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India And The Swamy

By Babatdor Dkhar

11 August, 2011
Countercurrents.org

I had never heard of Subramanian Swamy before or read any of his writing. While going through his article in a national daily article I smiled at what I assumed was a somewhat funny and sarcastic take on the cowardly events and repercussions of the 13th July Mumbai attacks. But to my utter disbelief it was as serious point of view (Full article available here http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/analysis_how-to-wipe-out-islamic-terror_1566203) as that of any fundamental Islamic terrorist or any of the televangelical right wing Christians plaguing American foreign policy or Narendra Modi and any Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh member worth his salt. But if there is one thing that I will defend no matter what, it is the freedom of speech and expression and our right to say anything we want. While I do not agree with Mr. Swamy’s biased and flawed analysis, his freedom of expression should never be curtailed. So I take this opportunity to offer a different take on things. I do not disagree with Subramanian Swamy only because I am a liberal but the fact that I like to think and rationalize before I speak or write for a national audience. And that is something which seems to have escaped Subramanian Swamy’s process and train of thought. Can you imagine if Swamy’s plans and course of action for Hindu domination were to be taken seriously. It would be the Godhra riots in every nook and corner of this microcosm of colours. It does sound corny when we describe India as this rainbow of colours and cultures but when one travels the length and breadth of this country; we cannot but giggle at the clichéd reality of the statement.

Where does that leave someone like me and millions of others with a similar background? What about the individual who is not Hindu and whose ancestors are not Hindu? What should they do? When did being Indian come to mean being Hindu or vice versa. Mr. Swamy’s understanding of what he tried to convey in his piece is extremely childish. I am not even going to try and analyze the writing which borders on the very mediocre. These few sentences take the cake as far as the outrageous is concerned. He says that India that is Bharat that is Hindustan is a nation of Hindus and others whose ancestors were Hindus and the others who refuse to acknowledge this, or those foreigners who become Indian citizens by registration, can remain in India but should not have voting rights and therefore cannot become elected representatives. What should I do? My maternal grandmother's dad was a Caucasian male who administered one of the tea gardens in undivided Assam. Her mother was a runaway Muslim girl whose parents came to INDIA/BHARAT/HINDUSTAN from what is now Bangladesh. My maternal grandfather came from a family who were the North East's 1st converts to Christianity in 1841. My maternal grandmother's family is from the West Khasi Hills district and they moved through different forms of Christianity before they decided on Presbyterian. My paternal grandfather's family is one of the main custodians of the Khasi faith. And according to history and anthropology, Khasis came to INDIA/BHARAT/HINDUSTAN from Mongolia. Some say that it was Vietnam and Cambodia and the jury is still out on that one.

How arrogant can one person be to actually think that India is meant only for him? I like to believe that India is much more than a country defined by its geography and stifled because of its history. The idealist in me prefers India to forever remain an idea and a concept with unlimited potential for all of us, any of us whereby not a single one of us has to feel that he or she or it does not belong. It is sad and regretful that a direction and a prescribed subset of it explains who and what we are regardless of the fact that the whole notion and every subsequent attempt is but a miserable failure. The problem with the Swamy’s not so very articulate point of view lies not so much with the fact that he comes from the Hindu right wing school of thought that brands every non Hindu and lower caste Hindu evil or deviant but with the not so obvious but subtle fact that he is oblivious to the many Indias that exist. People like him are taught and made to believe that everyone else who is not like them are not worthy of being considered to be part of the same scheme of things. Their ignorance of the presence and richness of so many different cultures in parts of the country that they in all probability would have never heard of only compounds the problem. A bomb or a bullet does not discriminate and anytime an act of terror is committed in any part of this country or anywhere in the world for that matter people die. That’s right, people die Hindus, Muslim, Christians, Jews, Atheists, Buddhists, Agnostics; people die and suffer.

Babatdor Dkhar is a Lawyer and Founding Editor of Northeast Monologues, an Online Literary Magazine which seeks to provide a platform for a plurality of voices from North East India. www.northeastmonologues.com

 

 



 


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