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At the launch of the compilation of Tavleen Singh’s columns, the discussion was on whether Hindutva and radical Islam could be equated
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In book form now Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje releasing Tavleen Singh’s book in New Delhi
The written word weathers time. Political accounts over the past two decades, captured even as they unfolded, have been compiled by seasoned columnist Tavleen Singh into a book, “Political and Incorrect – The Real India, Warts and All.
221; The columns Tavleen wrote over the past twenty years for a leading newspaper, may not have the benefit of hindsight, but arrest a moment in history as it happened. The columns touch upon significant political moments – the optimism of the Rajiv Gandhi era, the rise of Mayawati and the first election fought by Benazir Bhutto.
The book, published by Harper Collins, was released by Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. At the event attended by well-known journalists and politicians, colleagues recounted Tavleen’s pioneering role as a woman journalist covering politics. A panel discussion on “Hindutva and Radical Islam: Are they the same?” was also part of the event. Rajya Sabha MP, Arun Shourie, Congress General Secretary Salman Khurshid, Arvind Sharma, Birk Professor of Comparative Religions, McGill University and Raja Suleiman, renowned Islamic scholar debated if extremism in these two religions could be equated.
“It’s two extremes of two wonderful religions,” said Khurshid addressing the issue of radicalism and argued India has not witnessed much of radical Islam.
According to Dr Sharma, the root cause of the problem was fundamentalism. “Fundamentalism is the response to the perceived loss of power in the public sphere,” he defined and went on to add religious orthodoxy is very different from fundamentalism.
“All traditions have potential for extremism,” said Shourie and argued that Indian religious traditions have generally been inclusive. Agreeing with Shourie’s view, Sharma said, “All religious traditions have certain strands that are tolerant and those that are not.”
Radical Islam
But, commenting on the classification of Islam as “radical Islam”, Suleiman said, “That means there is radical Islam and Islam. If you remove the term radical, there is another Islam that exists.”
Khurshid too pointed out that it was wrong to “equate isolated instances to general or inherent tendency.” Sharma said there existed an “asymmetry” in the perception of religions and its radicalism.
Finally, Shourie concluded the need of the hour was for a “fair and firm State” and the practise of perceiving groups as vote banks should stop, he added. The radicalism in these two religions was different in many ways, the speakers pointed out.
P. ANIMA
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