INDIAN INTOLERANCE

INTOLERANT INDIA?

The brutal killing of crime reporter Jyotirmoy Dey and the death in exile of celebrity artist MF Husain raise serious questions about rising intolerance in India.

Seema Sinha

The Times of India, July 3, 2011

Be it the rights of an artist, author, filmmaker, journalist, or the civil society, mocking freedom of speech and expression has increased considerably with several groups claiming moral custody of the entire nation. Is this the emerging India of the 21st century?

Attack mode
Three journalists were killed and 14 attacked in a span of six months; fearing a law and order problem, artist Nalini Malani voluntarily shifted her paintings to galleries in Paris; Mumbai University succumbed to protests by the Shiv Sena and hurriedly withdrew Rohinton Mistry's book Such A Long Journey from the curriculum; religious leaders issued fatwas targeting Muslim women; a violent mob attacked theatres ahead of the release of My Name Is Khan and after attacks on pubs and girls, Sri Ram Sene now opposes appointment of women in bars, disrespecting the Women Empowerment Act. These incidents show the shrinking space of democracy and freedom of expression in India in the recent past.

Unity in diversity?
Experts believe that in a complex, multicultural, diverse and heavily populated nation as ours, there is bound to be some amount of intolerance. Points out Pavan Verma, writer-diplomat, "There can never be a black-and-white picture as India is not a black-and-white civilisation." However, sociologist and author Dipankar Gupta is of the belief that India has always been intolerant, "We don't accept different ideas, our minds are closed to those who are not like us. We lack empathy and the government too doesn't want to act."

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