And its true, new face
Since my childhood, like other Pakistanis, I have been through a love-hate relationship with India, the birthplace of my parents.
All my heroes and villains used to originate from India, the land of mysticism and culture, from where my parents had to migrate to Pakistan, fearing for their lives after a reign of terror and torment was unleashed by extremist forces in Indian Punjab soon after the British was announced in 1947.
My mother was the lone survivor of her entire family as all at home were butchered by violent mobsters in the city of Bathinda, a major city in the Indian Punjab located in northwest India, soon after the anti-Muslim riots broke out in 1947.
My mother, then only two years old, survived only as she was playing in the courtyard of a kind neighbour when their house was broken into by religious extremists.
Almost the same was the case with my father who had migrated from Jalandhar. But these riots inside India had a retaliatory reaction in Pakistan as similar tales of violence also occurred on my side of the border, on a minor scale though.
Despite the fact that I grew up hearing stories how mercilessly seven brothers of my mother, her father, an influential and rich Rajput himself, and a humble mother, were hacked to death by blood-sucking vultures, my relationship with India did not falter.
My mother kept telling me that the riots were a reaction to Partition and the manslaughter did not reflect the true face of Indian people. I was told that India is a huge nation with its educated and liberal, secular majority as its strength.
Like many others, my childhood heroes in India, however, remained saints, freedom fighters, actors, musicians, poets and historians as I used to read novels and short stories of some Pakistani and Indian prose writers and poems about India. From Krishan Chandar to Quratulain Haider and from Sahir Ludhiyanvi to Faiz Ahmed Faiz, I went through all and amassed love for India in my heart and mind.
Like normal Pakistanis, I never eulogised Mughal emperors and Afghan invaders, who in my view have nothing to do with Islam and reflect a distorted and disfigured version of Muslims.
The first dent to my attachment to India, however, was the Indian use of brute force against the Kashmiri people. By the time I grew older, I understood the bitter reality that atrocities in Kashmir were not isolated in nature. Rather, extremist and intolerant Hindus were involved in violence towards Indian minorities eg Muslims, Christians, low caste Hindus and Sikhs.
Despite the fact that the secular Congress Party remained in power in India since partition with a rare exception of short stints of Janta Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments, it is intriguing to note that the Indian street has been under the reign of terror by extremist outfits like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Shiv Sena, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and others who were actually the public face of the intolerant ‘deep state’ of India.
This convinced me that I had been perhaps tricked by my mother who had painted a rosy picture of the so-called ‘secular India’ to me, conceivably out of her love for the land of her ancestors.
This perception strengthened in my heart and mind with the events following the recent election triumph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi — the man allegedly responsible for the killing of around 3000 Muslims in Gujarat.
I admire this man, Narendra Modi, for his struggle and personal sacrifices over the years and his rise to fame from literal rags. Despite coming from a very humble background, Modi defied all social taboos and crossed all hurdles to claim the throne.
However, it is unfortunate to note that Modi is allowing extremists to rock the boat of India. Under Modi, India is changing for the worst. The new government has exposed the brute face of India not only to its minorities but also to the rest of the world.
Within months of Modi coming to power, India has suffered major setbacks on international and domestic fronts. It was for the first time in history that Indian top ministers hurled open threats to its neighbours. In the past, such things never happened despite the fact that Indian intelligence remained secretively involved in pulling down regimes in neighbouring states.
On the domestic front, the attacks on minorities, murder of rationalists, threats to free speech, enforcement of beef bans, and the vicious remarks by leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh have nailed Modi Sarkar. Every single saner voice in India is being gagged and silenced and a new norm is ripe that whosoever questions Modi Raj’s irresponsible acts, he/she be labelled a “traitor” and is asked to “go to Pakistan”.
But this madness has been given a shut-up call by the old, frail but strong voice of noted writer Nayantara Sahgal, who has refused to accept the reign of terror and rule of extremists. Refusing to accept the “vanishing space” for diversity, Sahgal, who is also the niece of the former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, returned the prestigious Sahitya Akademi award in protest against the reign of terror by extremist forces. She has said that people in India were being “killed for not agreeing with the ruling ideology.”
The recent refusal of Seedharth Kulkarni to cancel the book launch of Pakistan’s former Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri has reinforced the movement against fascist forces and this defiance is unstoppable now.
Around 41 top writers who returned their awards were joined in by the most strong voice for human rights in India, Arundhati Roy.
Returning her award, the Booker Prize winner said that she was “so proud” to join the writers, filmmakers and academics who have returned their awards to protest against tyranny. Terming the movement ‘political’, Roy said she was happy to join the struggle against a kind of ideological viciousness and an assault on “our collective IQ that will tear us apart and bury us very deep if we do not stand up to it now”.
“First of all, ‘intolerance’ is the wrong word to use for the lynching, shooting, burning and mass murder of fellow human beings. Second, we had plenty of advance notice of what lay in store for us — so I cannot claim to be shocked by what has happened after this government was enthusiastically voted into office with an overwhelming majority… It is politics by other means. I am so proud to be part of it. And so ashamed of what is going on in this country today,” she added.
Roy has been joined in by India’s top star Shah Rukh Khan, attracting a massive support from Bollywood to the cause against extremism and intolerance. Shah Rukh has announced to giving up his Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour, that he was awarded in 2005 as a symbolic gesture against intolerance.
Veterans like Mahesh Bhatt too young to new stars like Siddharth Malhotra have also spoken out against Shiv Sena’s recent threats.
I think India is rising for the better against tyrannical forces. The defiance of Indians against intolerance and extremism has left me to ponder that perhaps my mother was right after all. These strong voices are the true face of India.