The Salman Rushdie incident was quite in the expected lines. An election is due in a State having a sizeable Muslim population, the National Governing Party desperate to scrap for every single seat it can get to showcase the 'vote catching ability' of its leader to be, Forward Hindu votes not significant, the Hindu OBC votes aligned with one of its rival Samajwadi Party, and the Dalits firmly behind Mayawatis BSP, Christian vote insignificant, a Central Government that has nothing to boast of, the only thing that could be harvested is the Muslim vote. Hence, the collusion with Muslim fundamentalists to ask for a ban on Rushdie visiting India, on a two decade old issue, which even, Iran (the originator of the Fatwa against Rushdie), has forgotten long long ago.
Another expected response is from the so called secular, liberated intellectuals who jump in with their candle lights and fiery speeches whenever they 'think' the freedom of speech is jeopardised. But this 'freedom of speech' as far as they are concerned is only when Hindu's object to anything defamatory written or said about them, but never extended to when Muslims or Christians, ask for a ban. Thus the expected response was exactly as expected - No response!. The Arundhathi Roys, Mahesh Bhatts, Girish Karnards, Aruna Roys have all gone hiding.
It was really amusing to read the articles in newspapers and watch debates on TV. Every sentence against ban on Rushdie was unfairly hyphenated with the M F Hussain issue. Both of them apparently insulted religious sentiments - Rushdie by writing about Prophet Mohammed and Hussain by painting Hindu Goddesses in a deregatory manner. But the parallel ends there.
Rushdie was virtually threatened and browbeated by the Government, and asked to stay out of India. Even his speech via video was banned. This was Government sponsored ban. The authors who read from his banned book in the Lit Festival were hounded out.
As against this M F Hussain absconded on his own to Qatar, not having the guts to face the Legal system in India. There were hundreds of cases filed against him, which was strictly in accordance with the law, and the right of every citizen who feels insulted by the painter. True, there were hundreds of cases. The popular refrain was that the 90 year old man would have to run from court to court for the rest of his life. This is pure humbug. He had the right to ask the Courts to club all similar cases into a single case and fight it, which he should have. Instead, he ran away like a common criminal. There was a non bailable arrest warrant against him. And our Government, instead of asking the Indian Embassy in Qatar to revoke his passport, and extradite him back to India, soft footed and encouraged him to settle down abroad, and finally take a Qatari citizenship, thus facilitating him to break the law of the land!!.
Thus the two cases cannot be hyphenated. In the case of Rushdie, Government colluded with the complainants and ensured he did not enter India or speak over video, but in the case of M F Husain, the Government sided with the peretrator of the offence, Husain, and allowed him to break the law at will. The Government responses were as different as chalk and cheese.
The Muslims, if they were offended by Rushdie, could have approached the Courts and have a decree passed that withdrew his People of Indian Origin status, that enables him to enter and exit India freely, and also to proceed against him legally for offending their sentiments. But they knew they dont have a leg to stand on, as the Case would have been inadmissible, since the incident happened 25 years ago, and Rushdie has visited India many times since.
The Muslims, if they were offended by Rushdie, could have approached the Courts and have a decree passed that withdrew his People of Indian Origin status, that enables him to enter and exit India freely, and also to proceed against him legally for offending their sentiments. But they knew they dont have a leg to stand on, as the Case would have been inadmissible, since the incident happened 25 years ago, and Rushdie has visited India many times since.
Heck, it was never the Muslims who objected to it. The fundamental clerics played right into the hands of Congress, who used them as a pawn to get political mileage. The Congress was upto its old games - divide and rule. And the loser is the ordinary Muslims, who are again viewed as anti progressive, when in reality they dont care one way or other about Rushdie. So much the pity.
Now my take on this. I am for freedom of expression, but with restraint. Any freedom comes with many responsibilities. If you abuse the freedom, then you have to expect retribution. But the recourse to hurt sentiments lie in getting the violator punished by a Court of law. And in India, it takes a quarter of a century to get a guy convicted. So we are back to the root cause - poor legal system and delay in delivering justice. If people like M F Hussain, Rushdie, Arundhathi Roy et al will know that they can be behind bars in less than 2 years, with no special facility inside the jail, then they are likely to think twice before they put pen or brush on paper. What we have now is lawlessness.
