More than 40 novelists, essayists, playwrights and poets have now given back their Sahitya Akademi awards. Author Nayantara Sahgal feels, “India’s culture of diversity is now under vicious assault.” Even Salman Rushdie weighed in, telling aTV network that the failure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others to act meant allowing a new “degree of thuggish violence” in India.
“Go and live in Pakistan; I will buy you the ticket if you want to take the first flight out of India; how dare you criticise the country that has given you so much; why do stupid Hindus let Muslim actors bark like this...” This was told to actor Aamir Khan, who expressed grief over his wife Kiran Rao’s suggestion that they leave India. She feels scared to open newspapers every day. That does indicate that there is a sense of growing disquiet, he said at an awards function. The panoply of rage, the violent words and metaphors Aamir’s critics have used must have convinced the actor that his wife’s fears are justified. “She fears for her child. She fears about what the atmosphere around us will be. That does indicate that there is a sense of growing disquiet,” he said at the function on Sunday.
Eighty-eight-year old internationally famous poet from Odisha, Jayant Mahapatra, too has returned his Padmashree award to President Pranab Mukherjee, who wouldn’t know what to do or say. Constitutionally, he is just a rubberstamp, who hands out the awards for plain routine Government publicity. It is the Government which selects awardees. Even several unworthy Sahitya Akademi awardees too have returned the prizes and titles. The one or two living Bharat Ratna recipients are too aged to express discontent. The one kicking with youthful vigour, Sachin Tendulkar, would never return the award. The UPA Government had twisted rules and parameters to decorate the billionaire cricketer with Bharat Ratna to create a huge vote bank of cricket-mad youngsters.
There is a horrific perception of fear and threat that is bothering every sane Indian today. Cast, creed, language and religion determine whether or not one is a friend or an enemy. No one is keen to talk, debate or negotiate to attain happy ending by creating an environment of peaceful, symbiotic coexistence. Most of the human creatures want to hit back and cause grievous injury or complete annihilation of the unjustly and insanely hated community. The Islamic state masterminds causing havoc to communities and races that don’t think or behave like them. The Islamic state defies all values of Prophet Mohmed and promotes ‘violent hate’ mostly among the confused youth among Muslim communities.
Seven years younger than Jayant, eminent writer Manoj Das of Odisha, differs with Mahapatra. He does not seem to know dishonest people who now rule award academies and jury panels, unlike in the 50s of the last century, would feel hurt. He seems to be unaware of the terrible hate and intolerance being displayed by inhuman people.
The Government has planted a nondescript Gajendra Chauhan at the FTII as boss. The students found him to be a gaping moron wasting time and irritating them as well as celebrities from the world of performing arts. Many have expressed extreme displeasure against the NDA outfit for bringing shame to the premier Institution. Twelve eminent filmmakers just kicked back awards and recognition, specifically to air their support to dismissal of Gajendra. Strangely, the NDA decision makers remain merrily callous to the countywide agitation. Chauhan’s only qualification is a grossly forgettable side role in a BR Chopra mythological television serial. Protesting against him peacefully is a characteristic Indian behaviour which is fast degenerating. lynching beef eaters and asking non-Hindus to flee the country is unforgivable sin.
Jayant Mahapatra is anxious that ordinary people of India are no longer feeling safe even at home. life has become dangerously vulnerable as no one can predict when a strange hater would break in or the drunk street corner goon dig a gun into your nape to extract money or crime-loving youths storm in to indecently assault young women members of the family. Manoj Das is wrong and Jayant Mahapatra right.
*Only a couple of days ago, a reputed airhostess and hospitality training facility in Bhubaneswar was ransacked by militant former girl students who did not like the jobs they got after training. They wanted money back which was not a practical proposition. Some self-styled media goon provoked the students to attack officials and destroy the entire interior. Police arrived on the scene, saw but chose to let the law breakers go scot free. Reportedly, the disgruntled former students had complained to the police for delay in issue of university certificates and never mentioned of any exploitation or harassment by their employers across the country.
One student and the media goon kept making threat calls to the women officials, saying any damage would be done mercilessly. The officials simply ignored the calls as crank. The police after receiving the complaints rightly advised both parties to strike a happy compromise. But the students came up with a new allegation of sexual harassment at workplace in which the director evidently had no role and which was never part of the primary complaint with the police. The students beat up the director and all women staff black and blue, injuring them severely. The director and women staff filed an FIR, but the militants got away with a flimsy counter FIR later.
Fact is that the Karnataka university affiliation has expired, and the Odisha university affiliation is in progress. The media carried false stories of sexual exploitation only to sensationalise the issue. ‘Sexual harassment’ charge was just a ploy to attract public attention. A fact-finding team, post rampage, has dug out these startling facts which would be shared only with the responsible, impartial media people. One popular TV channel, on its parody show, kept harping on the ‘sexual harassment’ angle so sickly that the anchor may land in legal trouble later. Even after this most horrific humiliation, the institute officials agreed to strike compromise. But the girls and boys insisted on depositing 26 lakh rupees at the police station, which was turned down. Meanwhile, ten new students have taken admission and are happy as the Utkal University of Culture is fast processing the affiliation matter. The police played to the media hype and readily slapped IPC 420 and arrested the director for not having an affiliation at the exact moment. The senseless media splashed the ugly ‘fairytale’ and kept bashing up the war veteran colonel director as if he were a street criminal. The director has suffered a heart attack and is now in the prison hospital. Justice has been denied to him only because of some media crooks who kept spreading the wrong message of sexual harassment without giving the truth. Several eminent citizens intervened and then only the police nabbed four students who have been remanded by the court to police custody. The AHHA issue is only one of many senseless hate and violence stories people do get to hear or see.
(The writer is a core member of Transparency International, Odisha)