Managing the fear factor is the biggest challenge that we face in the wake of the blasts in two Delhi theatres. Such incidents touch a raw nerve in the psyche of the Capital that has seen a great deal of violence targeted at ordinary citizens. One of the most significant gains of the last 20 years has been this country’s capacity to rise above separatist violence of the eighties. Delhi, as the site of a great deal of those killings, has also shed that bitter legacy and moved on. While every effort is made to identify and punish those responsible for these blasts, it becomes crucial therefore to ensure that they do not, are not allowed to, bring back old insecurities and fears.Whether the screening of the film, Jo Bole So Nihaal, was the reason for these blasts has not been established conclusively. But if it was indeed the root cause, than that is comment enough on the insanity of the attacks. Typically films of this kind revel in crass, insensitive stereotypes and exaggerated situations. But to see them as an affront to a religion, or read a character portrayed in it as an insult to an entire community is to concede to them a larger presence than they deserve. As they say, the best way to mark one’s protest against a book is to leave it unread. The same principle applies for films. If such works are offensive they should be critiqued most certainly — and film makers need to be more conscious of communal sensitivities — but to explode a bomb in protest and to harm ordinary people goes against every civilisational canon.Fortunately, this has been recognised even by those who found the film offensive. The Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee has expressed its shock on this tragic turn of events and several Sikh bodies have condemned the violence in unequivocal terms and see these blasts as random acts of mischief makers. Their statements are in themselves evidence of how far we have moved from the days of mutual recrimination. It gives hope that old fears will have no dominion; mindless violence will not be allowed to triumph.
