Sunday, February 17, 2013

Of hate, hurt and intolerance


Channel surfer


By
Randeep Wadehra

As this piece is being readied for submission the CNN-IBN anchor gestures towards the “sea of humanity” at the Kumbh. “Today, it is Mauni Amavasya – an occasion for silent introspection” she informs. Hmm…

But, both silence and introspection are rare commodities on news TV, where hurt, hate and intolerance made their presence felt last week. Like the Vishwaroopam controversy that managed to manufacture hurt in miniscule pockets of Tamil Nadu… but enough to halt the flick’s release in the state’s theatres. So, even as a cleric on Times Now assiduously displayed his hurt psyche Arnab Goswami’s query whether he had seen the movie brought him to a sputtering halt, albeit temporarily. While the sense of hurt was being sorted out Kamal Haasan displayed his version of hurt psyche which consisted such elements as the right to free expression, his “mortgaged” property and following MF Hussain’s footsteps leading to exile abroad. Even as decibel levels on various talk shows ascended, silence ensued when the movie was released to packed house in Tamil Nadu.

But the transient nature of silence manifested itself in the Pragaash (literally light or band of lights; also from darkness to light – depending on the context). Even as the three-girl band won the Battle of Bands in Kashmir, threats thundered across the cyberspace, culminating in a fatwa from the Grand Mufti that silenced the three children, triggering off rather raucous rows in news TV studios. Liberals and secularists questioned the fatwa’s relevance and legitimacy; the fundamentalist brigades peddled hate filled ideology. When one set talked of extremist excesses in Kashmir the other raked up the Ayodhya issue… and then there was the Dukhtaraan-e-Millat chief Aasia Andrabi, declaring on an Indian TV channel – on Indian soil – that Kashmir was not a part of India. Arnab Goswami’s tongue-clucking-finger-wagging response notwithstanding.

So, even as the Pragaash kids fell silent, Praveen Togadia decided to make a high-decibel entry. He managed to out Owaisi Akbaruddin Owaisi as far as hate and intolerance were concerned. One is not sure of the damage done to India’s already frayed social fabric by the fusillades fired by the two firebrand political rabble-rousers, but there was a definite collateral damage in the form of hurt canine psyche.

Hate and hurt narratives are like our Hindi TV soaps – episodic, predictable and seemingly never-ending. So, even as these were being played out on the television screens BJP’s boss Rajnath Singh triggered off a chain reaction by praising Modi in public. Taking this as an endorsement, albeit informal, for Modi’s projection as PM candidate for the 2014 General Elections, the Sinha duo – Yashwant and Shatrughan – decided to air their angst in public. Singh responded by issuing gag orders, which were apparently not taken too seriously if one goes by what Maneka Gandhi, Ram Jethmalani et al had to say on Modi’s candidature. Even as this cantata was subsiding, the Rahul versus Modi debate started doing the rounds of various news channels. So, once again, the 2002 Gujarat bloodbath was pitted against the 1984 slaughter…

Just some stray reflections. Will Malala Yousufzai’s appearance on TV last week and assertion of her resolve to continue her campaign for spreading education among girls in Pakistan prove to be the silver lining to those Talibanish dark clouds or merely a firefly waging a futile war against the amavasya of ignorance and intolerance?  Would the Pragaash girls summon enough courage to prove the relevance of their band’s name? Will the sane society back them? Finally, can the Allahabad Sangam’s holy rivers wash away all the Owaisi-Togadia brand hate, hurt and intolerance? Hope they do.

Published in The Financial World dated 11 February, 2013

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