8/18/2019 Debate on - Intolerance in India Cre 5 Ipc

1/3

IPC CRE 5- Debate

The debate over rising intolerance in India

India as a nation has had its instances of religious intolerance for as long as it has

existed as a historic and political entity. Right from the Direct Action Day thatturned Calcutta into a stage of bloodbath and gore before the Independence, Indira

Gandhi being murdered by her own bodyguards for religious reasons and the

resultant backlash that ikhs suffered afterwards, the !ombay Riots of "##$, the

Godhra genocide of %&&" to the recent e'ents at (u)affarnagar, there are instances

aplenty where India*s secular identity has been faced with embarrassing +uestions.

he situation has only been aggra'ated by the recent gunning down of rationalist

and -annada writer (( -alburgi and lynching of a man in Dadri for allegedly

consuming beef, preceded by the go'ernments of (aharashtra and Guarat banning

consumption of beef.

peaking on the matter, noted economist !ibek Debroy reasoned that such le'els of 

intolerance ha'e always existed and it would be foolish on our parts if we do not

acknowledge it. /e belie'es that if +uantitati'e parameters like communal 'iolence,

religious intolerance, caste and gender discrimination, freedom of expression and

the like are taken into consideration, it will become clear that such instances ha'e

been pre'alent. It is not on the rise now, but has always been an intrinsic part of 

the intellectual circuit.

 What flared the protests?

0ooking back, e'er since C1I leader Go'ind 1ansare was shot in 2ebruary %&"3 for

his autobiography on hi'ai titled 4hi'ai -aun /ota5, there has been latent

discontent among the thinking population of the nation. 6hen -alburgi, who is

known for his progressi'e ideas on caste and communalism, was shot in August,

the intellectuals retaliated to growing intolerance and rise of unwarranted fringe

religious groups by returning their awards.

ome of the prominent names in this regard ha'e been literary figures like 7day

1rakash, 8ayantara ahgal, CR 1rasad, - Ra'ikumar, 9: Ramakrishnan, urit

1atar, !alde' ingh adaknama, /arde' Chauhan, Raesh ;oshi, (anglesh Dabral,Ghulam 8abi -hayal, and G8 Ranganatha Rao, poets (andakranta en, Darshan

!uttar, and ;aswinder, and a famed translator named Chaman 0al. hey ha'e been

 oined by (aya Rao, a noted danseuse and theatre performer, !engali actor udipta

Chakraborty, and nationally

8/18/2019 Debate on - Intolerance in India Cre 5 Ipc

2/3

All of them ha'e cited the issue of growing intolerance = as well as restrictions

being imposed on freedom of expression = as the main reason for such actions.

Author and acti'ist Arundhati Roy feels that these nuances of 'iolence are an attack

on the >collecti'e I?* of the people and one needs to stand up to it. hahrukh -han,

too, is of a similar opinion which has gi'en a new dimension to this intellectual

mo'ement.

!e it less 'ehement, the go'ernment and /indu acti'ists, ha'e in their own way

reacted to the incidence of returning of awards. !arbs were traded as usual

between 8arendra (odi and Rahul Gandhi, with the latter critici)ing the supposed

intolerant attitude of the go'ernment and the former hitting back with a ibe at him.

(ukhtar Abbas 8a+'i had stated that people returning the awards ha'e been

forgotten a long time back perhaps implying that this is an attempt on their part to

come back to limelight yet again. Rakesh inha, an R sympathi)er, was of the

opinion that the ones returning the awards were ones who had protested the ascent

of 8DA to power in %&"@, may be implying that the moti'e is purely political and

not cultural and humanitarian as it is being made out to be. Arun ;aitley has stated

that these intellectuals are staunch opponents of !;1 and the opinions of 7ma

!harti were on similar lines.

Ranath ingh ad'ised people returning awards to refrain from doing so and speak

to 8arendra (odi instead. he C( of (aharashtra termed the whole gesture as a

form of hypocrisy stating that their moti'es are suspicious. he addition of hah

Rukh -han to the brigade has changed the entire dynamics though

 ‘Fight Intolerance do not ret!rn a"ards#

/owe'er, it would be wrong to assume that the creati'e figures met with no

opposition from the members of their own fraternity. Celebrated musician Bubin

(ehta openly stated that he does not understand the logic behind all the artists

returning their awards. :idya !alan, and interestingly enough hah Rukh -han as

well, said that they will not be returning their awards. /owe'er, the most pertinent

criticism has come from -amal /aasan, who has found the gesture to be pointless,

and has said that it is insulting the go'ernment and the people who ha'e conferred

the honour on them. /e has asked them = whom he has termed talented and

capable = to keep their national awards and instead fight against the intolerance of the go'ernment.

 The debate

he main +uestion that needs to be asked in this context is that is it right to return

the awards. !efore we come to the answer, it needs to be taken into consideration

8/18/2019 Debate on - Intolerance in India Cre 5 Ipc

3/3

that India has seen more gruesome instances of 'iolation of communal harmony

time and again in its history. 6hat makes the recent spate of incidents so different

Is it the fact that certain states are banning consumption of beef In that case it

needs to be taken into consideration that Guarat = one of the two states to ha'e

banned consumption of beef = also bars alcohol consumption. Do the incidents at

the 1une 2ilm and ele'ision Institute ha'e anything to do with all this

he next issue that we need to consider is why the protests are happening now, or

are they being unnecessarily highlighted now Among the people returning the

awards some had been conferred with the honour when the pre'ious 8DA was in

power. 6hat has changed in the past few years that has led them to take such a

drastic step Is it an expression of no confidence in (odi during whose term as a

Chief (inister the Godhra Riots had taken place

It needs to be remembered that in his own way (odi is attempting to set things

right by way of programmes such as (ake in India and financial facilities for therural poor. Can these attempts be 'iewed as efforts to undermine that and be

interpreted as an effort to hark back to his less