Who is in Whose Land? Thackeray Family’s Bihar Connection

Ram Puniyani

India is facing lot of communal-ethnic strife where the place of origin and religion of people is the marker due to which they are attacked. Many a retrograde political ideologies are based on the ‘first comer’ assertions. The deeper problems related to social resources, economic deprivations and socio-political inequalities are being presented as problems related region or religion of people. In Mumbai, one can see this in its extreme form, in the politics of Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Both these outfits have a regional-religious chauvinist agenda. They switch from region to religion at the drop of the hat. They also keep combining the two in the aggressive street politics.

The rising star of this sectarian politics, Raj Thackeray, has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, threatening ‘others’ with his usual ‘methods’ of ‘direct action’. Why the state lets the ‘direct action’ of these sectarian outfits go unpunished, is another side of the coin of the story. Recently (Sept 2012) when the Bihar official wrote to Maharashtra police authority that Maharashtra police should have informed the Bihar police before arresting the two criminals who had broken Amar Jawan Jyoti in August 11, 2012 violence, Raj Thackeray retaliated by saying that MNS will declare all the Biharis as infiltrators. As such what Bihar police was asking was a mere routine followed by police of one state while acting in the other state. Thackeray, in order to bake his political bread made it an issue.

Courtesy: http://www.odiablog.com/

While he was talking in this language, an interesting point came up. Congress General Secretary Mr. Digvijaya Singh dug out some history from the writings of grandfather of Raj Thackeray and father of Bal Thackeray, Mr. Prabodhankar Thackeray (?Thakre). Incidentally the spelling Thakre was changed to Thackeray not too far back in History. Singh quoted Thakre senior’s collected works, Prabodhankar Thackeray Samagra Vangmay: Khand (Volume) 5, published by the Maharashtra Rajya Sahitya Ani Sanskritik Mandal when BJP-Shiv Sena was ruling the state. This quote is about the geographical background of the community from which Thackeray’s come, Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (CKP). Singh quoted page no. 45 of the volume 5, which says that Magadha’s corrupt Kshatriya king Mahapadmanand was persecuting his subjects by levying various taxes on them. Many a families from CKP community left Magadha to escape the persecution and greed of Kshtriya ruler and left for Nepal, Kashmir and Bhopal.

The same book mentions that out of those who left Magadh (now Bihar), around 80 families settled in Taal Bhopal and Prabodhankar’s family was one amongst them. As per Singh, Prabodhankar mentions that the Muslim ruler of Bhopal was very kind and was great help to the Thackeray family. This Thackeray family later migrated to Mumbai.  Uddhav Thackeray, cousin of Raj and son of Bal Thackeray, said his grandfather is generally talking about the CKP and not his family in particular. Still Uddhav did not give the alternate version of their families past. Interestingly Parabodhankar’s account breaks another myth. Today his descendents and the practitioners of sectarian politics propagate that the medieval period was a dark period of India as there were many Muslim kings and Nawabs, who were doing atrocities on Hindus. Their version also glorifies Hindu Kings in general. Here in Prabodhankar’s account, a Khstriya (Hindu, warrior caste) king is tyrannical forcing the subjects to leave his kingdom while the Muslim Nawab is helpful for Thackeray family. Stereotyping the kings as per their religion, communal historiography has played a very negative role in the history of our society. In Pakistan and India both, even today such perceptions are part of popular understanding. There is a need to learn from what Thackeray senior writes in his book.

How do we judge citizenship today? Do we have a right to go from one state to another or not? Theoretically it will be accepted by all that it is legally correct. Still in various places and more particularly in Mumbai, Shiv Sena and its clone MNS have been creating havoc on this issue. Their sectarianism is not restricted only to region, but also to religion. In both matters their basic understanding is also totally fabricated and far from truth. As migrants have been taking place in to Metros, big cities, depending on survival opportunities. In pre independence times major migration took place amongst other places to Kolkata in particular. In Mumbai in the decade of 1960s to 1980s, when industrial production was booming here major migrations took place. And the major migrations to Mumbai did not take place from outside Maharashtra. They were from mainly Konkan region of Maharashtra. Even today the migration is taking place, the major migration is to Delhi and Punjab, Mumbai is third on the list. The latest Tata Institute of Social Sciences report tells us that 70% of immigrants to Mumbai are from within Maharashtra itself. In these migrations employment is the reason only for 15% of those coming here to Mumbai. The major reasons for coming to Mumbai are related to such migration being a post marriage relocation and education.

Currently Thackeray family, the original inhabitants from Bihar in the past, are pursuing their spewing of venom against Biharis in particular. Their targets have been changing. The Shiv Sena was propped up by the Mumbai industrialists to break the strength of workers unions. Shiv Sena was then subtly helped by the ruling Congress. Shiv Sena initially attacked the South Indians, with the slogan ‘Uthao Lungi Bajao Pungi’ (Beat up the lungiwallahs, South Indians). Then their targets shifted to Gujarati’s for time being. In between Shiv Sena also postitoned itself on the bandwagon of Hindutva politics of RSS, and took the lead in 92-93 Mumbai violence with slogans like ‘Muslaman ka Do hi Stan: Pakistan ya Kabristan’ (Muslims can have only two abodes: Pakistan or graveyard). They demonized the Muslims, all this has come out in the Srikrishna report, which is yet to be implemented in letter and spirit.

Lately, North Indians are the major targets of the politics of regionalism. This Shiv Sena-MNS politics is totally against the norms of our Constitution. The aggressive politicians also need to present the reality in an honest manner. If 70% of immigrant to Mumbai are from Maharashtra are Marathi Manoos,(Marathi speaking people) what do you do with them? There are problems. But the problems are not with Biharis or Nepalis coming here to explore survival options. The whole concept of development and the state polices need to be organized in a way where some areas don’t get burdened by the pressure of population. The victims of politics based on region and religion are the poorer lot, while in later case the poor rich divide has been abolished during last two decades.

At another level, religion, nation state, and regions are concepts which should help the humanity grow. Spencer Wells has shown that genetic lineage of the human race goes to Africa! Nation state is the concepts, which came to overcome the tyranny of the kingdoms. Nation states have a contribution for human society, only in so far as they bring in democratization of society and do away with feudal values. Regions in a nation state are meant to provide mechanisms for regional growth and barring that they should be fluid and inclusive in all sense of the word. The ilk of Thackeray needs to learn the moral of story from their lineage. It will do us good if they can also learn a bit from Tagore’s universalism and Spencer Wells theories about migrations of human race.

Read More

God: Early Concepts

A.N.Moorthy Rao

  

Thousands of years ago, when self-consciousness blossomed in man and he began to look at the world around him with curiosity, what did he see? Volcanic flames leaping into the sky: molten lava racing down, reducing to ashes everything in its way: blinding lightning: forests devoured by huge fires: turbulent oceans, and fierce waves dashing against the shores : and the roar of the thunders and crash of the thunder-storms! "How am I going to survive in this terrifying world?", he must have shuddered.

But man, who saw such a fierce face of nature and its deadly effects, saw also its other face: the glory of the colourful sunrise and sunset: the enchantment of the rainbow: the festive splendour of forest and field drenched in rains (which arrived in the company of thunders and storms): the fragrance and the softness of the flower that swayed to the breeze: the stars twinkling in the night sky and the mysterious blue depths in the space between them: the grace of the star-lit night sky: the immense expanse of the sea, its majesty .....

Nature, so cruel before, had now turned pleasant. Innocent that he was then, man marvelled at this and was delighted. It was, for him, an inexpressible experience. He could not describe it nor analyse it. The world, both awesome and beautiful, grim and pleased, remained a riddle to him. Who could be its architect? Was it magic? Or miracle? There must be something magnificent behind it all. Was it (or he) a friend or a foe? It must be fickle ­minded. The breeze, gentle and caressing now, may, the next moment, become a hurricane. The ground right under his feet might crack up! In recent days, philosophers have spoken of a 'power' behind the phenomena of Nature; primitive man was probably incapable of such reasoning. His mind could only conceive of a strong person or object; not an abstract power. All the activities of a person or an object so imagined were the work of magic! This, probably, was how the concept of God took shape. Fear, wonder and the instinct to seek protection- all these can be seen behind this concept. The concept of God is something that continuously crosses our mind. The reasons could be: the fear that if we antagonise Him. He will bring us to harm, or the expectation that He will save us from the tribulations of this dangerous world or the feeling that God is the symbol of the highest of human values. This is the concept that has been with us over thousands of years and this is with us even today. Which explains why even non­believers routinely use such expressions as ‘My God!’ or ‘For God's sake!’ without a thought for what they mean. It is indeed no wonder that one feels that this God, so well entrenched in the minds of people all over the world must, in fact, exist.

But can we trust this feeling? It would be better, before deciding on this, to be clear about what 'God' means and what His nature is. It is hot easy to define God, though. Even philosophers are not agreed on this question. So, let us not try to define God right now. What we could do now is this: we will learn, to the extent possible, what men of different ages and climes have regarded as God, and the nature of such Gods. Then, based on this understanding, we can try to generalize on the nature of God. This is the Inductive Method- the method of deriving general principles from a known set of facts.

The question 'What is God?' is prompted by the fac­ulty of reasoning. Even to answer this question, one needs that same faculty. But this, probably, was not what the early man asked. His question must have been : 'Who is God?'· One thing was clear to him : that God was power­ful not just physically, but also in some magical, mysterious way. To be able to deal with Him, one had to be similarly powerful and possess magical powers, too. Not everyone was capable of that: only some clever ones were. This is how witch-doctors and sorcerers came on to the scene. And they only strengthened this belief - for, after all, they had their own prestige to protect. Traces of this magic re­main in some of our religious rites to this day.

Beliefs about God

Who is the omnipotent God? Man has found many answers to this question. In many places, there was the practice of worshipping the ancestors and heroes of by­gone ages. And, to this day, the belief persists, that they exist somewhere after shedding their bodies here, that they still retain their interest in our welfare and that they ought to be revered. Consider the ceremonies we perform for our ancestors. In those rituals, there is, apart from the desire that they may attain an auspicious state and be pro­vided with food and drink, also an element of worship. The priest, in the course of the rituals, refers to them as 'Lord Krishna' or 'Lord Rama'.

Stones and trees may be Gods. In Maramma temples there is, usually, only a stone, not even a stone image. God­dess Maramma is believed to lend it divinity by inhering there. The most common instance of plant worship is the Tulasi Puja, widely practised even now. Tulasi receives worship and is also used to offer worship. The banyan tree is also God for us ­the divine ‘Ashwatha Narayan’. One who goes around this tree a hundred and eight times will be blessed with a child. There are those who believe, even today, that they acquire merit' (puny a') by growing a neem tree by the side of a ban­yan tree and uniting the two in wedlock according to religious rites

If trees could be Gods, why not animals? Some tribes in Africa, it seems, believed that crocodiles are God and of­fered sacrifices to crocodiles. We are quite familiar with the worship of cobras. Millions still believe that ‘Naga Prathishte’ (a form of cobra worship) would bless them with a child. In­deed, I know of even mighty scholars, not just illiterate people, resorting to this kind of cobra-worship. And, I have myself en­joyed sumptuous meals on those occasions! Even those who do not perform 'Naga Prathiste' do worship snakes during the 'Naga Panchami' festival with milk. It is a sin to kill a cobra! It is believed that one who kills it will be afflicted with skin diseases and the whole family will be haunted.

Then there are the instances of animals and birds at­taining Godhood through association with a first-class God. Garuda, being Vishun's vehicle, has become God and has also earned the title of ‘the Protector’. But Hanuman, Rama's associate, has scored over Garuda. I do not know of any temple dedicated to Garuda. But there is not a town in this country without a Hanuman temple, usually right at the entrance of the town. Devotees of Hanuman, it is said, will attain many 'siddhis'- supernatural powers. There are thousands of people who visit a Hanuman temple regularly at least once a day. The belief is that in the cOr(ling 'kalpa', or a long long era, Hanuman will, on promotion, become Brahma Himself.

One step above this level (or 'below this level', shall we say?) we encounter deities like Mari and Beera who are supposed to resemble humans in form and Ghost Dieties like Panjurli and Bobbarya. These are usually not referred to as Gods. It is not Maris or Bobbaryas that come to our minds first at the mention of God. Yet, the fact is that we have attributed superhuman powers to them and that we worship them.

Some ‘Ammas’[i] have won the reverence of people in their towns and have risen to Godhead. For instance: the 'Gudiamma' of the Vadda tribe in my town. She is an incar­nation of Godess Lakshmi and is not to be classed with the rest of 'Ammas'.

On these deities, we have bestowed a more or less hu­man form and the faculty of speech. These Gods can 'pos­sess' someone and through the 'possessed one' communi­cate to us their desires and instructions. This 'power' places these deities one step above the plant-deities. Yet, these are petty deities who cause pain, suffering, epidemics and even death. Only after extorting the 'offerings' do they grudgingly halt the epidemics- or, at least so we hope. Tulasi or Ashwatha tree or Garuda or Anjaneya never causes such disasters; their actions are always benign. But the 'Ammas' or the Ghost Deities unleash on us terrible diseases for petty reasons or sometimes for no reason at all. They may even demand the sacrifice of a hen or a sheep or a daily plate of curds rice. I am not aware of these dieties ever volunteering to do anything good for the people. This is how their style may be described: cause harm first, then blackmail and extort in order to halt (?) the harm.

The Forces of Nature

Our Indra, Agni, Vayu and so on are only forces of Nature whom we have endowed with names and forms. Bestowing divinity on these forces is an ancient practice. Zeus of ancient Greece was one such force of Nature. Like our Indra, he, too, once occupied a position of su­premacy. Just as our Indra wielded the Vajrayudha, lightning was Zeus's weapon. Helios was the Sun God, Artemis the Moon Goddess. Aeolus was the God of the Winds, Poseidon the Sea God. The reign of these Greek deities[ii] is over. Unable to bear the onslaught of Christianity, they are now hiding in the museum of literature.

While our Indra and other deities have managed to retain their divine status they do not belong to the highest orders. Their decline began in the Upanishadic Age itself. A verse in the Kathopanishad[iii] says, "In the presence of the Supreme, electricity itself has no brightness; what, then, is Agni?" In the story narrated at the end of the Kenopanishad, Agni, unable even to burn a blade of grass (without the grace of the Supreme), stands humbled. Vayu is similarly humiliated.

Similarly, Indra also has stepped down from his exalted position. Only when some one performs 'tapas' and obtains a boon which harms the interests of gods and men (and the gods are foolish enough to grant such boons) Indra collects the gods and rushes to Shiva or Vishnu desperately pleading for succour - to such a level has the might of Indra sunk!

Even today occasionally yagnas are performed to offer sacrifices to Indra and the other gods. But there are no temples solely dedicated to them, and they recieve no worship; only Surya, Agni and Vayu are exceptions. Surya has contested from two constituencies- and won from both. The scientist may not accept him as a true planet, but he is a planet to the common man and to the astrologer. Besides he has merged with Narayana to become Suryanarayana.

Madhwa philosophy has accorded Vayu an exalted position. Any auspicious function in a Madhwa household is 'motivated by Hari and Vayu'. All Hindu sects revere Agni and 'homa' is a very important ritual; naturally, Agni is important.

All this is true but yet the plight of the nature deities evokes pity.

---

[i] The word ‘Amma’ is applied to all female deities of the Mari-Masani category; the deity who spreads chickenpox is the ‘Young Amma’; the deity who causes smallpox is the ‘Elder Amma’. Plague and cholera have presiding deities; with them are deities like 'Patalamma', 'Ranabheramma' and 'Kalluramma'. 

[ii] These gods were worshipped by the Romans, too, under different names. 

[iii] "Nemaa vidyutho bhanti kutoyamagnihi"- this verse is found in one or two other Upanishads, too.

Akkihebbalu Narasimha Murthy Rao (June 16, 1900—August 23, 2003) was an eminent Kannada writer.  He was the first Director of Kannada and Culture Department of the Karnataka Government.

His popular book, Devaru (God), won (1992) the Pampa Award instituted by the Government of Karnataka.

This is the first chapter of the book, which was translated into English by Prof LS Seshagiri Rao and published by Kannada Sahitya Parishath, Bangalore in 1995

Read More

The Lokayata School

S.K.Belvalkar

R.D.Ranade

The Lokayata is a school with a very venerable ancestry, Brihaspati the preceptor of the gods being regarded as its first Founder. The doctrine is sometimes styled the Bhutavada, as well as the Lokayata, and from the numerous references to it in orthodox as well as non-­orthodox works, it would seem that the doctrine was more than mere tendency: that it had, in other words, early developed into an orderly system of thinking. It, for instance, accepted direct perception (Pratyaksha) as the only valid source of knowledge, denied Causality, and preached prudential Hedonism. And its constructive programme probably included an earnest effort, by cultivating the social and physical sciences such as they were known at the time, to ameliorate human suffering and augment the sum-total of human happiness. The School has had the mis­fortune of being known to us only through the versions of its opponents; but its great seductive charm and extensive vogue cannot be readily explained on the usual assumptions regarding the purely negative and destructive character of its tenets. The Kautilya, as is well known, assigns it quite a prominent place as a system of philosophy, and it is likely that the teacher mentioned in the Mahabharata as the friend and contemporary of Duryodhana, viz. Charvaka, must have exercised considerable influence in giving unto what was merely the natural tendency of the human mind-presenting itself at specific periods of its social evolution - a metaphysical basis and back-ground. The teaching of Ajita Kesa-kambalin, as we saw, agreed with the Lokayata in quite a number of details; and the Bhagavadgita, it may be recalled, selected this very school for a particularly virulent frontal attack (Chap. xvi). We can understand of course how it did happen that at a time when no two prophets or phi­losophers seemed quite to agree even on the most elementary of questions; and when there was no authority living or dead that dared to prove that a thing was so-and-so, or was not so-­and-so, a voice which - acting on the famous dictum that where ignorance was bliss it was folly to be wise – advised men to turn away from the giddy heights of speculation and descend to the plain normal life of sense and sensibility, was most like­ly to secure the readiest response. Its attacks on the Srauta religion and on all established institutions in fact were mark­ed by a trenchancy of style, wealth of illustrations and, a perspicacity of argumentation which rarely failed to hit where it aimed and achieved the victory, as indeed the few preserved specimens of it abundantly testify.

  

Courtesy:

S.K.Belvalkar & R.D.Ranade, 1927, History of Indian Philosophy: The Creative Period (Chapter Tenth: Post-Upanishadic Thought-Ferment, Section: 9: The Lokayata School)

About the authors:

Shripad Krishna Belvalkar (1880-1967) was born at Kolhapur, Maharashtra and was educated at Bombay and Harvard universities. He was Honorary Secretary of All India Oriental Conference in1926-27. He was elected as Honorary Fellow, Royal Asiatic Society, London in 1947. He was co-founder and Honorary Secretary of Bhardarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune in 1915-18 and 1927-33. His publications include: Systems of Sanskrit Grammar (1915), Rama’s Later Hisotry (1925), Dandin’s Kavyadarsa (1924), and Bhagavadgita (1941)

Ramachandra Dattatraya Ranade (1886-1957) was born at Jamkhandi in Karnataka. He was Emiritus Professor of Philosophy and Vice-Chancellor, Allahabad University.  His important publications are: Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy (1926), Mysticism in Maharashtra (1930), Philosophical Essays (1956), and Shri Bhagavat Gita (1958)

Read More

Satya Sai Baba Miracle: Producing Shiva Linga from the Mouth

B Premanand

On the night of Shivarathri, while the devotees are engaged in singing bhajans, Satya Sai Baba goes into labour. He squirms with pain, his right hand pressing on his stomach, heart and neck. While wiping the tears sweat and saliva with a towel, he suddenly "gives birth" to an oval gold or stone linga from his mouth.

Experiment: 68

Efect: Shiva Linga emerging from the mouth.

Props: An oval stone, one bath towel, ell starched, and a flower-pot.

Sai Baba regurgitating Shiva Lingam
Courtesy: http://robertpriddy.wordpress.com

Method: The oval stone is hidden inside the towel and placed in the flower vase as a decoration. While the right hand presses your body to the sound of groans, you take the towel and start wiping the sweat and tears. When your hand reaches your neck, saliva flows from your mouth. Under the pretence of wiping the saliva, the towel is applied to the mouth. The oval stone is placed half inside your mouth and when you lower the towel, it appears as if the oval stone is emerging from your mouth. Satya Sai Baba bas stopped performing this trick also after we demonstrated it in Anantapur, and made fun of him about his homosexuality as narrated by Tal Brooke in his book "Lord of the Air".

Experiment: 69

Effect: Turning Stone into Sugar Candy.

Satya Sal Baba, while walking on the river bank of Chitravati, asked Dr. Bhagavantam, a physicist, to pick up a stone and give it to him. The scientist did so. Then Satya Sal Baba put it into his mouth 3l1d asked him to eat it. It was sugar candy.

Props: White stone, Palmyra candy or sugar candy.

Method:  Palm a piece of the candy. Ask someone to pick up a small stone which you point out to him and give it to you. Take the stone in your fingers and while moving transfer the candy to your fingers while palming the stone. Put it in the mouth of the volunteer and ask him to eat it. It will be sugar candy.

Experiment: 70

Effect:  Producing a copious flow of water from a small vessel.

After washing the feet of Satya Sai Baba, that water is filled in a gold pot and distributed to thousands of the devotees. It looks as if endless quantity of water is flowing from the vessel.

Props: Special pot and water.

Method: Fill the vessel with water. With your thumb close the hole on the neck of the vessel and slowly pour it out until it is empty. Put it down with the mouth up and remove the thumb. Water in the outer pot fills into the inner pot. Again reverse it with the thumb on the hole. Water flows out. In the same way you can repeatedly pour out water to small quantities until the water in the vessel is almost empty.

This vessel is devised by using the following two-scientific principles.

Experiment: 71

Effect: Water does not fall from a glass when covered by a paper and inverted

Props: One glass tumbler, water, and a thick paper to cover the mouth of the glass.

Method: Water in a glass is covered with a thick paper. When turned over neither the paper nor the water falls down. This is due to atmospheric pressure exerted on the paper.

Experiment: 72

Effect: Water does not spill out from a narrow-necked bottle when it is inverted.

Props: A soft drink bottle, a plastic insertion to make the neck narrower, and water.

Method: Turn over the soft drink bottle of water and show the water falling out. Then move your hand over the neck of the bottle stealthily putting the plastic insertion into the nock and reverse. Water will not fall down. Then, put a match stick through the hole of the plastic insertion which will float in the water.

This is based on the scientific principle “equal quantity of air has to enter the bottle to disperse equal quantity of water”. Due to the narrow neck when it is sealed by the water, air cannot enter the bottle to disperse water.

Reproduced with permission from Indian CSICOP.  For other articles from Science Versus Miracles we have already published please click here (http://www.carvaka4india.com/search/label/Science%20versus%20Miracles) 

Read More

Vicious Cycle of Islamophobia

Ram Puniyani

We are going through strange times. While the science, technology and rationalism has given us physical and intellectual tools to better the lot of humanity, we are witnessing the production of provocative material, literature and films in particular, which demonize the particular religion, Islam to be precise, and the prophet of Islam. On the other hand there is a section of community, feeling threatened and insecure coming to the streets to protest against such humiliation and insult of their religion. There are debates on freedom of expression, but how come the freedom of expression always goes to humiliate and demonize one particular religion only?

Currently (September 2012), there are massive protests in different countries against the American embassies, resulting in death of four from the US staff, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, in Benghazi. Different countries are asking Google, the owner of YouTube, which is hosting this provocative and insulting video clip, ‘Innocence of Muslims’, to withdraw the film clip. At places the video clip has been withdrawn and blocked. US sticks to its ‘Freedom of Expression’ stance and the many protesters are still on the streets.

The film clip, of around 14 minutes duration is part of the full length feature film made by Nakoula Basseley, a US based Christian. The film is very insulting to Islam. In this film large number of modern day mob of bearded Muslims is shown to be attacking Christians. It also takes the audience back in time to show a distorted life of Prophet Mohammad with negative and aggressive traits of personality. It is crude film, made in extremely poor taste and has generated strong reaction amongst large section of Muslims.  It must be pointed out that this is not the only type of reaction to this film. There are sections of clerics who have asked the Muslims to keep restrain. Quoting the moral precepts from Islam, Quran, they said that Islam is a religion of peace and no violent protests should be held. The best response to this despicable film has been from a section of Muslims distributing the book on life of Prophet Mohammad, the prophet of peace.

During last several years, it has become a sort of standard pattern by many in the West and some here in India to demonize Islam. We remember the Danish cartoon of Prophet, where he is shown as a terrorist, with a bomb tucked in his turban. A Florida Pastor went on to burn this holy book, Koran, saying that Koran teaches violence. Some US soldiers in Afghanistan also burnt copies of Koran, on the ground that the terrorist elements had written messages on those copies.

Muslims in Chennai protest against the film "Innocence of Muslims"
Courtesy: The Hindu

The demonization of Islam and Muslims has a pattern and agenda. The cartons and films are the outcome of the deeper political processes, which aim to control the oil wells in West Asia. The imperialist greed of United States marshaled the flag of “Islam the New threat” since Ayatollah Khomeini came to power in Iran, overthrowing the US stooge Raza Shah Pahlavi. Later the slogan was worsened with US setting up Madrassas in Pakistan to train Al Qaeda-Taliban to initiate the Muslim youth to fight against the occupying Russian armies in Afghanistan. The word, Jihad and kafir were distorted to indoctrinate the Muslim youth in these Madrassas.  With later trajectories and the event of 9/11, World Trade Center attack, the US media with all its guile, popularized the phrase ‘Islamic Terrorism’. The phrase was picked up by the media all over the World and later became part of the social common sense. This is a major abuse of religion for political goals by the imperialist power. One can understand this demonization of Islam as a part of US policy, a cover to hide its agenda to control the oil. To understand it in the way Noam Chomsky ‘coined the phrase’ Manufacturing Consent’, the coining of the word Islamic terrorism is part of the US mechanism of manufacturing consent of the world to give assent to the US attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq.

This US policy gas given rise to twin processes. On one hand the phenomenon like a Florida Pastor Terry Jones burning Koran or the Danish cartoonist drawing Prophet Mohammad as terrorist or the present film has been the outcome of the intense propaganda against Islam. This US propaganda has been backed up by the US sponsored ideology of ‘Clash of Civilizations’, according to which the current era of World History is the era of assault of backward Islamic civilization on the advanced Western civilization. This distorted perception, this ideology was used as a cover for US agenda in West Asia. The other process which got unleashed was that the psyche of global Muslim community started being affected. The perception came up that Muslims (Afghanistan and Iraq) are being attacked, they are under threat. In India the added aspect was the rise of RSS type politics, bringing up Ram Temple issue and starting hatred for Muslims. A large section of Muslims started feeling intimidated and besieged. It became easy for mobilizing them around identity issues. Any community which feels besieged, section of it becomes vulnerable to easy provocation and identity based mobilization.

It is a vicious circle, the Islamophobia on one side and besieged community on the other. In this scenario the Muslim clerics who are asking for peace are the beacon lights of hope for the community. The Muslims who are distributing the books on life of prophet need to be complimented. This is what the sane response from the community has to be. What about US, imperialist designs and its mighty propaganda machinery doing all the mischief in the world? Can there be a process of controlling that? Under Kofi Annan, when he was Secretary General of United Nations, a high level committee produced a report, ‘Alliance of Civilizations’. This report got lost under the barrage of Islamphobia. It is time the world as such takes note of the deeper humane values which have developed by humanity over a period of time, the values which have led to the reports of type of ‘Alliance of civilizations’, the UN conventions which have conceptualized the Human rights for all.

The trigger which has incited the demonization process of religion and films like this one are provoking these insane reactions from a section of Muslims. Can United Nations be revived as a global platform for monitoring the norms for Nations, media and other aspects of our global life evolved to ensure that democratization and human dignity is promoted. Can the World come forward to check the aggressions of ‘The Super Power’? That’s when such films will cease to act as factors promoting violent reactions. And even such crude attempts at insulting others’ religion will come down. May be with such norms and restraints on US policies we can hope that such incidents will come down. Even if there are elements making some films like this there will be others making a film giving their own versions of Prophet’s Mission of peace in the World. 

And finally we also need to preserve the concept of freedom of expression moderated with its limits. We also need to cultivate methods of protest where hysterical emotions are kept at bay and rational approach is brought to the fore. 

Read More