I rubbed my eyes upon reading the teaser to this article:
We are quick to condemn the lunatics who wield trishuls and wear saffron. But isn’t it time that the skull-capped and long-bearded version of fanaticism receives our contempt too? Barkha Dutt examines.
Reading the whole article assuaged my fears. It (re)confirmed established scientific truths: the Sun rises in the East. The Burkha is intact.
Burkha Barkha Dutt is courageous in parts, though. She condemns a "fringe Muslim group," but omits mentioning the "warnings" of Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Hind concerning the recent Calcutta riots. She damns the "literary philosopher" Chief Minister. The latter act though, calls for courage considering that her boss, Prannoy Roy has family ties with a certain Karat.
Now, to the meaty pieces.
The BJP is upset at the writer [Taslima Nasrin] being tossed around from state to state like a “football” and wants India to grant Nasreen a permanent visa and political asylum. In other words, it’s quite happy for Islam to be brought under the microscope of literary scepticism. But if Husain wants to interpret Hindu goddesses in his characteristically iconoclastic style, that’s not just unacceptable. It’s reason enough to send him to jail.
Let’s grant Burkha Barkha that the BJP is a party of morons. Would she explain a trifle about Husain’s "characteristically iconoclastic style" of interpreting Hindu goddesses? There’s absolutely no "style" of "interpreting" Hindu goddesses. The entire spectrum of Hindu philosophy, painting, sculpture, music, and literature "interprets" (to use to her term) Hindu goddesses in one or all of these ways:
- As a supreme/divine being worthy of worship
- As one’s own mother–birth-giver, nourisher, and protector
- As the destroyer of evil–the whole gamut of demons, etc
- More philosophically, as a symbol of the Infinite
All other portrayals–as the epitome of Supreme Feminine Beauty (for example, in the classic Soundarya Lahari), she is still addressed as the mother of the universe–as Kali, her terrible form is invoked specifically to violently destroy evil. Show me one Hussain Masterpiece that portrays at least one of these symbolisms. That shows Burkha’s Barkha’s deceptive shrewdness. Her run-up to the Nasrin controversy interestingly, showcases the author’s work and her personality than try and give us insights into why she is a controversial figure.
Nasreen may well be an attention-seeker who is compulsively provocative and over-simplistic in her formulations on Islam and women. Her literary worthiness could be a matter of legitimate dispute and her eagerness to reveal her personal sexual history a complete turn-off.Many of her critics condemn the Bangladeshi writer for her propensity to ‘seek trouble’ in a country that has been generous enough to offer her asylum.
Not a word hints at the root of the real problem: the status of women in Islam.
And then, the putsch:
Have we been less hypocritical than our political leaders? Or have our positions, too, been coloured by prejudice?
An article dripping with prejudice asks this soul-searching question. She can start the de-prejudicing process with herself. Her response to last year’s Varanasi Blasts is a candidate for scholarly study on said prejudice.
Here is the final, unmistakable proof that Barkha’s Burkha is intact.
We are quick to condemn the lunatics who wield trishuls and wear saffron. But isn’t it time that the skull-capped and long-bearded version of fanaticism and hooliganism receives our contempt in exactly the same measure?
It takes exactly two words to say what she has said with such literary flourish: Islamic lunatics.
I hope that’s what she meant.
Tags: Commentary, History, Indian Politics, Islam Watch, Media Watch, Pseudo Secularism Hall of Shame, Society & Culture, War on Communism, Weblogs
On 11.26.07 Wanderer says:
But if Husain wants to interpret Hindu goddesses in his characteristically iconoclastic style
What about Taslima wanting to interpret Sharia laws in her own style? Oh no…All freedom of expression is confined to Hinduism.
The comparison with MF Husain is a red herring meant to introduce the by-now-mandatory BJP/RSS/Hindu reference where it never existed.
Husain wasn’t driven out of India. He went to London to run away from the Indian courts.
He is certainly in no danger in India whereas Taslima will be killed if she goes back to Bangladesh.
On 11.26.07 sandeep says:
dude burkha is indeed intact check out this link below why need PTV when Barkha TV is there in short about the “artocities” of indian army in srinagar and she writes this in Khaleej times !!! Ouch .. so much for resiting those petro dollars!!
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/ColumnistHomeNew.asp?xfile=data/barkhadutt/2007/July/columnistbarkhadutt_July4.xml§ion=barkhadutt&col=yes
On 11.26.07 Ot says:
I don’t understand who is this moron addressing when she asks rhetorically: “Have we been less hypocritical than our political leaders?”
On 11.26.07 Ot says:
I did not expect that comment to appear, becase Firefox never works with your site! Can you delete it for me?
On 11.27.07 Anon says:
the requisite reference to mf-hussain by the secularist media is laughable. it’s almost like they don’t want to offend islamists. to prove their secular credentials they first insult rss, then talk about taslima. of course, it’s a red herring. insulting religious sentiments is punishable by the law and freedom of expression is limited everywhere in the world(yelling fire in a theater, slander/libel laws etc.).
but when christian/hindus/buddhists get religiously offended — they file court cases, organize economic boycotts, start letter writing campaigns etc. proof of this is: name one artist who experienced grievous physical injury for offending these 3 religions in the last 20 years. but of course, islam is special…oh soooo soooo special…
mahfouz(only arab noble prize author) had his arm paralysed by a islamic attacker, several rushdie translators got killed/injured, van gogh of holland; the list is endless….all courtesy of the religion of peace. tavleen singh, in her latest column, to her credit clearly states that islamic fundamentalism is the biggest threat to india(personally i would rate the corrupt/incompetent politicians a notch higher though). thankfully, the leftists/secularists operating in their reality distorting field is ignored by the vast majority of indians.
On 11.27.07 Ravindra says:
Last night, Madhu Kishwar was screaming away on times channel regarding Husain and how he was treated by the BJP! And that pet secularist observation : Do you think your faith is so fragile that it can be shaken by a painting????!!
I’ve never understood this question. It is like asking someone: So what if I draw a lewd picture of your mother - obviously your love for her is so strong, it should not be shaken! That does sound absurd, doesnt it?
So when Nandigram gets equated with Gujarat, Taslima gets equated with Husain, never mind the details.
By the way, Anil Dharker in his latest piece in the DNA repeats the laughable reference imaginary 3-days (Feb 29, 30 and 31st) that Modi took to call in the army! When will these people wake up from their delusions?
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1135469
On 11.27.07 Anonymous says:
The Amit Varma guy is at it again.
When Hussian is under attack, BJP is wrong. But when Taslima is , even then it is wrong.
http://indiauncut.com/iublog/article/open-letter-to-vk-malhotra-re-hypocrisy-on-free-speech/
Way to go you secularists :))
Wot! no long lectures on freedom of speech this time? No protests, no nothing?
Have you guys - Shabana,Teesta,Anil Dharkar, Vinod Mehta, Javed Akhtar and the biggest of em’all Arundati Roy… all huddled up in one place hiding and till the wind blows over so you can be back with Modi bashing…
This guy, who lectures so much has not got a single post on Nandigram or Taslima (except for asking VK Malhotra a stupid question). No wonder he does not allow comments on his “blog”
what a spineless rat…!
On 11.27.07 Kumar says:
Anonymous:
The space between Amit Varma’s ear is in full display and one can literally see through it (I mean his ears).
Wonder what he has to say about to:
(a) those who went on riots after Danish cartoons or
(b) those followers for PBUH who killed Hindus in Nasik because of utterance one white shoe evanjelical Jerry Fawell or
(c) those who ransacked a university because they didn’t like Jesus over toilet bowel or
(d) those who went on rampage after Ambedkar’s love letters were published
(e) or for that matter those who forced M F Hussain to remove a song from his movie (hint: song wasn’t anything hindu related)
Can anyone put these comments on his blog? Or it’s a ‘read-only’ website?
On 11.27.07 Kumar says:
But if Husain wants to interpret Hindu goddesses in his characteristically iconoclastic style, that’s not just unacceptable. It’s reason enough to send him to jail.
For a minute forget about Hindu gods and goddess.
What about painting mother India nude? Why did law step in if it was okay? Was the law incorrect here? Also, why did Hussein have to apologize for it and withdraw this naked India painting if he was right? Then after the controversy died, he routinely snuck that painiting on his website!! The weasel.
Why should Hindus be the only benefactors of Hussien’s attention? Can’t we be all secular? I would love to see M F Hussein paint some of Mohammed’s half-dozen plus wives in the same characteristically iconoclastic style. Or for that matter Jesus and Mary M too? Maybe he’ll even start doing portraits of Brinda and Sonia and Barkha too ??
On 11.27.07 socal says:
To the secular fit-”Do you think your faith is so fragile that it can be shaken by a painting????!!”
I wish to ask,” Do you think your freedom of speech is so fragile that it will be shaken by prohibition on an obscene painting?”
erhaps others can pitch in more. But this sanctimonious lines need a popular rejoinder, so secularists stop uttering them altogether. Such idiotic line of naivete is a recurring theme in secular discourse. And the only effective way is reply in kind i.e., me too holier than thou sort.
On 11.27.07 socal says:
kumar,
“who killed Hindus in Nasik because of utterance one white shoe evanjelical Jerry Fawell or”
Not Nasik, but Solapur. Great points though.
On 11.27.07 Kumar says:
Cocal, you right about Solapur, I stand corrected.
On 11.28.07 priya says:
http://www.dawn.com/2007/05/09/int8.htm
i wonder if Amit Verma and all of them asking after the BJP’s feelings on MF Husain have perused this page?
it states that he’s “in voluntary exile” to escape prosecution.
so, hell! tell those pseudosecularists India would actually welcome Husain with open arms and take him to his sasuraal!
On 11.28.07 socal says:
This Varma dude is cooing with the secular establishment as usual. Why will he talk about freedom of speech when studied silence butters his bread just fine?! He is not about to jeopardize his career for one pesky Taslima. Freedom of speech and property rights are not more important than the perks of belonging to secular club.
On 11.29.07 Prudent Indian says:
“Burkha Barkha Dut”,
loved this.
She too is Kashmiri. So ‘Stockholm’ syndrome is obvious just as reflected in and as I K Gujaral(this man had been PM once!),Khushawant Singh,Kuldeep Nayyar and yes Rajinder Sacchar a refuge …whose family fled from Lahore.
You know what do we here call that in Punjabi?
Tell bhi sada tey Gxxx ve sadi. Chatai lek ke aaya.(just can not be translated)
PI.