In a speech delivered last year to a gathering of India's finest scientific minds, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invoked Nehru to point to the organic “link between humanism, tolerance, reason and progress.” “The practice of science,” he said, “is based on both the search for truth and the adventure of new ideas.” Precisely a year on, the government he presides over has betrayed those ideals. This newspaper has revealed how a ‘plot' to kill the eminent author Salman Rushdie had been invented by the Rajasthan Police in a pathetic but successful attempt to dissuade him from participating in the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival. In the face of motivated protests from a gaggle of political opportunists and religious fanatics, the State government had first sought to stop Mr. Rushdie from visiting Jaipur. Upon discovering that he was, as a person of Indian origin, entitled to do so, it then resorted to a series of increasingly unsubtle coercive means to bring about that outcome. The real issue, though, isn't either Mr. Rushdie or The Satanic Verses, a book he wrote more than two decades ago and about which he has already “profoundly regret[ed] the distress” occasioned to “sincere followers of Islam.” It is that “the search for truth and adventure of new ideas” India so desperately needs has suffered a grievous blow. After the hounding of M.F. Husain and Taslima Nasreen by Hindu and Muslim fanatics, India has again betrayed its heritage of providing sanctuary to persecuted individuals and ideas, not to speak of its Constitution.
Occupying centre stage in the hall of shame is Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who ought to have ensured his administration defended Indian law by securing Mr. Rushdie. Instead, fearful of being made a scapegoat within the Congress if the party does poorly in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections, he betrayed his constitutional obligations. The Rajasthan Police, for their part, must come clean on precisely who in their ranks fabricated the plot against Mr. Rushdie. Far too many Indians have lost their lives to terrorists for security to be made a plaything to serve a political agenda. The police officers concerned not just broke the law but have brought about the humiliation of the country. Self-styled Muslim leaders, as well as political groups who have opportunistically allied themselves with these forces over the years, should also be held to account for the real damage they have caused to democracy and secularism in India — and, thus, to the interests of the religious community they claim to speak for. Mr. Rushdie is entitled to a full apology for this shameful episode and to an unconditional assurance that he is welcome in India at any time and place. Prime Minister Singh must ensure he receives both.
Keywords: Jaipur Literature Festival, Salman Rushdie, artistic freedom, Rajasthan Police, terror threat, UPA-II, Manmohan Singh government, religious fundamentalism, fatwa, secularism
I congratulate The Hindu for the courage to stand up for democratic
values. It is saddening to see the government machinery deserting its
duty to protect the freedoms the constitution guarantees to the
citizens, and being held hostage to primitive religious bigotry.
This is an abonimation.If anyone has any problem with Rushdie or M F
Hussain , they should ignore their works.It doesnt make any sense to
ban alternate views.If we cave into these extremists then we are in
for a ride.As heine once put it those who burn the books will
eventually burn the people. When congress played that double game with shah-bano case and banned satanic verses.It eventually led to rise of hindu right and we all saw consequences of so called sentiments of majority.we all know how that helped our country.So much for law, order and religious sentiments.Thanks to these deo bandi s ,RSS will now be able to transmit its
islam-paranoia theory more easily now.One has to defend rushdie or
taslima nasreen or MF Hussain not out of respect for their works but
out of respect for principle of freedom.We should never capitulate to
religious fanatics like RSS or Deobandis because no matter who wins ,
we will loose.
I would like to congratulate the government to avert a disaster. This is a sign of a good thought process having bird’s eye view of what might happen if an arrogant fanatic came to India. If he had come and provoked, then there would be riots and may be people killed. Better let people cry and sob of him not coming.
Yet again, it proves the power of politics. In democaracy, the efforts put together by the citizens to bring serious issues to the notice of government must be reflected in the steps taken by the Government. In India, it has not been the case so far. No doubt, our country has progressed significantly compared to 90's but the pace could have been much better. The funding for election and the methodolgy invovled is a big driving force here which opens up various possibilities for corruption. Also coalition government becomes a playground where every party tries to win the game for itself leaving other stakeholders at loss and the vision of combined effort to push for growth goes down the drain. Also the accountability of government employee is supposed to be towards the citizens through government, but as clear from the above case, the government is more than happy to severe the bonding and satiate the demands of some people whom they consider important for their next electoral win.
Don't you have any other important news to adorn your pages...always note excessive democracy is a bane and selective media coverage is a real shame.
Please, for heaven's sake, concentrate on real news.
Congratulations on a fitting and timely opinion. The Congress and the UPA government must understand that with every vote that it thinks it is gaining by these cynical tactics it is losing a multitude of other votes, from people who are not as vocal as the extremes. First was the effort to censor social networking sites, and now this Rushdie episode. It is trying to damage the secular fabric of India; which is robust enough without these artificial protections against religious sensibilities. It is also damaging India's prospects as an emerging economy, different from places run-over by extremists.
People have accused religious organisations like the prestigious Darul Uloom and those have been posted. I am sure if anyone writes of RSS or any other Hindu organisation as terror outfits it would not be posted.
After 64 years of independence there is no rationale in blaming anybody else than ourselves. Nonetheless, without studying the past and understanding the mistakes we may not correct course and be prospective.
How could a nation led by people of the calibre of Nehru and Ambedkar could make the blunder of declaring India a secular country and at the same time gave constitutional right for caste and religion based reservations! This has created a ridiculous paradox of a secular country asking every citizen his or her caste and religion for anything and everything. Thus we have become not a nation of human beings with equal rights and responsibilities, but of people graded according to their caste or religion. As the world is progressing fast in to a humanistic direction where human rights are becoming universal we are becoming more and more exposed and the image that comes out is not very edifying. Our knowledge about other people living in different parts of the world is so poor that many in India believe that social divisions based on work, origin etc are unique to India and try to justify the perpetuation of the system. If only they had a chance to understand the social divisions existed in their former colonial master country and how things started changing after the First World War. Today people have surnames as smith, carpenter, Souter etc.; but they are only surnames. Indian society would have progressed to this direction if our constitution treated every citizen as a citizen of India and ignored any other consideration. In a secular country religion should remain a personal choice and should be practiced within the freedom provided by law. We could learn a lot from countries such as France, Holland and the Nordic countries in this respect.
The current political class in India is in an unholy alliance with caste and religious forces. These religious and political classes are in it for gaining material wealth and satisfying personal greed. The HINDU newspaper in this is laudable. Hope this kind of news coverage is there in the local languages also to reach the common man.
An atheist has as much right under the Indian constitution as any
believer of god.When ever an atheist disputes the existence of god or
criticises the irrationality of religion,the Indian state undertakes
various coercive measures to silence them,the illegality of which gets
little attention even from our courts of law.The attitude of the State
emboldens the various self styled guardians of faiths to physically
threaten people who hold different ideas from their own. I sometimes
wonder at the insecurity of all "supposed to be" great religions.If a
Rushdie, a Hussain, a Dan Brown can threaten the foundations of your
faiths which are supposed to be thousands of years old,What kind of
faiths are they?
People like me, who condemn M.F Hussain in the same breath as they condemn Salman Rushdie, find this editorial in a bad taste.
This is a shameful condition, leave alone greeting one of the greatest
novelist to his homeland,the notorious govt officials have embarked
upon coercion to gain the votes of the community they pretend to
support.
Hmmmmm this is going on. Is this not a shame for our country, guys think about it.there are many problems to be dealt with .I Guess even media shouldnt put this as headlines ,and draw peoples attentions.Deal with the problems of society ,even government which is hurting and respondindg to these aspects should think over and preside with the problems of the poor society.opinions of people must be respected they should be given value.look in to the events of education and nutrition of children instead of poking at each other.
Salman Rushdie and his books got free publicity without spending a
rupee. If they had ignored him in the first place, no one would have
even known that he is in India or about his controversial books. This
needless protests have only made him more popular. He must be sitting
comfortably in UK, happy about getting a royalty on his increased sales
of books.
disappointing to see so many readers' admonition to 'move on' because there are so many other issues to focus on - it is irrational to undermine the country's reputation as a secular democracy because there is so much poverty, hunger, malnutrition of children, illiteracy, inequlaities and inequities - each and everyone of these issues is important, however, theocracies and dictatorships fail utterly in setting any effective paradigm for policy development to tackle such issues - so why destroy the secular democrtatic format that celebrates the religious, cultural, linguistic diversity of the cpuntry to develop effective policies?
religion should remain in the personal private sphere and not interfere in the secular governance of the state itself - there is nothing more irrational than ditching reason in the name of religion
In case Mr. Rushdie would have arrived and made some inappropriate comments which most probably would have caused a communal tension in ongoing harmony then who would have been responsible for that.Certainly rajasthan govt.,so i personally think that what decision the govt. has taken is completely right but the way of implementing it was not appropriate.
The problem is that some section take religion too seriously and this overzealous approach is the root cause of trouble.
The greater the freedom, the higher the responsibility. The cherished freedom of speech/expression is one of the most abused rights that we have. No one is disputing Rushdie's right to question, challenge or dissent with orthodoxies or religions. But Rushdie and M F Hussein erred in treating freedom of expression as absolute freedom to ridicule and abuse religious icons. Rushdie has not been banned from coming to India. The Govt of India has said he is a PIO and can freely come to India. Rajasthan Govt and police have repeatedly said that they have put in adequate security arrangements for Rushdie's safety. Rushdie opted out because he is afraid.
Hats off "The Hindu", this article is really prodigious. A slap on vote bank politic's face.
Its a national shame to see the readers who have commented here have not even the basic courtesy of respecting others faith. When the Bhagwad Gita was about to be banned in Russia, you guys all stood up against it. What's is it then here when it comes of attacking other's religious sentiments. If Rushdie has written something against Hinduism, all these readers wouldn't be singing the praise for Rushdie as they are doing now.
India is a secular country, its not a Hindu or a Muslim country. If minorities are not treated well, remember this country will go backwards in terms of civilisation and humanity. Its very unfortunate to see a newspaper like Hindu has blindly supported Rushdie as well publishing so many readers view who have fanatical opinions.
Several readers seem to think that all the liberals who have come out on support of
Rushdie are in complete agreement with what he wrote. You misunderstand. We are
offended by two things. First, I want to be able to make up my own mind about the book, which I cannot because the extremists and our government have arrogated to themselves the responsibility of deciding what ideas I can and cannot be exposed to. Secondly, if my Muslim brothers read the book and were offended they have several options - take him to court, write an editorial, organise peaceful protests, answer with another book, write scathing reviews. It is the disproportionately ugly response that extremists offer - you wrote words, we want your head- that dismay us and offend us even more. Moderates mustn't forget that in choosing to side with the extremists by sympathizing with their violence and trying to find justifications for it, you are offering the ideological shade under which these extremists luxuriate.
Elsewhere the Hindu has reported that: "In a new twist to the Salman Rushdie controversy, Rajasthan government on Monday said it would not allow the author’s proposed video link address to the Jaipur Literature Festival without prior permission"
I think the matter is getting out of hand. India is a secular country and if the Congress is determined not to uphold secularism, the courts should be approched to decide.
I hope The Hindu publishes my comment in full: I equally despise Rushdies, MFHussains, Taslimas, Kazantzakis for hurting religious sentiments with their blasphemy. As a true Hindu and believer, I can not rejoice in another believer's hurt feelings whether he/ she is Muslim, Christian or Hindu. When every believer equally condemns any kind of blasphemy irrespective of religion, true secularism will flourish. Till then pseudo secularism will be ruling. I am appalled at the absence of devout Muslims condemning MFHussain and devout Hindus condemning Rushdies in any of the forums.
The search for truth and adventure of new ideas does not mean that one
should go on to extent of hurting the feelings of fellow human beings,
it is really a matter of concern that why a writer with his
putrid piece of work has become a national pride or matter of national
shame. The so called custodians of intellect, if they have heart should
also experience the feeling in the heart of those who are being offended
and understand why they are offended? what meaning does it have it for
them?
@Balaji Natarajan: Very well said sir! the true issues "roti kapda aur makan" is left out and instead of concentrating on more grave issues the media should not waste space on one individual.
Why don’t you the so called media concentrate on the common man. Get them justice. People like Rushdie can do it for themselves.
It is sad to see The Hindu giving so much space to only one man who does not even live in India or carry an Indian passport.
The Hindu should not spare all other shames at the States and the National level and it should not confine only to media..Let the journal expose all scams and shames in all other fields of our activities, true to the mission of the journal.
The goblin of religious frenzy sadly rules the roost thanks to the belligerant and hatred fanned by the Muslim outfits like Darul Uloom being allowed a free cake walk without battling it. The centre's witnessing the match from the gallery amply demonstrates its vulnerability.
If any good is done by a Congress government in a State or at the Centre, Sonia Gandhi's name appears in the media reports. But when a Congress government anywhere does something wrong, the media conveniently ignores the power behind the throne, Sonia Gandhi. Well, that is India today! Why can't a Hindu reporter ask the Congress chief what she thinks of the Rushdie affair?
It is surprising how The Hindu which is supposed to be tolerative of Muslims could write such editorial. The Hindu will no longer have the support of Muslims. We will stop reading it forthwith. After all when deriding Islam, Hindus forget their differences and join hands.
This opinion invoked serious responses from the mindful elite class, for whom this is bigger shame than the whole corrupt system, para-administration & armed power of nexalites, whide looting by the political class, increasingly menacing association of Corporate feudal class, psychophant media class and policians of sheer greed albeit exceptions.
MF HUSSAIN or RUSHDIE or Taslima if they hurt the sentiments and invoke hatred is not definitely welcome, and most of us are aware Rushdie has come out only recently despite living in a secured country like UK. Still fabrication of stories by the authorities is condemnable but has to be seen in larger picture and confine it to Rushdie...
When any problem arises as a life or death no one care about shame.If Rushdie attended the festival how can Congress secure the votes of Muslim? Win the election of U.P.than consideration of national shame.This is nature`s law survival is a fittest,do anything for survival even cheat to another person
Your commendable editorial echoes the inmost anguish of millions, who hold secular values and scientific outlook dear to them- yes, as "dear as the ruddy drops that often visit their sad herats." It is now crystal clear that Dr. Manmohan Singh has only made lip exercises in heaping blandishments in his speech at the gathering of the scientists. The police 'plot' to sabotage the attendance of the JLF by Salman Rushdie raises a slew of questions. The most important of them is: are we, as a nation, creeping away from a democratic dispensation and timidly embracing a theocratic rule? The Prime Minister is bound to answer this question. Scince enbles us to ask questions more than we can answer them. That is the bellwether of scientific thinking that pursues unswervingly the truth. It illuminates the dark corners of life. Dr. Singh and his cohorts who used the imminent byelections as the 'siver coins' to betray the Indian conscience are no match to Nehru, the embodiment of secularism
I think this is a big fraud done by the politicians as a quick fix
measure. Now an inquiry will be initiated and some officials will be
made a scapegoat to close the chapter.
Freedom of speech is always welcome if it is within the circle of decency.
There has been genuine outrage in the media circles including in The Hindu for the
disgusting treatment to a noted author. The message from the government agencies that a
Person of Indian Origin is not welcome here despite having clean records as per law is
highly unfortunate and as the editorial rightly describes, is shameful. The media must
retain its intense scrutiny and make the guys who are responsible, accountable.
Your newspaper carried an op-ed piece by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen
recently. Your editors would be well advised to re-read that article
again! He talks about class biases in the media. What is reported as a
'national shame' here is very much an example of such a class bias. As I
and many other comments have written here, there are many other national
shames that we should be concentrating on. However, not much space is
devoted by the media to those truly national shames affecting a MUCH
larger section of the population.
what is national shame.. those who are supporting rushdie and like mind of poeple (irrelevance to their religion, caste) are a national shame (to be a citizen of the great country). cos they want to leave the integrity and brotherhood in behind..
forget rushdie., just anybody can say what will be the benefit to the india by him.. just losses only..
there are so many things to worry about.. please move on.. move ahead.. there is a long way we have to walk together by integrity and brotherhood...
Sad to see biased editorial at THE HINDU. Please give focus to true national shames as pointed out by Justice Katju and not give opium to masses.
Congress is going back to the days of Shah Bano and late Mr Rajiv Gandhi.Congress is doing this for few more muslim votes in UP.What if this produces a Hindu backlash? We will be back to square one then.
This is surprising for a party whose campaign is led by Rahul Gandhi,party's youth icon and a PM candidate.More surprising, when Narendra Modi is doing SADBHAVANA fasts in Gujarat.This is also sad when so many liberal muslims and muslim youth are clamouring for change.[Refer today's news story about deputy speaker Mr Khan of Rajya Sabha, telling muslims to come out of minority complex]Large number of muslims want to come out of minority syndrom and join mainstream.They may not approve of such retrograde steps.
Rushdie, if feels sorry for his blasphemous act, then he should not continue the publication of his 'book'. Freedom of speech does not mean that you speak whatever you want without taking consideration of others. He has done a wrong thing and he deserves not be welcomed.
Mr Salman Rusdie's book has been banned in India. The book is an insult to God, which means it is an insult to humanity, and media should not glorify such individuals.
Still, it is the duty of Government to protect all its citizen - even the cowards.
Having said so, there are thousands of people in India who are being tortured, raped or otherwise being denied of their due rights despite showing utmost respect to others and to the society. The duty of the Government and media is to first ensure that all these individuals first get their due protection. And after that, if there is any money left, we can take care of the others.
The Hindu, and the editor deserves full praise for coming out against
"deceit and dishonesty", heaped on the nation by the Congress
government at the centre and the state, by pandering to the extreme
Muslim elements. Some one in the media aptly summed up congress's
duplicity as "Congress has a Minority card from Indian Vote Bank of
Politics, and this card never expires, and has no limit". It appears
mullahs are going to decide who can enter India, and who can not.
Congress's track record of protecting the freedom of speech is hollow,
when looks back at the "Taslima Nasreen, Salman Rushdie, M.F. Hussein"
and other episodes. Time and again the Indian Nation has been brought
to its knees, by the reactionary and fundamentalist forces. The recent
moves by the centre to trample upon the freedom of expression of
media, and social networking sites, confirms the totalitarian mindset
of this regime. I must say, this editorial, greatly cleared my
misgivings about Hindu's impartiality and balance.
It hurts to see that, Mr Rushdie's restriction has been reported
with blazing guns but there is not even a mention of the exodus of
Kashmiri pandits anywhere on the fourth pillar. Isnt that a national
shame? More than half a million citizens of our country are forced
to leave their homes, and the country not only sees it happen, now,
they have even forgotten about it. I feel its time to strengthen out
sedition laws. Any body going against the constitution irrespective
of their personal beliefs should be dealt with severely. There is
only one law for the country, that given by the constitution. No
mulla or guru or sangha or padre or bishop can give orders regarding
the liberty of our citizens. If done so its accounts to sedition.
Really it shame to india as country like biggest democracy in the world and our constitutionlly granted freedom expression such kind incidents takes place is ridiculous and completely poll related game plan. That book has been banned two decades back and its essence and thousht still hunts is unbeliviable and no body wants to organize detailed discussion and dialogue on the part of blaspheme which they caliming in that book which hurt the sentiment of Muslim community. In the world of open society and open access everyone had the every right to express according to his/her experience and knowledge that can be through writing article, book or delivering lecture in any forum. But its doesn’t mean that should hurt, damage, injure, dishonor, disrepute, disregard to the any group or religion or prevailed customs and rituals. But he/she had the rights to comments on that.
Here comes the light , Indian politics are being ebbed to such a low that, for votes and they do anything as the fundamental definitions of constitution is being invalidated. This is not new and it will happen forever. The root cause is only the society and thanks to such a narrow mindedness is prevailing here in.
Sir, let us focus on other greater national shames. We have to follow
the advice of Justice Katju and focus on issues affecting 80% of the
people of this country. Well-fed and well-nourished literati and
glitteratti do not deserve so much media space - albeit the issue is
genuine. The list of "national shames" is a long one - from
malnourished children (42%), lack of proper sanitation and civic
amenities, unemployment and poverty, poor governance, caste ridden
social system, corrupt and nonchalant political and administrative
system and so on and so forth. Issues like the one under discussion
will only divert the attention of the masses and media. A substantial
number of children have no access to proper schools and education
system in rural and semi-urban India and this should be a more
bothersome issue. Suffice it so say that we need to focus on real
issues affecting the vast majority than on the ones affecting a
microscopic minuscule of the population.
the issue is not so important as regards rushdie's visit as much as it
is a reflection on the level of secularisation of indian state and
right to freedom as well as right to life in our constitution.we may
disagree with what rushdie or for that matter hussain has written or
depicted,but by not allowing a healthy debate to take place we are
relying on our animal instincts and using instincts of fear rather
than rational,moral instincts to develop.let authors like rushdie be
given freedom to write whatever they want and let them be scrutinised
by a enlightened,independent audience.those who like their work
allowed to do so and those who dont,they shoulnt just give him so much
importance.another thing that is related and more important is the
question of larger liberties.let the fear of unknown or right morality
not provide an excuse for anyone to get sensitive .let us err on the
side of 'blasphemous'rather than obscuranticism.god wont get affected
by frivioulesness
but we humans do.
No surprises here. The UPA has some 5 state elections to fight and hence
resorts to minority appeasement. What is the surprise here ? Also who
believes that the UPA stands for representing India in a favourable
light ? 2G, CWG, Adarsh and all other untold scams ave simpley tarnished
the image of the country. Now this Jaipur incident is nothing compared
to the earlier ones.
A govt that has mortgaged the its national pride is fit to be consigned
to the dustbin of history. UPA will soon find itself in one.
The Congress has lost its moral right to rule anymore. It is indeed shameful that our government had to invent a story to keep Mr. Rushdie out of the Jaipur Literary Festival and pretend to be incapable to provide security to the celebrated writer. How could it guarantee security of our billion plus nation when it could protect an individual? My head hangs in shame to see the government surrender to a group of fundamentalists so meekly and fail to stand for the majority.
While there is no doubt that whatever the govt has done with regard to
Rushdie's participation in literary event is a national shame, there
are many greater national shames to this government's (dis) credit.
Just the other day we came to know that 40% of India's children are
malnourished, this cannot be anything other than a national shame. We
have many corrupt politicians ruling this country, who have stashed
away billions of rupees in some safe place. Some of them are out on
bail now. They have nothing to fear while a common man on the street
has many things to fear - anything from inflation to terrorist
attacks. The govt is least interested, if at all, to wipe out corruption. People who
fight corruption have to contend with an angry and hostile govt
machinery. What can be more shameful? The political class is filled
with people with criminal nexus. Many national shames.
Do you really expect our govt to act responsibly?Have they not proved time and again that they have no principle whatsoever.It's only the votes that matter to them.How does otherwise one explain the ill treatment of Tasleema by erstwhile "progressive" left front govt? And don't expect that "Begum" Mamata will usher in "poribartan" in this regard.We are ashamed but not our political masters!
Not only State government, government at center is equally responsible to suppress
democracy.
I congratulate The Hindu and the editor for not mentioning anything about those authors who broke the law by reading passages from a banned book. I understand that to defend Freedom of Speech of one person, at the expense of a whole community, such selective overlooking may happen. But what about my freedom of speech? My comments are not being printed for past three days and The Hindu gives lectures about Freedom of Speech. My comments may not be palatable to you or may not be in line with your thinking, but atleast they do not hurt anyone's sentiments and moreover they are fully complying to your conditions. It is time we move ahead, leaving behind Rushdie and his "masterpiece" to his publishers (who will be very happy at the turn of the events) and concentrate more on pressing problems, like Roti, Kapada aur Makaan, facing the country. Media is definitely offering opium to masses, as Mr.Katju has said, and the need of the hour is to offer medicine not opium.
It is very sad and deplorable that the Government of India and Rajasthan have neither preserved the long and glorious Indian tradition of torance, scientific inquiry nor the right to personal liberty, freedom of speech and expression guarnteed by the Constitution. It is very painful and disaapointing to see religious fanaticism dominating the law of the land.
It appears by reading the editorial that a state has done something for
security or political reasons. It is a state subject and like so many
other state subjects the state alone should explain and come out of
the shameful act if any. Neither PM nor the nation need accept this
as their responsibility.The media print and TV ,including the Hindu
had already dealt in length about this shame and as the fourth pillar of democracy they could also tender apology on behalf of the nation.
What more can we expect from a wrong party and a wrong person in power. PM,CM are positions which will function efficiently if the right person occupy it. People of India lost a great opportunity of great literary confluence by the omission of Rushdie. Whether you like him or not Rushdie is a great person whose presence would have added glitter to the event. It is a great relief we have news papers like The Hindu who dug up this connivance of petty politicians. State and central government are part of this game plan. The party in power has shown how much low it will stoop to cling on to power. This hunger for power is driving all its actions and inactions which is leading the country in the wrong direction. When will the dawn arrive for India? We need to purge these bigots out of centerstage. Shame shame.
Bravo, the media in general and Hindu in particular for its factual
reporting. But for the media, such shameful maneuvers by the political
class would not have come to light. Blatant misdemeanors happening in
such large scales, not withstanding the shrewd exposures by the media,
could be directly attributed to the kind of degeneration in governance
headed by Dr.MMS. We have had a gamut of PMs, some extraordinarily
autocratic like Indira Gandhi and on the other extreme the likes of
Deve Gowda totally oblivious to the environment; but, MMS is unique,
that despite a fertile brain and intellect, he is behaving like
a naive.
Yes, whatever. Please focus on the other 'national shames' mentioned
in your newspaper the same day, and in the week preceding: lack of
sanitation (especially in schools, affecting our young children, and
especially female children). 42 percent malnutrition among children.
These are the true 'national shames'. Let's tackle these first.
Rushdie and his two decade old story are getting truly old now. As a
person of Indian origin, he could have CHOSEN to ignore the threats
and come anyway. They would have provided him protection if he had
chosen to come. So let's stop this attention-mongering-tweeting
literati show and get on with the business of focusing on the true
national shames that are slowly strangling our children in the
country.
Freedom of speech does not authorize a person to hurt the religious sentiments of his co-citizens. Hurting ones feelings is like encroaching on the freedom of others. There is a limit for all the
freedom that we enjoy in a democracy. Eminent authors should win the
hearts of the people through their writings. But they should not
succumb to fundamentalist forces.
The incumbent Congress govt at the center and in the states like Maharashtra & Rajasthan has time and again used ths state machinery to further their communal and corrupt politics. The Rushdie event is just one more feather in their cap. As is the usual practice, the Govt including PM ad HM will maintain silence on this. More issues and controversies will come up and this will soon be forgotten. Manmohan Singh, a true economist, is a firm believer in the economic postulate that, in the long run, everyone is dead. Any appeals to him are a wasted effort.
'A NATIONAL SHAME'indeed,but who was responsible for it?Was it the
common man of this land?NO..IT IS THE GOVERNMENT,BUREAUCRATS AND THE
POLITICIANS!It has always been so,the common man of India never
involves himself in such shameful acts and always keeps himself away
especially from religious controversies irrespective of the religion
he believes in,IT IS A FACT.Then who starts it?IT IS THE PEOPLE WHO
RUN THE GOVERNMENTS CALLED POLITICIANS!It is not a secret,almost every
political party in this country has a religious or a caste
organisation backing it up,for what?because it would be difficult for
the Governments to start a controversy of its own,so they use them
indirectly,it is that simple!It is not shame for the people but for
the Governments who 'create' them.It is high time we the common
citizens raise and throw these religious and caste organisations which
has never done anything for us,except creating hatred among
ourselves.Once we do it,the Governments will be on track.
The Editorial is simply superb and forthright. Indian political parties are proved to be spineless,do not command any respect but power to spend public money and can droop to any level of misinformation to occupy state Assemblies and Parliament by any means only with the ultimate motive of sitting on the heads of all Indians with the help of BPL population who always eagarly await their doles & freebees. For such a country to emancipate, all people should realize the value of their VOTE with a sober mind to decide who can really work for them and the nation. Only then, things will improve.
it was shamefull of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot who ought to have ensured his administration defended Indian law by helping you and not bulling you around. we as an Indian citizen would like to make full apology for this shameful episode with Mr. Rushdie.
It is most unfortunate to fill the media pages with Salman Rushdie as if there is no other important issue. Why media encourage such people who writes controversial issues in their publications to get money through sale of such controversial books. Now in this paper we saw editorial as well few other articles. This is going on for the past few days.
when we have a Prime minister who behaves like a spectator ,we will have more Chief
ministers ready to enter the hall of shame.
The PM and Sonia Gandhi cannot be unaware of the Rushie episode but they have chosen to remain silent. Why?
The Congress has chosen to play vote bank politics for narrow political ends and in the process has divided the country. There are other cases where no action has been taken by the Govt. against culprits on account of vote bank politics. Some exameles: (1)No action has been taken against the culprits responsible for driving out Kashmiri Pandits from their state 23 years ago. (2) No action was taken against the persons who assaulted Taslima Nasreen when she visited Hyderabad . (3) No action has been taken to execute the terrorist sentenced to death for his role in the attack on the Parliament by the SC.
The above are dangerous trends and the people must force the Congress and other political parties from playing vote bank politics.
Only from The Hindu, an asset for freedom. The editorial succession is safe, sound, and free. What a shame, and this from India. What a SHAME. If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters. Quoted from Alan K. Simpson, a well known USA statesman.
This incident comes close on the heels of another incident in the so-
called secular Kerala. I'm referring to the incident in Thodupuzha
where the hands of a professor of Newman college was chopped because
he set a question in an exam that supposedly ridiculed the Prophet.
One has to only research into the details of the case to figure out
that every person in the chain of command, the police, IB, political
big wigs, all conspired in rendering the unfortunate professor maimed
for life. Why? Because a few irrational voices from the Muslim
community could muster enough power to hire thugs to attack the
professor. One wonders where is the voice of the sane Muslim when such
disgusting incidents occur? The same question can be posed
to the Hindu community as well, or to followers of other religions.
well Governments first job is to maintain the integrity of nation. These are steps taken by the govt. in nations interest.Govt is truly a representation of people.These controversial people should be kept away from disturbing the communal harmony of our nation.THey have done it in a stylish manner by making a dual charactered author to keep away. We have freedom of speech in a vague form. It should be practicable only if it doesnt hurt the national interests. Ideas are acceptable till heart is happy. And Religion is not a science so as to prove it by theories..... And please dont be biased
good opinion piece. why the news papers and electronic media did not
give the call to Rushdie and indeed he is a bold and in expressing what
he felt as a class writer.
Guardian yesterday carried a very beautiful story on him. i did not see
any such level in indian media, though the media in india believes it is
fighting corruption but its failure to take on Rushdie's ommission being
an indian can also be treated as a serious corruption on ethics of india
It is election time,no one from congress is going to regret this. Great injustice was done to M F hussain, and this episode only proves again that all the Rights in the constitution are subject to the convenience of ruling party. As a citizen of India, I extend my apologies to Mr Rushdie.
Implicit in your language is the acceptance of the fact that the present avatar of the Congress party has a vote-bank bent of mind. That is a change from your past position of turning a blind eye to such a reality in that party, and is certainly a welcome one. Your opening reference to science is but iffy to the substance of the rest of your editorial.
Of all that has been said of the Nehruvian hang-over in the direction of India's post-independence movement, the philosophy espousing science to continue to be in the forefront was also wholeheartedly embraced by Nehru along with the stalwarts of that era. As the then-PM he gave it a face. That's probably Nehru's best and only legacy. That his progeny have turned the party into a feudal coterie of sycophants has bolstered the questioning of Nehru's wisdom in elevating Indira ahead of times, and before she could show and earn merit. Sadly that has continued since. Hope to see this increased objectivity in your commentary stay sustained.
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