Nobel Laureate and
economist Amartya Sen said in a lecture, “The problem is not that Indians have turned intolerant. In-fact to the
contrary we have been much too tolerant of intolerance. When people in minority
are attacked by organized detractors, they need our support. This is I am
afraid not happening adequately right now and this did not happen adequately
earlier." This is the sad reality of today. We come across so many real-life
injustices in our daily life, but we never try to take any step to correct it.
I don’t know how many times a person has raised his voice against these
injustices. On the contrary when it comes to put up our views against someone
who might have a different belief then we speak with full vigor.
India lost MF Hussain who was one of the finest painters due to this
attitude of intolerance. ‘Vichar Mimansa’
a Hindi monthly magazine published some of his paintings which depicted nude
Hindu Goddesses. Many Hindu organizations lodged criminal complaints against
him for the paintings. His paintings in the exhibitions were vandalized and his
house was attacked. The judgement of the cases came in his favor. The judge
said that
Indian art has never been bereft of eroticism. The communion of man and woman
is a common feature of these paintings. There are couple of examples like the
erotic couples painting in Bhubaneshwar, Puri and Konark in Odisha, Khujrao in
Madhya Pradesh and many more. Hussain left India and got the citizenship of
Qatar and never returned. We don’t feel annoyed when a woman is mistreated but
the depiction of nude Goddesses upset us.
Salman Rushdie a well-known writer was given a fatwa for his
book Sanatic Verses. The book was banned in India. In our country an
objectionable information shared on social media can put you behind the bars. A
person was put behind bars for questioning about the exponentially increasing
wealth of Karti Chidambram the son of India’s ex Finance Minister Chidambaram Palaniappan.
We brazenly put our views on anything happening around us
but never address the real issues. The Ayodhya issue is a never-ending case in
the courts. It has been getting the undue attention for a long time. The real
issues such as unemployment, inflation, women safety is being ignored because
we are driven by emotionally charged issues. The real issues don’t affect us
until the burden falls upon us.
The topic of homosexuality has been a heated topic in India.
In 1996 the film ‘Fire’ gained a lot of controversy as the story portrayed the
lesbian relationship between two protagonist Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das. The
theaters screening the movie were attacked. The Supreme Court judgement
regarding the amendment of section 377 of the penal code to decriminalizes
homosexuality in India resulted in many fiery debates. The All India Muslim
Board tweeted, “Legalizing
homosexuality is against Indian values and culture. No religion allows
immorality. The government must pass a bill to protect the rights of women as
they are the major victims of legalized homosexuality.” The people who condemned the court decision
didn’t care about the rights of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and
Queer (LGBTQ) community. The LGBTQ community has been deprived of the freedom
which the Constitution guarantees them. We cannot understand the violation of
rights the community has faced in all the years before the judgement came. They
were forced to live a life of secrecy. The people are hostile towards them in
the name of Indian culture and ethics which is purely wrong. People are not
empathetic towards them and questions them according to their beliefs.
Jawaharlal Nehru said in his address to the constituent
assemble, “At the stroke of the
midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom”. India is yet to awake to make
this country a better place to live in. The people should refrain from this
casual attitude towards the real-life injustices. A single voice if raised can
do wonders. We had seen that in the Satyagraha by Mahatma Gandhi. We must be
more tolerant for other views since it is their right given by the Indian Constitution
to express themselves freely. Change must come from within. If we wish to
change the society, we must imbibe that change in ourselves before trying to
implement it on others.
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