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The Muhammad cartoons did rouse the Islamic Congress Govt. at the Centre. It seems that the Indian Govt. expressed its outrage and offered suggestions to the Danish Govt. in October of last year itself, when the Mohammed cartoons were first published.
The Press release from Indian Govt. reads:
?¢‚Ǩ?ìAt the time these offending cartoons were first published, Indian
outrage at this had been conveyed to the Danish Government both in New
Delhi and in Copenhagen, in October, 2005 itself,?¢‚Ǩ? the release said.?¢‚Ǩ?ìIt
is incumbent on all of us to be sensitive to the beliefs and sentiments
of others and avoid all actions that cause hurt to them. India?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s
commitment to religious harmony and tolerance is unshakeable and
actions that cause hurt to the sentiments of any section of our people
are not acceptable,?¢‚Ǩ? the release added.
From where did it find the impudence to tell the Danish Govt. what to do when Muslim sentiments are alone hurt?
Not to mention the utter lacklustre response when MF Hussain draws Hindu Goddesses nude! He still roams free in a country where hurting religious sentiments is absolutely illegal. (Not a question of an artist’s freedom of expression here, it is a question of the professed secularism of a government.)
Congress is much better renamed IUML (2); and India may sooner be declared as the Islamic Repbulic of India.
So much for secularism!
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Hi Subhan – you’ve brought in a different angle to the subject. A secular govt. that is also democratic should NOT as a govt. oppose freedom of the press anywhere. But there are laws in India itself which protect against slander of any religion in any manner. When there are such laws that the govt. abides by, and if it chooses to protest slander of Islam, I think it is only right that it should also protest slander of Hinduism.
Regarding the apathy of the Hindus to these incidents, you may note that most Hindus are unaware of these incidents. Those that are aware and have been able, have protested against these things. For eg: a vehement, but peaceful, protest by Hindus outside Harrods made them withdraw the objectionable bikinis.
And Hindus in UK have also successfully urged many British MPs to protest to the Russian govt. against suppression of Hinduism in Moscow. Moreover, a common Hindu may not burn or destroy public property as a form of protest. But if you look at the online world, there are numerous people who have protested in their own ways against slander of Hinduism. So, Hindus have actually reacted!
Hi Sooraj,
I don’t accept the argument that a Govt. should not interven if it has not done so in past for some other community.
Instead of always looking Govt. acts as an appeasement to minority, we can take a break and possibly look it as a more sensible thing to do at a time when this event could possibly errupt in volience.
With all the actions taken so far, including press release thru media, interaction with community leaders, etc. I consider this as a good job done so far in containing the demonstration to peaceful means. We only have to compare this with whats happening in neighbouring country and other places with all the deaths and burnings.
And yes, it can do much better by arresting politicians who take advantage of such events and incite volience for their own popularity. These are the ppl who are infact into Vote bank politics.
Sridharan Hariharan says:Dear Reader,
May God Bless you to be content with your won faith and not to indulge in any activity that brings agitations in the mind of your neighbours who might be following a differnet God of his/her own.
What India needs is not secularism as it is being propagated now by the ruling or non-ruling parties. The Government should get away from the religious sector and should start acting for the welfare of the citizens and not for the welfare of the religious sectors.
We as Indians should be proud of our ancient culture which is Sanathana Dharma. This is not a religion; when it existed in its full glory, there was no other religion of the world that existed. You can find the teachings of all world religions inside this Sanathana Dharma. What we need is to learn our history before the Mugals invaded India for material benefit; We need to learn from the Vedic culture, the truth and beauty of creation of that time.
I am here not to apprehend any religion. It is time to change the education philosophy in India so that all Indian children will start knowing about our real history from the Vedic times. Unless we try to learn the lessons from our ancient stories of vedic times, we can never stop this fight against today’s secularism as it is practised now in India.
True secularism can be achieved only when our children in India are exposed to all religious texts and allowed to compare them in their own way. The Government should make it compulsory to include the basic prayers and stories of all religions in the curriculum of Indian Schools.
I shall always be ready to answer if any of you readers want more discussion on this topic.
Till then,
May your God Bless you as well as all others who deny that God, For, a REAL GOD has no hatred towards the creations that we percieve today in our beautiful World,
Sridharan
someguy says:So, subhan, what you’re saying is, basically, Hindus should go on a rampage, burn down shops, attack embassies and everything if they want a response? Thanks for letting us know the Muslim position on this. And for god’s sake man, the way you say “idol worshippers”, “idol gods” with contempt is really scaring me. Oh, and BTW, Hindu temples don’t display gods in “naked glory” – that’s just bullshit they teach you at the madrassa.
Sridharan Hariharan,
I agree with you we must reach back and learn from times gone by. To a time before Islamic invasions (not mughal invasions).
But why not learn history from before vedic times as well? You are aware there exists a time such as this I hope.. Or is it that you wish to roll back the clock only to a period convenient for you, a period that glorifies your system of belief. I suggest you look further back to the point when nomadic cowherdsman with their vedic scriptures invaded the existing inhabitants of erstwhile India. Or even prior to that when the land we called India had no human habitation, a time that the land was yet awaiting the arrival of the first settlers.
Aham: I am – Hinduism
I perfectly understand the apathy from the Govt. for the other incidents that you have cited.
But in all those cases what has the Idol worshippers did to safegaurd their God/Goddess? Isn’t it surprising, going by the list of incidents that you have cited against the Idol Gods, there had been no nationwide campaign or boycott by their worshippers (forget nation-wide, even in a single city of India). If the people are not concern then why would any Government, which is a people’s representative bother about?
And with what argument the Govt. will counter in such incidents? Arn’t the temples in India depicting the God/Godess in such naked glory.
In case of Islamic cartoon incident, you can clearly see the difference in the world-wide campaign to denounce the blasphemy. Every muslim aware of this incident has taken action in his/here capacity to show the reaction. So a Govt which represents a sizeable population of Muslims will surely need to act.