by B. R. GOWANI
Actor Shah Rukh Khan during an interview he gave to NDTV’s Barkha Dutt on his 50th birthday. PHOTO/NDTV
Religious militancy had never been absent from South Asia but the increase in the number of communal incidents and death and destruction is a recent phenomenon. Pakistan saw its latest emergence in the early 1970s but its deadly face showed up in the late 1970s in both Pakistan and Afghanistan when the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan joined hands to fight the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in the name of “jihad.” India experienced communalism’s truly ugly face in 1991 when the Congress government of Narasimha Rao didn’t stop the Hindu goons from demolishing the 17th century Babri Masjid (mosque), which they claimed was the birthplace of mythical Hindu god Rama. Within a few years of its creation in 1971, Bangladesh saw religious elements exerting indirect influence over the government. At present, the situation is such that publishers, proponents of separation of church and state, atheist bloggers, women are murdered or stoned to death. Sri Lanka’s Buddhist monks have gone crazy too. South Asia is in a sad state right now.
From cricket matches to nuclear weapons, for India and Pakistan any kind of encounter is no less than a war. So the rise in deadly Islamic militancy in Pakistan had to be answered with a Hindu militancy. And so it is. The pre and post election of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Narendra Modi has seen unbelievable level of intolerance. Of course, there is a difference between the Muslim militants in Pakistan (or for that matter all over the world) and its Hindu counterparts in India. Islamists are basically tactless and indulge in barbaric violence to get control over people, whereas the Hindu extremists cleverly spread their wings through electoral process. Their party is in power at present. After coming to power, Prime Minister Modi has kept his communalism to himself but has rarely asked the hatemongers of his party, and other extremist Hindu groups who are part of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, to keep their mouth shut.
On November 2, 2015, talking to NDTV on his fiftieth birthday, Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan was asked his views on writers, scientists, and others returning their awards to the government and/or government institutes because of the rise in communal violence and killing of people in the name of religion. SRK said:
“Religious intolerance is the worst thing and will take India to the dark ages.”
“Our religion cannot be defined or showed respect to by our meat-eating habits. How banal and silly is that.”
SRK is the most famous actor in the world. He is Muslim, and being one of the top most actors in India, his views are sought whenever there is tension/riots between Hindus and Muslims or incidents where Hindu fanatics try to intimidate the minority Muslim community or Muslim extremists have indulged in terror acts. SRK didn’t mention any Hindu leader or any Hindu party but just expressed his views as to where the religious bigotry could lead India to. Recently, a Muslim man was murdered because, it was alleged, that he had a cow meat in his refrigerator, which actually was mutton.
Hindu bigots were just waiting to pounce on SRK. Sadhvi Prachi criticized Khan:
“Shah Rukh Khan is an agent of neighbouring country Pakistan as he reflects their (Pakistan’s) ideology. Such a man should go to Pakistan.”
Sadhvi Parachi has, in the past, criticized Khan’s films for not imparting proper values to children. She was wrong.
Actress/filmmaker Aparna Sen responded to Sadhvi Prachi:
“Can’t believe Sadhvi’s reaction to SRK on tv! They’re ones who want to break the country apart! There should be legal action against her!”
One BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya said SRK is “anti-nationalist” and his “soul” is in Pakistan while he lives in India.
Then came BJP Member of Parliament Yogi Adityanath:
“I am saying these people are speaking the language of terror. I think there is no difference in the language of Shah Rukh Khan and Hafiz Saeed [a Pakistani believed to be behind the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks].” “We welcome that people go there (Pakistan), at least people who defame India will understand their own originality.”
He then added:
“If the majority community boycotted his films, he would be on the streets like an ordinary Muslim.”
The only moment of pleasant relief in this SRK saga came when Kapil Mishra of Aam Aadmi Party, who is Tourism Minister of India’s capital city Delhi, tweeted:
“SRK is Hafeez Saeed, Badal is Mandela, Modi is biggest thing happened to India and 70 per cent Indians are Pakis (Pakistani) for not voting BJP.”
(Parkash Singh Badal is Punjab’s Chief Minister; Pakis is a derogatory term used for South Asians in England and elsewhere.)
BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli was quick to distance the ruling party from the statements issued by some of its members:
“There cannot be any comparison of any law- abiding Indian citizen with a terrorist like Hafiz Saeed, certainly not Shah Rukh Khan who is a much loved and respected Indian national and artiste.”
Maharashtra based thuggish party Shiv Sena had enough sense this time to not go after SRK. Because it could not win due to SRK’s popularity. BJP’s official position has the same reason behind it.
However, the fire of communalism is not going to die down so easily.
B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com