Out of intense love for his fellow citizens, in 1884, at the age of 22, Rabindranath Tagore composed the song Borisho dhora majhe shantiro bari….Keno e hingshadesh, keno e choddobesh, keno e maan obhimaan/Bitoro bitoro prem pashano hridoye/Joyo joyo hok tomari. When rising levels of violence and intolerance threatened peace and security throughout the subcontinent, Tagore had envisioned the rain of peace to fall on earth - to wash away all violence, darkness, sorrows, malice and deception.
As a mystical writer, he wrote about purity of heart, hate and jealousy, arrogance, pride, people's safety, social rights, elimination of all forms of discrimination, and most importantly, about our minds to be without any fear in spreading the joy of love. He wrote about an idyllic place where all cultures and religiously different ideologies can seamlessly co-exist in mutual harmony.
One hundred and twenty-eight years after writing the above invigorating song, Tagore's vision hasn't fully transpired in Bangladesh and India. With hollow hearts, men and women are still waiting for the metaphorical rain of peace. We yet have to find that tranquil place where barriers between people are removed and intolerance doesn't spiral out of control. We still need to establish what the true meaning of secularism is without censoring the thoughts of others or making the free-thinkers submit to fear and intimidation. We are still hopeful that with pure hearts and resilient souls, we will remove the obstacles where there would be no need for hatred, disguise and emotional warfare. We hope love will enter our uncharitable hearts and we will be triumphant.
Since a number of people have died in a recent wave of violence, 2015 has been a particularly trying year for both Bangladesh and India. It is clear that we have failed to live up to Tagore's idea of freedom. We have forgotten how to be taken up into this kind of imagination, because, we as a community have forgotten to be nurturing humans in order to live with others with different ideas, beliefs, customs and traditions.
Cruelty, in extreme form, has sneaked in, and its shadow is all around us, enticing some to unleash their anger of intolerance on others. They are killing others because of unrestrained sentiments which have been at the root of so much turmoil and confusion this year.
Brutally murdering those who exercise their freedom of expression, by writing down their thoughts on secular matters or those who publish books on secular ideas, is not something what Tagore had imagined. Â
Since the October 31 hacking of publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan to death, hundreds of writers, poets, artists, filmmakers and activists took to the streets to protest against the murder with vehemence. They were also demonstrating against the attempted murders of another publisher Ahmed Rashid Tutul, poet Tareq Rahim and writer Ranadipam Basu.
On November 05, activists of Ganajagoron Mancha marched towards home ministry carrying 'symbolic coffins' to protest against the ruthless murder of Dipan.
This past Friday, in Dhaka, the Alliance for Prevention of Militancy and Communism took out a torchlight procession from Shaheed Minar to protest against the recent murders and to voice an opinion about the growing climate of intimidation, fear and insecurity in the face of terrorism and communalism.
While all these are happening in Bangladesh, the neighbouring India is also facing a tumultuous unrest of its own, from the intelligentsia, a class or group who try to guide the artistic, literary and the social development in the country. They are the writers, activists, filmmakers, artists and the scientists who are returning their awards back to the government.
After the murders of rationalists M M Kalburgi in Karnataka and Narendra Dabholkar in Maharashtra who were at odds with Hindu hardliners for their independent opinions on social and religious matters, the civil society is openly expressing their disgust at communal violence and attack on the intellectuals. They are angry because the Modi government is blending religion and politics as a form of experiment.
Since the September lynching of an Indian Muslim villager on the rumour that he had eaten beef for dinner, the Indian civil society has risen in one angry voice and is objecting an increasingly toxic environment of fear and insecurity.
On November 04, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi accused the atmosphere of religious intolerance being 'manufactured' by RSS and BJP while talking to journalists in New Delhi. He strongly criticised Modi for not speaking up against the lynching of the Muslim man.
A day earlier, on November 03, Congress president Sonia Gandhi led a march to Rashtrapati Bhaban to make an appeal to President Pranab Mukherjee to use his constitutional power to end the 'atmosphere of intolerance' and to end rising violence and communal murders. Sonia Gandhi also blamed Modi and BJP for their 'well thought-out' strategy to divide the Indian society.
According to India This Week, Union Minister Prakesh Javedekar described the Congress's protest as a political stunt. Amidst criticism about the various recent unfortunate incidents, Modi himself weighed in on this at a rally in Bihar. He said, 'Doobmaro…. (drown in shame). The Congress leaders have no right to talk about tolerance when they were involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, in Delhi, after Indira Gandhi was assassinated.
The Congress immediately shot back by labelling Narendra Modi, 'an endorser of intolerance' as a reference to 2002 Gujarat riots.
BJP MP Yogi Adityanath was very upset with Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan for speaking about escalation of intolerance in India. To add insult to injury, another BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya suggested that Shah Rukh Khan should move to Pakistan because he spoke like Hafiz Saeed. Saeed is under media gag in Pakistan. However, he took this opportunity by tweeting to Shah Rukh where he welcomed him in Pakistan.
Columnist Khaled Ahmed, with The India Express, wrote a hilarious opinion piece listing all the pros and cons of Khan migrating to Pakistan. Shah Rukh Khan said he is not returning his 2005 Padma Sri award. He feels his award was given to him for his contribution to the film-making industry.
Writer Arundhuti Roy and dozens of Bollywood figures now have joined hundreds of writers, playwrights, historians, actors and scientists to express their concern over the growing trend of intolerance in India under the NDA regime.
Over the past month more than 40 poets, novelists, playwrights gave back their national awards from Sahitya Akademi. Roy also is giving back her 1989 award for best screen play to protest against the 'growing culture of fear and censorship fostered by the government' that encourages the 'lynching, shouting, burning and mass murder of fellow human beings.'
In a very strongly worded editorial in the Indian Express, Roy wrote that 'Millions of people from minorities were being forced to live in terror, unsure of when and from where the assault will come.'
Novelist Salman Rushdie also lent his voice to this movement and criticised India's 'thuggish violence' and Prime Minister Narandra Modi's office and Sahitya Akademi for staying silent.
Leading Indian scientists, including P M Bhargava and Dinesh Abrol, have joined the chorus and are worried whether creative people will be able to continue to work. Bhargava has decided to return his Padma Bhushan award alleging the government was trying to make India a 'Hindu autocracy.' Abrol emphasised that 'an anti-intellectual, hatred-filled atmosphere has been created and there is interference of organisations like RSS.'
Indian intelligentsia is very alarmed that physical violence has been sought out instead of seeking out counter-arguments to settle disputes. Bullets are flying left and right to settle scores. The recent lynching incident and the ink attack on Sudheendra Kulkarni for hosting a book launching event of Pakistan's former foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri has raised questions about the intolerant atmosphere in the country under Modi's leadership.
The opponents see this campaign of returning awards as a travesty of history by the artists, writers and scientists. They believe the intellectuals should stay away from politics and should play no part in dividing society.
End of October, the Indian-born music maestro Zubin Mehta was in Delhi, on a tour with the Australian World Orchestra. He urged the intellectuals to engage in a 'dialogue' with the government in order to hash out their grievances. Tel Aviv-based conductor, Mehta, called the return of the state awards a 'major movement' and acknowledged that he has respect for their choice.
Retuning awards and honours is nothing new in the subcontinent. After the 1919 massacre at Jallianwala Bagh, Tagore decided to give back his Knighthood that was bestowed on him by the British government. Tagore wanted to return his honour as a protest to deny legitimacy to the British rule. Viceroy Chelmsford did not grant Tagore his wish because he thought 'it might be interpreted as admission of mistaken policy in the Punjab.' Therefore, Tagore saw it as a denial of 'dignity of his protest.'
Last week, an irate crowd in Mumbai booed veteran actor Anupam Kher at a debate for discussing intolerance where he said by giving back the awards the writers are 'hurting the spirit of India.'
Another group is asking how many more awards have to be returned to hammer home the point about how prejudiced India is becoming?
In Bangladesh, the bloggers and publishers, who have been killed, did not try to force their ideas on others. Many are outraged and pondering how many bloggers and publishers have to die for secular ideology?
A highly vitiated atmosphere has become a dominant feature in both Bangladesh and India. To safeguard political, racial and religious ideology and vision, both governments should try their utmost not to let the evil forces win. These two constitutionally secular nations, who share an entwined history, mustn't slip towards religious intolerance at the cost of stable secular atmosphere. In order to preserve tolerance, diversity and pluralism, both Bangladesh and India should genuinely attempt to curb fanatical forces; otherwise, real peace envisioned by Tagore in the Indian subcontinent will remain elusive.
The writer is a US-based freelance contributor.
zeenat.khan1983@gmail.com
Intolerance, fear and insecurity shadow Bangladesh and India
Zeenat Khan from Maryland, USA | Published: November 12, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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