dailyO
Politics

Dear Farhan Akhtar: Tone down Hindutva India vs Muslim Pakistan chant

Advertisement
Vrinda Gopinath
Vrinda GopinathDec 07, 2015 | 21:16

Dear Farhan Akhtar: Tone down Hindutva India vs Muslim Pakistan chant

Dear Farhan Akhtar,

Now that the hysteria has died down over the awful incident of a couple being heckled and forced out of a cinema in Mumbai for not standing up when the national anthem was being played, let’s look at how you have unwittingly played into the faux nationalism charade.

Not everyone outside Mumbai may be aware that the Jana Gana Mana... was not the usual, dull sarkari rendition put together by DAVP (department of advertising and publicity) but led by you – it’s a three-minute documentary made recently by a group called fadootv.com (!!) on the victims of 26/11 terrorist attacks.

Advertisement

There’s your voice over which talks about the sacrifices made by the “martyrs”, and you end by spurring the audience to stand up as a tribute to the unsung heroes when the national anthem plays, sung by some of Bollywood’s star singers. It must be said, the Maharashtra state government has, since 2003, made it mandatory to play the national anthem before the screening of a film.

No one doubts your straight-from-the-heart intention for lending your voice to Fadoo’s documentary, but perhaps it’s time to see the repercussions of this kind of excessive sentimentality and nationalism. For starters, this mushy documentary instantly intensifies the Hindutva India vs Muslim Pakistan – the two-nation theory so beloved of the Narendra Modi-led government, and its patron-saint, the RSS. This "Us and Them" malady is a plague in this present climate of suspicion and hate.

The last year-and-a-half has seen the war cry of Hindutva majoritarianism against minorities growing shrilly, and this documentary only digs the line deeper. You know, this Pakistani-Indian Muslim versus Vande-Mataram-nationalist-Hindutvavadi. Not surprisingly, this mawkish, soppy documentary created a swell of jingoism, however unintentional if you say so, enough to attack other non-abiding cine-goers and force them to leave.

Advertisement

But seven years have passed since 26/11, with no answers on how such an audacious attack took place in the first place, nor any accountability fixed on the lax internal and external intelligence bureaus, national security agency, military intelligence, and the dawdling response of Mumbai Police. Can such attacks take place again? Is the country prepared with smart intelligence-gathering and alert intelligence agencies? What lessons have we learnt?

None of these questions seem pertinent or urgent, instead, the documentary only perpetuates extreme jingoism with this constantly whirring tear-jerker, and muddles the public further with hardly any understanding of the real issues.

One can almost touch Bollywood’s anxiety of wanting to be patriotic, but is there any point obsessing about martyrdom and self-sacrifice? The immediate aftermath of 26/11 fanned jingoistic hysteria with calls for revenge, war cry for military attacks on Pakistan, chest-beating and so on; what’s the use of reminding the public of the anger and hopelessness of that time? Politicians and intelligence agencies were quick to whip it up even more then, it not only puffed up their self-importance, but also fogged up their botch-ups and dismal failures.

As long as mass propaganda ensures no valid questions are asked, and the image of "Enemy No 1" is perpetuated, the hatred and anger can be channelled to the latter rather than to the government which should take the rap.

Advertisement

Finally, let not this simmering hate be blown up into a full-fledged anti-minority hysteria, gently led by soppy images of martyrdom, sacrifice and brawling nationalism. Instead, why not provoke critical thinking, accountability, maybe even dissent?

Last updated: December 08, 2015 | 18:13
IN THIS STORY
Please log in
I agree with DailyO's privacy policy