Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Saeed Naqvi is concerned that 8220;the prime minister is suddenly confronted with at least four issues which could make or mar his place in history: Ayodhya, Kashmir, Pakistan and the whole debate on whether or not India should take up the administration of what is being enticingly described as the 8216;Indian sector8217; in northern Iraq8221; 8216;Muslims must be generous8217;, IE, June 13.
I have no quarrels with Naqvi over his concerns, opinions and suggestions 8212;including his opinion that 8220;Muslims must be generous8221; 8212; even if I may have a diametrically opposite perspective on the subject. However, what is worrisome is that the 8220;wide angle8221; of Naqvi, a seasoned journalist with impeccable liberal credentials, has gone conveniently selective.
Naqvi asks: 8220;Who can fault the prime minister that Ayodhya must be depoliticised?8221; One, a social issue cannot be 8220;depoliticised8221;: moreover, who are the people who have 8220;politicised8221; Ayodhya anyway?
With regard to the Ayodhya dispute, Naqvi opines: 8220;The Muslim case is reasonable and logical, but it runs into this irresistible incantation of 8216;faith8217;, which is as much beyond reason as is the Virgin Birth, or the Prophet8217;s journey on a winged horse.8221; In a clever, deft and highly despicable move, Naqvi has equated two 8220;innocuous8221; religious beliefs with a deliberately created political issue for creating religious discord. He has also achieved another objective with this masterstroke 8212; the symbolic issue of supremacy of the Constitution versus the Jungle Law has been converted into a 8220;Muslim versus Hindu8221; case.
This 8220;beyond reason8221; argument is extremely dangerous 8212; as its practitioners always come and ask for more 8212; for its genesis lies in political strategy! The declared objective of the VHP has been to liberate and restore more than 3,000 sites at present under Muslim control on which, according to it, Hindu temples had been previously standing. In 1992, the Sangh Parivar had given an assurance about the safety of the Babri Masjid, but it was destroyed. The less said about the statements of the leading lights of the Sangh Parivar before the Liberhan commission of inquiry, the better. The Parivar speaks in several voices at a given time, does not keep its word, and is not truthful.
If not a 8220;secularist8221;, I think you do enjoy the reputation of a liberal, Mr Naqvi, and liberals must at least be impartial!
