From: Dilip Simeon's Blog
NB: The Indian governing elite's mode of dealing with communalism should by now be clear: it refuses to implement the rule of law in matters of violence, intimidation, life and death, but is willing to make symbolic concessions that feed the communalists' appetite for 'hurt sentiments'. Thus in Gopalgarh, Rajasthan, the administration failed to protect citizens in September 2011 in an incident that cost nine lives: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2604598.ece
Now as if in mock recompense, the same adminstration panders to rank communalists in their drummed up fury against Rushdie. (Interested commentators might also investigate the current Union Law Minister's position on this controversy when it erupted in 1988, and his stance on the hounding of Jamia's then Pro-VC Mushirul Hasan because of his opposition to the ban on Satanic Verses). Our government panders to every type of hooliganism, and trusts us to seek refuge in symbols.
Here's some information that makes my point: Until 1984, official (GOI) representations of Bhagat Singh were in popular iconic form, clean shaven with moustache hat, and revolver. Then Operation Blue Star (to clear the Golden Temple of terrorists) and the events of October-November 1984 took place. Indira Gandhi was assassinated, and thousands of Sikh citizens of Delhi were brutally murdered. The criminal justice system failed to work.
On 23 March 1985, GOI advertisements reminding us of the greatness of the man showed Bhagat Singh wearing a turban & beard, along with Sukhdev and Rajguru wearing some version of Nehru cap. (The change was too obvious not to notice). At the time Delhi police were refusing to register FIR's on dozens of cases of killings of Sikhs in India's capital and the High Court had refused to entertain PUDR's plea that it order the police to perform their functions.
But on March 23, our babus, instead of implementing our Constitution, suddenly discovered that Bhagat Singh was a Sikh! It was so nice of them to remember. Now of course, we are all in the know as to the link between secular justice and iconography..
This institutionalised hypocrisy cuts across political divisions, is rooted in the state structure rather than in parties, and is common (in various permutations & combinations) to all political leadership. Indian secularism has been reduced to a mutual back-scratching game of communalists - you tolerate my bullshit, I tolerate yours. The central point: of strict implementation of law and criminal justice, of preventing violence and intimidation in the name of hurt sentiment, is avoided by everyone. This cycle of intimidation will continue until public opinion is able to insist upon the fair and even-handed administration of criminal justice.
Is the Inquisition dead? For those who need reminding that it's still with us, here's the epitaph on the tomb of Cardinal Saint Roberto Bellarmino, Cardinal-Inquisitor who tried Galileo for heresy in 1633: "With force I have subdued the brains of the proud"
Damn hurt sentiment. Long live blasphemy!
Dilip
Also see:
http://www.firstpost.com/politics/muslim-politics-and-rushdie-why-2012-is-not-1988-178331.html
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Salman-Rushdie-persuaded-to-stay-away-from-Jaipur-Literature-Festival/articleshow/11517786.cms
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