Idle Thoughts

Before I start, let me make an admission - I have used the terms RSS/Hindutva and secular quite informally to describe specific views. Hope this does not offend you one way or the other. One of the charges that the ‘hindutva’ camp (as well as many others) level against the 'seculars' in this country is that their values are not really free of religious thought, but are rather closely aligned to Christian values. We can not dismiss this charge lightly as the seeds of secularism was nurtured in a culture where Christianity was the de facto religion. I don’t know if it is too early to announce that the tides are turning, but I have some evidence to show the influence of RSS thinking in the ‘secular’ response to Mohan Bhagwat statements on Mother Teresa. Mohan Bhagwat mentioned in one of his speeches that Mother Teresa did indeed help the destitute but she had an ulterior motive to convert them. According to him, this motive made her service less selfless and hence somewh...

Recently there were multiple incidents that in one way or the other brought forth the discussion on freedom of expression. Penguin pulping Wendy Doniger's book, massacre of the french cartoonists, protests against the Tamil novel Madhorubagan, Mohan Bhagawat's speech about Mother Teresa and the documentary 'India's daughter' were some of those. What was fascinating was the fact that many who defended the freedom of expression fiercely in some of the cases were not so liberal when it came to some other issue. I am not talking about everyone. There are some true liberals who are consistent with their views. But there were many who wore the liberal skin when the issue at hand did not offend them. But when it came to their own sacred cows, they were aghast at the lack of taste and sensibility of the offender. Then the issue transports itself from the freedom of expression space to the space of basic decency, good taste and sometimes plain simple sensitivity. Here is ...