Intolerance is everywhere, but violent in India: Shaw
(From R) Writer Vikram Sampath, journalist Maya Mirchandani and politician Sambit Patra at the Bangalore Literature Festival on Sunday (Photo: R. SAMUEL)
Bengaluru: ‘Are We Heading Toward an Intolerant India Today?’ The grand finale of the Bangalore Literature Festival came with a provocative title, which it lived up to in full measure. Congressman Dinesh Gundurao, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra and writer and academic Madhu Kishwar made for an action packed debate, which, backed by an enthusiastic audience spoiling for a fight, ended in a good old free for all on Sunday evening.
News anchor Maya Mirchandani had her hands full in her unenviable role as moderator of the panel, which included Biocon MD Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Mohandas Pai, journalists Padma Rao Sundarji and Saba Naqvi as well as writers Vikram Sampath, Siddarth Shanghvi and Aakar Patel.
Sampath found himself sitting in the middle, which seemed curiously appropriate as accusations flew liberally from left to right. “We are so strait-jacketed by the left and the right,” Sampath said, making the opening remarks for the discussion. “Most Indians are in a centrist space, with views that differ with issues. Rigid view points, after all, are critical to anti-democracy.”
India is a developing country, said Shaw. “We voted for the government because of its economic agenda. Intolerance exists in every country, but it has taken on very violent connotations here. There are fringe elements taking the intolerance debate to whole new levels.” This debate, which has raged for some time now, has been dismissed by the right as being manufactured, to which she said, “Whether it’s manufactured or not, it exists and we need to deal with it.”
Sambit Patra began by taking an almost shockingly humorous view of things going so far as to call the growing concerns against intolerance a ‘hoopla’, saying, “The right is blamed for everything. A 75-year-old nun is raped and allegations are made against the RSS and Bajrang Dal. When the culprits were finally caught, there was no apology.” He referred to Misbag Qadri, the 25-year-old who claimed to be evicted from her flat because she was a Muslim saying, “The media goes to town on it saying ‘RSS, Bajrang Dal, tell us why this Misbah Qadri can’t find a house’.”
State Food and Civil Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao retaliated at once, saying, “The BJP continues to claim that everything is hunky dory and that incidents are misrepresented. Nobody is perfect and it's wrong to expect that, but we do face a lot of issues. Was the President of India talking through his hat when he mentioned intolerance? The problem is when you say things are okay when they clearly are not.”
The other panelists took a much more intellectual view of things, although their voices were quickly drowned out in the melee. Mohandas Pai drew hearty applause for saying,
“The debate on intolerance is completely ideological. If you have a problem with the BJP, fight it out with them. But don’t demean India as a whole.We are very tolerant people.”
The heart of the problem, he said, lies in a lack of law and order and rule of law. “If those who commit hate crimes and punished swiftly, there will be no more of them. Let’s not confuse the lack of justice with intolerance.”
Shangvi, who began by remarking that language is what he knows best, said, “Let’s define intolerance. I will give a grant of Rs 1.5 lakh to anyone who can give me a scholarly, academic definition of that term.” That set off a ripple with several other panelists offering up grants of their own, to groans from the audience.
The situation deteriorated pretty quickly after that, taking on a Congress vs BJP stance. As Sampath remarked at the end, barely having managed to squeeze in a sentence sideways, “It’s quite fitting that I'm in the centre. It’s fairly obvious that the centre never has a say!” In the end, a member from the audience provided a satisfactory conclusion, with one young woman saying, “We talk of tolerance and intolerance like we’re doing each other favours. The Hindus act like they’re doing everyone else a favour, the left acts that way with the right and so on. We’re one country, after all, why can’t we all just live in peace?”
Vikram makes his point, reads from DC
Author Vikram Sampath opened the inflamed debate on intolerance by reading an excerpt from an article he wrote for Deccan Chronicle, after the death of Professor Kalburgi. He opened with a prominent hymn from the Rig Veda and went on to say, “Each time an M.M. Kalburgi, Govind Pansare or Narendra Dabholkar are brutally murdered in broad daylight, a T.J. Joseph’s hands are chopped off, a Shireen Dalvi, James Laine or Perumal Murugan are violently silenced or a Salman Rushdie, Sanal Edamaruku, M.F. Hussain or Tasleema Nasreen are forced into exile, it is this essence of India and Indian thought that is grievously attacked.”
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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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