Deepa Mehta's _Fire_

[Shailendra Dhar]

It is outright shocking that there are attempts at justification of such
barbarity.
That there is externally sponsored terrorism in India - is a fact but it escapes
me how  can that provide, someone, satisfaction over the dastardly killing of
the missionary. I dont see what  J & K terrorism has to to with torching of a
missionary and his two little children- and this one has worked for 34 yrs
among the lepers in Orissa-lepers whom our society shuns. In any case in J& K,
terrorists have killed more muslims  than hindus. Muslims  who opposed sectarian
fanaticism of outsider terrorists.

In a society where all religious places are held sacred and all religious men
held in reverence there will be nothing but revulsion to such acts. Events of
the recent past have clearly shown this. The condemnation has been far too
severe and widespread for the comforts of the ideologues of fanaticism. And
no-one, no-one whosoever dares to support such acts in India because it is clear
to us that the Hindu majority  feels shamed and insulted at these attacks. What
the Bajrang Dal seeks ..this is not the Hindu ethos we have evolved  in - any
attempts at transforming this homogenizing and tolerant ethos into a sectarian
and violent creed akin to some of  of those islamic identities (like in the
neighboring Pakistan) is, above all, impossible ..attitudes and values in a
traditional and ancient  society are  a fruition of thousands of years of
evolution..no sectarian political attempts can alter that.
Sooner these groups realise this the better. Lessons of Babri Masjid episode are
far too obvious to everyone- when BJP lost  elections in all the states where it
was in power prior to the demolition. And that was the reason that a sidelined
and shunted Atal Bihari Vajpayee( who had severely criticised the demolition the
day after - in my presence ..I am a journalist ) was summoned to reestablish its
credential among the so called Hindu vote bank. Criticism of  sectarian  and
communal politics of minorities is one thing and perpetuation of violence
against religious identities is quite another. That the hawkish forces have used
a tolerant and compassionate Vajpayee-image has always been known to all. And
also was clear to all that the Hindu majority identifies itself more with a
tolerant and moderate leadership than the adventurists and  fanatics. Secularism
has never been a slogan in India, it has always been a  way of life- religious
tolerance again is something inherent to Hindu ethos ..not  a matter of judgment
or viewpoint. We have more Gods than one can count.  Should not one try to
understand that this age old world view cant simply be grafted with  a
hierarchical sectarian outlook just because it suits the political interests of
a group and just because in the very short term they can sometimes manipulate
the frustrations of semi- urbanised middle classes of india who like in most
transitional societies are going though  a very difficult time.

Such attempts are  not only historically misplaced but also outrightly criminal.





Sumedh Mungee wrote:

> Tragedy, eh ? Well, we Hindus are getting used to it. In case you
> haven't noticed, Hindus are being massacred every day. But they don't
> get burnt in cars - most of them don't own cars, you see..
>
> Here are some pictures for you:
>
> http://www.kashmir-information.com/Atrocities/
>
> Feel free to scroll down the page. Notice that the count of victims is
> far more than 3. (Oh, but they aren't Christians)
>