Reason, Open Discussion, the Da Vinci Code, and Truth
Letter to the Editor, the Hindu – June 15, 2006 (this was not Published)
Reason, Open Discussion, the Da Vinci Code, and Truth
Respected Sir,
We lived in Chennai for 5 years and always read the Hindu. We moved to Hyderabad recently and are still reading it. Now I am Bangalore teaching a course on Ethics to the MA 2nd year students at SAIACS (Southern Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies) as a Visiting Professor and am continuing to read the Hindu.
This is a response to the Editorial, “On Banning the Da Vinci Code” by N. L. Rajah, and the letter to the editor, “’No’ to ban” by E. Sivasankaran, published on 14th June in the Bangalore edition. I definitely agree with all three writers that the demand to ban the movie, The Da Vinci Code and the positive response of some state governments are both not acceptable and appreciable. I join you in appreciating the Supreme Court’s decision not to accept a petition demanding the ban of the movie and this shows that the Apex Court has rightly upheld the “freedom of expression and artistic creativity.” I am saying all this as a Christian and a Philosopher. In fact, I have openly argued for the release of the movie and tried to help as many Christians as possible to understand the rationale – the constitution of India guarantees this and ultimately the Creator God Himself granted this.
I also agree that open and free discussion with respect to each other (not just tolerance, which in my view is negative – saying ‘you are different and are disagreeing with me, but I still tolerate’) knowing that all of us are endowed with rational capacity to analyse, examine, and arrive at our own conclusions. So when I engage some one in discussion, debate, and dialogue I am actually affirming his or her intellectual-rational capacities and thus honoring that person. Moreover, open discussion definitely helps in gaining better, more informed and balanced understanding and on this I agree with N. L. Rajah. Shunning open discussion is undoubtedly is greatest disservices to national and human welfare. It is my hope that the Hindu is courageously committed to encouraging open discussion.
I would like to say in conclusion that if one’s faith is not deep/strong enough (with rational, scientific, evidential evidences supporting it), then it is not the right kind of faith – it is baseless, irrational/anti-rational, and superstitious. Such faith definitely leads to demands that criticism against it should be banned. But the truth is that ‘all faith is not superstitious’ and if any one thinks so, it only shows their ignorance. Our concern in encouraging open discussion should be ‘truth’, for it is truth that should unite us and truth shall triumph ultimately (Satyame Va Jeyathe). None of us should be afraid of truth. Like our ancestors, we should long for, desire, search for truth. For we know that knowledge of truth matters. This means that we should recognize that writing fiction and claiming that it is all based on well-researched facts, as Dan Brown claims in page 1 of the Da Vinci Code, is a contradiction and unethical. We should also boldly let people know that the novel is ridden with historical errors and inaccuracies to ensure that people are not deceived. It is wrong on Dan Brown’s part to peddle fiction as truth. May we all know the truth and enjoy the benefits thereof.
Sincerely,
Sudhakar Mondithoka
6-1-69/5, 1st Floor, Saifabad (Lakadikapool), Hyderabad – 500 004
Phone: 040-23231010.
2 comments:
DOWN BUT NOT OUT CAN BE SAID RIGHTLY
The grip of the Majlis-e-ittehadul Muslimeen on the community remains strong, despite minor dents.
WITH A Member representing Hyderabad in the Lok Sabha, five members in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, 40 corporators in Hyderabad and 95-plus members elected to various municipal bodies in Andhra Pradesh, the All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen is one of the foremost representatives of the city's Muslims and the most powerful Muslim party in India and one can see the partys strenghth if it goes to Hyderabads Old city everywhere u look u can see MIM written on walls ,lightpoles and buildings leaving aside flags and posters of its Leadership. The Majlis has brought lot of development to the Old part of the city even after it is said it hasnt done anything by its opponents who are mostly Ex Majlis workers.
The Majlis was formed in 1927 "for educational and social uplift of Muslims". But it articulated the position that "the ruler and throne (Nizam) are symbols of the political and cultural rights of the Muslim community... (and) this status must continue forever".
The Majlis pitted itself against the Andhra Mahasabha and the communists who questioned the feudal order that sustained the Nizam's rule. It also bitterly opposed the Arya Samaj, which gave social and cultural expression to the aspirations of the urban Hindu population in the Hyderabad State of those days.
By the mid-1940s, the Majlis had come to represent a remarkably aggressive and violent face of Muslim communal politics as it organised the razakars (volunteers) to defend the "independence" of this "Muslim" State from merger with the Indian Union.
According to historians, over 1,50,000 such `volunteers' were organised by the Majlis for the Nizam State's defence but they are remembered for unleashing unparalleled violence against Hindu populations, the communists and all those who opposed the Nizam's "go it alone" policy. It is estimated that during the height of the razakar `agitation', over 30,000 people had taken shelter in the Secunderabad cantonment alone to protect themselves from these `volunteers'.
But the razakars could do little against the Indian Army and did not even put up a fight. Kasim Rizvi, the Majlis leader, was imprisoned and the organisation banned in 1948. Rizvi was released in 1957 on the undertaking that he would leave for Pakistan in 48 hours. Before he left though, Rizvi met some of the erstwhile activists of the Majlis and passed on the presidentship to Abdul Wahed Owaisi, a famous lawyer and an Islamic scholar who also was jailed for nearly 10 months after he took over the Majlis leadership as the then govt wanted to abolish the Majlis party but Owaisi refused to do so and was seen as a person who had financially supported the party when it was a bankrupt and weak one after the Police Action in Hyderabad State.
Owaisi is credited with having "re-written" the Majlis constitution according to the provisions of the Indian Constitution and "the realities of Muslim minority in independent India", according to a former journalist, Chander Srivastava. For the first decade-and-a-half after this "reinvention", the Majlis remained, at best, a marginal player in Hyderabad politics and even though every election saw a rise in its vote share, it could not win more than one Assembly seat.
The 1970s saw an upswing in Majlis' political fortunes. In 1969, it won back its party headquarters, Dar-us-Salaam — a sprawling 4.5-acre compound in the heart of the New City. It also won compensation which was used to set up an ITI on the premises and a women's degree college in Nizamabad town. In 1976, Salahuddin Owaisi took over the presidentship of the Majlis after his father's demise.
This started an important phase in the history of the Majlis as it continued expanding its educational institutions,Hospitals,Banks, including the first Muslim minority Engineering College and Medical College. Courses in MBA, MCA ,Nursing, Pharmacy and other professional degrees followed and now a daily newspaper known as Etemaad Daily. The 1970s were also a watershed in Majlis' history as after a long period of 31 years, Hyderabad witnessed large-scale communal rioting in 1979. The Majlis came to the forefront in "defending" Muslim life and property Majlis workers could be seen at these moments defending the properties of Muslims in the wake of riots and these workers were very hard even for the police to control them even now it is a known fact that there are nearly about 2500 units of strong members who only act if there is a seirous threat to the Owaisi family and these members are under the direct orders of the Owaisi family which leads the Majlis party leaving aside thousands of workers and informers throughout the State and even outside the country far away till America and the Gulf countries.
Salahuddin Owaisi, also known as "Salar-e-Millat" (commander of the community), has repeatedly alleged in his speeches that the Indian state has "abandoned" the Muslims to their fate. Therefore, "Muslims should stand on their own feet, rather than look to the State for help'', he argues.
This policy has been an unambiguous success in leveraging the Majlis today to its position of being practically the "sole spokesman" of the Muslims in Hyderabad and its environs.
Voting figures show this clearly. From 58,000 votes in the 1962 Lok Sabha elections for the Hyderabad seat, Majlis votes rose to 1,12,000 in 1980. The clear articulation of this "stand on one's feet" policy in education and `protection' during riots doubled its vote-share by 1984. Salahuddin Owaisi won the seat for the first time, polling 2.22 lakh votes. This vote-share doubled in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections to over four lakhs.
The Majlis has since continued its hold on the Hyderabad seat winning about five-and-a-half lakh votes each time.
Despite remarkable economic prosperity and negligible communal violence in the past decade, the hold of the Majlis on the Muslims of Hyderabad remains, despite minor dents. And despite widespread allegations of Majlis leaders having "made money", most ordinary Muslims continue to support them because, as one bank executive put it "they represent our issues clearly and unambiguously''. An old Historian Bakhtiyar khan says the Owaisi family was a rich family even before entering Politics and he says he had seen the late Majlis leader Abdul Wahed Owaisi in an American Buick car at a time when rarely cars were seen on Hyderabad Roads and the family had strong relations with the ersthwhile Nizams of Hyderabad and the Paighs even now the family is considered to be one of the richest familes in Hyderabad.
A university teacher says that the Majlis helped Muslims live with dignity and security at a time when they were under attack and even took the fear out of them after the Police action and adds that he has seen Majlis leaders in the front at times confronting with the Police and the Govt.
Asaduddin Owaisi, the articulate UK educated barrister son of Salahuddin Owaisi and Former leader of the Majlis' Legislature party and now an MP himself who has travelled across the globe meeting world leaders and organizatons and even in war zones compares the Majlis to the Black Power movement of America.
The Majlis that emerged after 1957 is a completely different entity from its pre-independence edition, he says adding that comparisons with that bloody past are "misleading and mischievous". "That Majlis was fighting for state power, while we have no such ambitions or illusions".
He stoutly defends the need for "an independent political voice" for the minorities, which is willing to defend them and project their issues "firmly".
"How can an independent articulation of minority interests and aspirations be termed communal," he asks and contests any definition of democracy which questions the loyalty of minorities if they assert their independent political identity. "We are a threat not only to the BJP and Hindu communalism, but also to Muslim extremism," Asaduddin claims. "By providing a legitimate political vent for Muslims to voice their aspirations and fears, we are preventing the rise of political extremism and religious obscurantism when the community is under unprecedented attack from Hindu communalists and the state''. He can be seen in his speeches speaking against terrorism in the Country and says if the time arises Majlis will stand side by side in defending the Nation.
Hi Friend,
I am sorry that I have not been able to read your comment/posting. i will do so soon and respond. But I appreciate your taking time to post your comment.
Wishing you all the best
Sudhakar
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