Tentacles of communalism

D.P. PRASHANT

Panchajanya, the unofficial magazine of the RSS, recently had Hrithik Roshan on its cover. Hrithik finds himself on the cover of almost every magazine in India today. But he was on the cover for all the wrong reasons. Panchajanya decided that Hrithik deserved praise because he had "broken the Khan domination of Bollywood". Here was Hrithik, "a Hindu, fighting Muslim domination and coming out on top." It is not often that I am at a total loss for words after reading an article, but after reading this, I was dumbstruck.

Instead of looking at Hrithik as fresh talent and bubbling enthusiasm, Panchajanya sees him as a Hindu crusader in a Muslim dominated film industry. Even the film industry's most violent critics cannot say that communalism is one of them. The film industry, is still free from the tentacles of communalism. The day I read the article in Panchajanya, I learnt that there are new, disgusting ways of looking at every situation.

How perverse can one get? How obsessed can one get about religion? How warped can one's train of thought be? How paranoid can one be? These were the questions that I was asking myself that day. The cover story betrays a sense of insecurity and paranoia about Muslims "taking control". The same sense of insecurity and paranoia comes through when an issue like Christian conversion is discussed. Why should there be this feeling of insecurity among Hardcore Hindu Hard-liners (HHH)? For that matter, why do the Muslims feel paranoid about being run down by the Hindus? Why do the Christians feel like an endangered species?

We do not deserve the tag of "a tolerant nation" anymore. How can we be tolerant if every religion feels insecure and endangered? May be this country is feeling "secular intolerance".

For the first time, I saw a tinge of communalism in Indian cricket. When I heard the man who had captained the country for the longest duration of time in the history of Indian Cricket says that he was being discriminated against because he was from a minority community, I was shocked. This was the man who had basked in glory as India's captain (yes, there were a few moments of glory, even in Indian cricket!).

What on earth does he mean when he says that he is being discriminated against? Are we to understand that his selection as a player, his appointment as captain, all the runs that he scored and all the catches that he held, had something to do with his religion?

Keep up the good work, Panchajanya. Carry on, Azharuddin. Without stalwarts like you, how can we not but decline as a nation? With Indians like you, who needs enemies? It doesn't matter what Gandhi and Nehru thought.... The only thing that matters is a man's religion and community. I am amazed that people look for communal issues where there are none. Tear this wonderful country apart and fight like dogs for scraps and leftovers. Just leave a handkerchief for me to wipe my tears with.

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