"HIS (Vinod Mehta) voice is missed in the present climate, when dissent is being stifled, when the minorities feel increasingly insecure, when the secular fabric of our society is threatened, when bigotry and obscurantism seem to flourish unchecked," Congress president Sonia Gandhi had spoken in one of her trademark passionate and combative short speech on the occasion of presentation of GK Reddy award to the former Outlook Editor.
Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi have not written even one of their speech yet. Her lamentation on "intolerance", "bigotry", "obscurantism" was delivered on May 9 this year. The speech writer was understandably Jairam Ramesh.
No rationalist writers were killed by May 9 either in Karnataka and Maharashtra. None was yet lynched to death on rumour of having eaten beef. Yet, Sonia Gandhi bemoaned lack of a writer in Mehta who was "passionate upholder of our democratic and secular ideals, who harboured sympathy for the disempowered and held no fear of the rich and powerful".
Mehta was a journalist and not a politician as stated in the description. Sonia Gandhi was sending her message loud and clear to the target. In less than five months, her message was decoded and acted upon. Forty Sahitya Akademy awardees have so far surrendered their awards; some with prize money also. Fugitive author Salman Rushdie also lent his support to the rebels in writers, and educated Indians about his rich vocabulary by terming his critics as "Modi toadies".
Nayantara Sehgal, whose identity is from her lineage with Nehru, was among the first to surrender the Sahitya Akademy award. Later, she claimed smart cities would be of no use if "stupid" people lived in them. Ghulam Nabi Khayal from Jammu and Kashmir was more clear on his reasons and he stated that "ever since the BJP came to power...".
Writers from Karnataka to Kashmir, from Gujrat to Assam have joined the rat race to return their Sahitya Akademy awards. The number will only swell. They all rant and bemoan the silence of Narendra Modi. And they have seemingly proved that they are rattled with the rise of Modi.
The writers making news have circumstantial records against them on their pains for communal harmony. On close scrutiny, they may even be found to have been the beneficiaries of the Nehruvian "left-turn" in literature and history writing. None of them ever took pains to write on disappearance of Subhash Chandra Bose. It took the doggedness of the journalist turned researcher Anuj Dhar to demolish the myth perpetuated by the Congress in the country. Even when the Sikhs were butchered in 1984 and democracy was murdered during Emergency, these anguished writers chose to keep their inks dried. No Muslim writer has yet penned the pathos of the Kashmiri pundits.
That the worst communal frenzy and in fact of much larger proportion than the post-Godhra riots took place in Muzaffarnagar and its adjoining areas in western Uttar pradesh under the watch of the "secular" chief minister of the state Akhilesh Yadav missed the radar of these writers with great ease is a tale not yet told. They did not pay heed to the blatant communal politicking of Mulayam Singh Yadav and AzamKhan in Uttar Pradesh till the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as well. They did not even know that the people of western UP turned rabidly communal in a span of a few years. Their communal frenzy devoured the Muslim man in Dadri most recently.
Writers are the conscience keepers of the society. But they opted to barter the might of their pen to become carriers of the agenda of political parties for gains. They lobby for awards. They sing songs of glory of those who are in power. That India has not seen a Munshi Premchand or Ramdhari Singh Dinkar for ages tell the larger tales that these media attention hungry writers have contributed the least in evolving a multi-cultural and tolerant society in India.
The rebellion of "pen" against Modi is nothing but a snobbish, hypocritical, and paranoid response of a tribe which fear arrival of an assertive "right" on social and political mainstream.
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Postscript:
Khuswant Singh's views apart, the question which must agitate a rationale mind is that how come a government is in the business of giving awards notwithstanding the fact that such bodies are autonomous (only for the namesake).
The manner in which scores of writers and those engaged with theater have returned their awards suggest a pattern without any doubt.
And on cue a "discussion" was held at Indian National Press Club. The capacity audience listened to panel with full attention, with a few foreigner media professional dropping in to feel the pulse of the people. They had a few books at display, which included the likes of "Ath Modi Katha", "Hamara Sabse Bada Dushman -- with cover having two photos, one of Adolf Hitler and another of the RSS activists in a march", "Moditva--Hinduvadi sarkar ka Sanghi Abhiyan", etc. All the books on the display had one thing in common, that they are authored by those whose hatred for the RSS and Narendra Modi, besides the BJP run in their blood.
The Congress leader and former MP Sandeep Dikshit too had dropped in for this discussion, but he chose to slip away when it dawned upon him, that the political facade behind which the writers are seeking to hide may fall off.
3 comments:
Well and clearly put. There is no disagreeing on any of the points. The fact is that Congress and the first family has still not come to terms with the fact that it has no stake in the power structure. So, they will do everything possible to queer the pitch for Modi.
Congressmen and women and their secular (read SICKULAR) ‘Cahoots’ tend to believe in their sheer self justification that, - If we believe in the Family and show loyalty we cannot be guilty. But the spirit of salvation is linked to a desperation.
Thus, the desperation against Narendra Modi. My understanding is Netaji kin meeting with PM Modi was announced well in advance and thus in a manner the Congress gameplan was ‘attack’ is a way of defence.
Can the writers' protest be linked to fantastically orchestrated Congress game as none of these supposed intellectuals had in the past questioned or lamented over the wrong doings/happenings during the Congress regime in last 60 years.
Thanks Prashant; you've rightly stated diagnosed the origin of discomfort.
Thanks Nirendra Dev; You've made quite a powerful statement, which is also talk of the town.
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