporter Barkha Datt was shouting again and again that religious protesters are trying to highjack creativity. But do we really need such stupid creative people who have got no respect for religions.

At one side our leaders are opposing release of Da Vinci Code and the matters written in this novel, mosque demolish act is being criticized and on the other hand Indian high commissioner in Britain Kamalesh Sharma, inaugurated the Husain exhibition in London which is exhibiting few of those objectionable pictures of Hindu Goddess. Protests are going on in Britain but our High commissioner is not concerned about all these. When he was asked to register a protest against it with the concerned officials his reaction was - “they said they could not interfere in artistic freedom”. And since those officials didn’t stop it so he went one step ahead and inaugurated it. No leader in India thinks that this is an issue on which even one statement should be issued.

A statement made by Ramesh Kallidai, secretary-general of the Hindu Forum of Britain to Times of India make it very clear that how much secular our political leaders are.

He stated - “When it came to the Da Vinci Code film, the Indian authorities were very careful to slap an adult certificate in order that they do not hurt Christians. When it came to the Prophet Mohammed cartoons, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh personally condemned them. India was one of the first to ban Salman Rushdie’s book, The Satanic Verses. Why then should artistic freedom only be enjoyed by those who hurt and insult Hindus,”

Now it’s high time that people of India should come together and oppose this so called secularism being followed by our politicians whose religion is only power and money.

Praveen Pranav
praveen.pranav@gmail.com
www.Bibhuti.org

Protest for a valid cause and on right time.

Like we have different seasons of weather it seems now a days its season of protests. Everyday, everywhere we have some protests or the other going on. But most of the time cause of the protest is questionable.

In India it’s very easy to gather a crowd. First of all people love to be the part of crowd and shout specially if the protest is being reported by the visual media then these people who have noting to do with the protest, don’t even know protest is for what but come forward and do all the stupidity to get attention of the media. And since its very easy to do destructive work than to constructive so they start damaging public property on the name of protests.

So mainly we have three kinds of protests. First is for a valid reason and cause. Like we have protest against Reservation. These people have been protesting against it but they are controlled and there have been no incident of damaging any public property. On this topic, I will not say that protest against reservation is valid or protest in support of reservation is valid. If we are talking about protests, then both the protests are having there own reasons and causes. But important thing is to consider that no protest gives authority to anyone to damage the public property. Few days back media reported a protest in support of reservation in Patna where public property was damaged a lot and police as well as media people were beaten like anything. This kind of protest can’t be justified by any means.

In second type of protest there is a valid reason and cause but the people who are protesting have no idea about this reason. They are there to shout, raise slogans, get some money after the protest and go back home. These are the protest for which mass support is not there and money pays an important role in gathering people to protest against the issue. Few months’ back BJP organized a protest at Jantar-Matar in Delhi against Congress related to Oil Coupons in Iraq. A TV Channel reporter asked several people who were shouting slogans the cause of protest and they had no clue about it. So when a group of people is protesting against something they should have a common vision and clarity for the cause then only some result can be achieved out of it otherwise its just a publicity stunt with no seriousness at all.

Third and most important type of protest is just to get publicity. Here you don’t need to have a valid reason or cause to protest. It can be anything. Recently lots of people protested against Rakhi Sawant’s show in Kolhapur, even lodged a case against her. I am not saying that what she did was right but if those people were so concerned about obscenity they should have protested when this show was announced. After all it was not hidden that what she will be performing. She is item dance girl of bollywood and hence it was obvious that she will dance on those hot numbers only. So the people should have protested much in advance. But they purchased tickets, went to the show, enjoyed the dance and then suddenly they remembered that this should not be permitted. And hence protest started. It’s like purchasing the ticket for an adult rated movie, watching the movie and then protesting that this movie is spreading obscenity.

I have all my regard for the people protesting against the show and even I am of the view that nudity should not be allowed on the name of art but in all this timing is most important. Only a well timed and protest for a valid cause gets the support from masses otherwise its just a medium to get some publicity, to get published in news papers and to have some footage on the TV channels.

Praveen Pranav
praveen.pranav@gmail.com

How much tolerance is expected from Hindu Community??

“Freedom of voice”, I don’t know what was in mind of constitution makers but for so called progressive people of this country these words have given the rights to do what they feel like doing irrespective of the effect of their deed on the masses.

And this freedom has specially been used in matters of religion, as it’s a very soft target. Very often things have been written, done which hurt the sentiments of millions but whenever anyone raises voice against it; they have these three words to cover and justify all their acts – Freedom of Voice.

Although such attacks of the sentiments of Hindu Religion is not new, but it got attention first time when M.F. Hussain painted those controversial pictures. It was written in all the print media and was aired on all the TV channels but all these medium somehow tried to cover M.F. Hussain as he is a big name in his field. Lots of known faces kept on coming in support of him and justified all his stupidity in the name of – Freedom of Voice.

After this incident, these so-called progressive people got an idea to be in limelight overnight. They knew very well that if they will do something like that media will cover it and nothing will happen against them. They will get free publicity and even lots of prominent faces will come forward in support of the stupid act they will do. These believe gave them enough courage to repeat these incidents again and again and as they thought nothing happened to them ever.

Basic question is that why these people get all these so-called creative ideas against Hindu religion only. Why not any one dare to express this so called creativity against Islam or any other religion. Now days Hindu Gods can be seen everywhere depicted as cartoons in print media, being used as comedy characters in movies as well as serials, granting wishes to everyone in TV commercials; and everyone is silent about it. There was few cartoons created related to Islam and there was worldwide protest and lots of people got killed.

It is understood without saying by anyone that you are free to what ever you want to write; you are free to do whatever you want to do against Hindu Religion and no one will tell you anything and if someone will protest there will be lots of people who will come in support of you and will say that this protest is useless, its not an issue at all.

So the question is that how much the Hindu community needs to tolerate all these incidents. Should they also react in the same manner and kill several people and then only these progressive and cultured people will understand their feelings. It is commonly believed that if you are having majority then your rights will be protected in better way. It’s true also in most of the sense and in most of the part of world except in India. Here Government is also silent when any such incident happens against Hindu Religion but for other religions there will be statements one after another by all the leaders.

I was reading about a similar progressive person called Mr. Bali L. R., who has written a book - "Hinduism - dharma ya kalank". Can we ask him, who has given him the rights to describe the Hindu religion as “Kalank” which has got millions of followers round the world? His straight answer will be that its his view and he is free to express it because he is having – Freedom of Voice. But can Mr. Bali. L.R. write a similar book about Islam? He will never dare to do so. Hindus are peace lovers and these people have been taking undue advantage of this characteristic.

Its high time when Government should define a rulebook about the religion related matters and should create a provision of strict punishment to the people violating it. If these steps will not be taken in advance, these people will keep on breaking their limits and one day when the tolerance level of Hindu community will come to an end; they will be forced to take law in their hand and after that these people will have the same fear before writing anything against Hindi religion as they have it currently for other religions.

Praveen Kumar
Praveen.pranav@gmail.com
www.bibhuti.org

Who is eating fruits of Reservation System???

Today when the discussion about reservation is going on at every available stage for debate, I am unable to understand few basic facts about it.

First of all, I totally agree with those who are in favor of not having any reservation at all. By saying this I never mean that government should not provide any facilities for those who are unable to stand with rest of the society. But the way things have been classified is not doing any good to those people. Till date it has been proved again and again that if it is doing good to anyone then it is one and only politicians of this country.

Today a person, who don’t have any source of income, no land for farming, is totally dependent on the daily earning which he gets after doing hard work in someone’s field; if he wants his son to do well in studies and to get a good job; don’t we think as the responsible member of the society and this country that these kind of people should be provided added facilities so that they can make their dreams true. Till this point I think every one will agree with me but as we say that he belongs to upper caste, all his problems, his poverty gets ignored. He no longer needs any protection and support.

So in these situations, it is very difficult to understand that reservation is for whom. On what basis we can justify that Ram Vilas Paswan or Lalu Prasad Yadav who have hundred’s of corers of property today (how they have made it only they can justify) with which they can provide any kind of support in study to there kids; and still they want reservation for their children.

By its definition, reservation is for them who are not capable to get the education because of their poverty; its for them who needs extra support to come in the main stream and not at all for them who are having all the means with them. And that’s the reason I cannot understand the current provision of reservation; which is based on caste system and not on the financial status of the person.

If someone will conduct a survey about the benefits of reservation till date, it will be very clear that only those so called backward caste people got undue advantage of this system who had all the means with them to get the kind of education they wanted. And in this way the actual people either from backward community or forward community who really needed the reservation system got left behind.

Since we don’t have any such survey and its result with us, poor people from SC/ST community are being happy by thinking that they are having the benefits of reservation and its being planned to increase further; without knowing that its very rare that someone among them gets the benefit of it. Its always financially forward but backward by caste people who gets benefit of it. Yes, it becomes very helpful for our politicians because in this way they can make their vote bank and do the planning based on the head count of caste.

Since this issue is being discussed all over again so I request you to raise this point strongly so that the benefit of reservation goes to the people who actually need it.