Award wapsi creating scare

Dr P N Kotru
The article of Mr. Amit Kushari published in Excelsior dated Nov. 27, 2015 is quite interesting and thought provoking. In fact, the award wapsi stir is causing more scare. Just before general elections there was an open divide in the Bollywood on the issue of voting for or against a national party. It was so in certain groups of writers and award winners. Some politicians like  Mani Shankar Aiyar even gave a statement against  Narinder Modi, the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP. He said that Mr. Modi can never become the P.M. of India at least in this century and what he (Mr. Modi) should think of doing is to open a tea stall at the venue of congress meeting and sell tea to the congress members . A prediction /suggestion of this sort made by an educated and considered to be an intellectual person was full of venom and reflected his hatred against Mr. Modi. How intolerant was he then and is so even now that prompted him to say on Pakistan soil that he be (Mr. Modi) got ousted. The country witnessed, perhaps for the first time, how some groupings of writers and award winners alongwith Bollywood got divided on which political party should be voted to power at the centre. One group of writers/intellectuals also were against Mr. Modi and tried their best to create an opinion against Mr. Modi. The people of India, however, rejected their anti-Modi stand in the general election. Those who were against Mr. Modi got terribly frustrated. It is this frustration that led to Award Wapsi and protests by some intellectuals. Obviously, the frustrated politicians and some political parties want to take advantage of the situation and create a scare in the minds of people. Since the division in the Bollywood , award winners and writers was an open affair , the anti-Modi group of Bollywood and a group of writers /award winners /intellectuals got exposed which turned into intolerance against the present central government and the verdict of the Indian people.. The congress got reduced to irrelevance which they have not taken sportingly. Instead of giving constructive opposition, they oppose almost everything that is in the interests of the people and the country. The role of a responsible opposition is not to put hurdles in the growth of a country but to gain popularity by supporting the govt. on issues of public interest and country’s development. Since the award wapsi by some section of writers/ award winners/intellectuals/Bollywood was countered by counter protests which sent the message that India has always been tolerant and will be so in future, the matter started losing its sheen. To revive it, some people including some actors again raised the issue by making irresponsible statements.                        Mr. Amir Khan’s wife was one amongst others in the starting stir of so-called intolerance scare. I do not understand as to why an unprecedented attention should be given to the actors and other celebrities of Bollywood. They might be good in their respective professions but that does not mean that whatever they think or talk or feel is always right. Actors are commercial people and they charge huge sums of money foreverything , be that an advertisement or entertainment  irrespective of what is happening in the country. Recently, A.R.Rahman performed on the birthday celebrations of an S.P. leader in U.P. inspite of it not being in good taste on account of farmer’s plight in that state.  Salman Khan performed in the recent past in U.P. while the state was under attack for Muzzaffar Nagar riots and the plight of riot affected refugees. The farmer’s plight in U.P. or communal violence in Muzaffar Nagar in U.P. did not deter them from performing there. Nothing wrong with that as it is their profession but then to take the utterances of these celebrities so seriously as has been witnessed in case of Mr. Aamir Khan is not correct. His wife had supported the protest alongwith other film personalities /writers and award wapsi group. However having received reaction from anti – award – wapsi group against their statements on tolerance, the pitch against the country got low. This was not acceptable to Award-wapsi group. In an attempt to reignite the issue, statements were again made, as it appears to be so, from Aamir Khan’sstatement. One of the top actors who also gave statement in favour of Award -wapsi group sometime back had allegedly lured a girl whom he liked by introducing himself as Mr. Gautam because the two were from different communities . Was it morally correct then? India was tolerant then and India is even more tolerant now. During the time of award-wapsi abhiyaan, I watched one of the award winners from Kashmir on T.V. saying that he was in touch with other writers on the issue of award wapsi. Where were these award winners from Kashmir  when lakhs of Kashmiri pandits , the aborigines of Kashmir, were forced to leave Kashmir , their property (moveable and immoveable) looted/forcibly occupied, several of their women killed, raped and mercilessly butchered and several young /elderly pandits killed for absolutely no fault of theirs. It was a genocide of Kashmiri pandits for which, tillnow, no white paper has been issued. It was terrorism backed up by religious fanaticism of the majority community.
The people behind this are roaming freely enjoying their life. Where was tolerance of the so-called award winners from Kashmir or elsewhere in the country? The political parties are only taking advantage of everything that is done or said against the present central government. These parties are rattled by the dynamism of Mr. Modi. Mr. Salman Khursheed, the former external affairs minister reacted to Mr. Modi’s speeches to mammoth Indian diaspora abroad by alleging that the crowd is being transported from India. Mr. Rahul Gandhi has chosen to call this govt. as suit-boot ki sarkar. He has even estimated the cost of each suit that Mr. Modi wears on official tours to foreign countries. Recently, he addressed students in Bangalore where he was sharply criticised by the young students on the issue of clean India and make in India initiative of Mr. Modi. Negativism of the congress party is on the rise. Bihar election appears to have emboldened the congress to join the hands of anybody, right or wrong, who is anti-Modi. The congress and JDU did not mind joining the hands of those politicians who are involved in corruption and family rule. Mr. Nitish Kumar of JDU also compromised all principles only to take on Mr. Modi. In Bihar elections it is Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav who is victorious in the practical sense with the title of single largest party. JDU is reduced to second rank party. Those who are intolerant of Mr. Modi speak about intolerance in India, unmindful of the serious consequences of defaming the country. The congress of yester years led by leaders during the period from Nehru – Indira Gandhi has made immense contribution, barring some aberrations, to what is India to-day. However, the role of leaders from congress after Smt. Indira Gandhi has been only to survive on contributions made by the past leaders.
It is wrong to say that what intellectuals / award winners / Bollywood personalities saycan always be right and have the correct perspective of conditions prevailing in the country. A good writer, a scientist, an actor or any intellectual may be very good in his/her respective fields, but it is not necessarily correct that they will always be right on issues confronting the country. There are several examples of such failures on the part of intellectuals regarding issues that concern our country. Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar’s statements at the venue of congress meeting before general elections and the recent one on Pakistan soil against the present Prime Minister of India is one such example.
(The author is former Professor)

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