A wise man once said and I quote “Terrorism has no religion.” But the recent developments in Indian politics and media regarding it’s usage has got me thinking about the hypocrisy and double standards of the people using it either to propel their political career or simply to throw in their reaction or push for their ideology to the common public.
Now the incident started with a statement from Mr. Kamal Hassan who said that Hindu extremism and terrorism does exist and found overwhelming support from left parties and from Kerala CM Pinari Vijayan in particular. Now learned and well articulated man like Mr Hassan should first remember that terrorism has no religion and the cases he is referring to as Hindu terrorism is nothing but mob violence or hooliganism which in my opinion should be dealt with strictly and offenders punished aptly. But terming it as Hindu terrorism in my opinion is a pure case of trying to earn political brownie points.
I am huge admirer for Mr. Hassan’s work and I always thought of him as someone who is genuinely interested in the welfare of the common people. He was always anti establishment and pro people as is evident in his wide range of movies he has done over the years. I always knew him has someone who was extremely patriotic and stood up for what is right. In fact he was one of the very few big stars to openly slam the Award Wapsi Brigade.
But the developments have made me question my opinion on him. He firstly announced his political aspirations, backtracked on his statement on demonitization, spoken about the so called Hindu terrorism, told the media that his political colour was definitely not saffron.
These statement wrecks of political opportunism from Mr. Hassan’s part who clearly is trying to create a space for himself in the current political scenario. He should remember that it was not Hindu terrorism which targeted his films like Hey Ram and Vishwaroopam, he of all people should know the difference between hooliganism and terrorism.
Now the same sentiments have been echoed by his peers in the South Indian film Industry, namely Arvind Swamy and Prakash Raj. Now I didn’t read the interview where Arwind Swamy spoke about it and would rather not comment on him. But Prakash Raj seems like Hardcore Communist Comrade who blamed the PM and even Yogi Aditynath for the murder of Gauri Lankesh and said they were better actors than he.
Now my only question to Mr. Raj, do you pick and choose the issues that satisfy your ideology? You have openly slammed the incumbent government on the murder of the above mentioned scribe but haven’t seen you speak on the brutal murder of Shantanu Bhoumick, killed by a group while covering the clashes between groups of your comrades. You have openly spoken about Hindu terror but fail to utter the type of name of terror playing the entire world. You can will speak up openly against the hooliganism by some alleged Gau Rakshas but never utter a single word on the violence and rage faced by people reporting illegal slaughter in your own city- Bangaluru.
Both Kamal Hassan and Prakash Raj have openly come out either in support of people in the left wing or taken a leftist stand, which I think is a very dangerous stand to take in our country. I say this because you compare Left parties in our country and West. The left parties in West are anti establishment, both authoritarian and religions, liberals in their thoughts. Whereas in India the left is not anti establishment, it is selective in it’s criticism of religious institutions. They only Target the Hindu practices and beliefs openly but stay mum on radicalization in Islam or evangelical organisation.
The ideology of Communism or Left centric politics is flawed because the left appears to be nothing but selective liberalism who believe in appeasing the minorities and slamming the majority. Their only agenda is pushing forth their political ideology and they could care less about the welfare of the nation because they do not believe in the idea of this nation as was made evident by Mr. Ritabrata Banerjee who was suspended from CPI(M) for saying “Joy Bangla” (Long Live Bengal) and singing Vande Mataram.
In the end, I would like to quote Mr. Ronald Reagan, former US President who said this on Communism “How do you tell a communist? Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin.”
