Ms. Sagarika Ghose’s Desperate Coherence With Hypocrisy

Anyone even mildly infatuated with Indian political scene must have heard about Ms. Sagarika Ghose and her journalistic marvels. She was the yesteryear assistant editor at CNN-IBN and at present, after leaving (or was she terminated?) IBN she is busy writing columns for TOI. I am not sure what happened to her blog titled “Bloody Mary” on IBN Portal, but what I know, Ms. Ghose is continuing with her noteworthy efforts at exposing Saffron Hindutva dolts in TOI’s op-ed page. To her credit, in the past also she has exposed many Hindutva lunatics by her magical pen and she is still persisting with her noble exertions in sanitizing our, both social and political scenes. In one of her such latest honorable endeavors Ms. Ghose did what she does best – exposing how Hindutva elements of India are forcing Muslims of the nation to search for a leader of their own and how this fear psychosis ultimately culminating at a rising Asaduddin Owaisi and his MIM. If you haven’t yet read the brilliance of Ms. Ghose then please do read it here.

I always say this – Ms. Ghose and her writings do have a peculiar lucidity. Somehow Ms. Ghose manages to produce the best in the very first paragraph of the post; at times in the very first line itself. Sticking true to her character she does it yet again.

Muslims must not let Hindutva hotheads push them into perpetual victimhood.

I get what Ms. Ghose wants to say here. I totally get her pious intentions. Post 2014 general elections the biggest challenge for the nation in front is not our depleting economy, education, healthcare, social and physical security, women safety and many such frivolous stuff but the unprecedented advent of Hindutva extremism. In fact this is the biggest danger in front of the whole world, not only India. That is perhaps why, before Ms. Ghose it was a concerned Rahul Gandhi who let know this fear to the then US Ambassador to India. I totally agree here since the biggest danger to world peace at present is not ISIS, Taliban, Al-Qaida and many such peace loving outfits but the notorious bloodhound Hindu centric zealots like RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal. That said I would still be interested to know how these Hindu faggots are pushing Muslims to perpetual victimhood. For decades it is the secularists who were seen frightening Muslims against Hindus. Since 2002 it is people like Ms. Ghose who were busy excavating their pigment of imagination to come up with Hindu acentric stories against Muslims. It is Ms. Ghose and her ilk that taught Muslims to play victimhood to safeguard themselves against some unrealistic fear. Now that the ploy failed miserably in delivering the required political dividends, the same torch bearers of secularism like Ms. Ghose have started finger pointing at directions that doesn’t exists. Who is pushing the Muslims to not only perpetual victimhood but also perpetual insanity, Ms. Ghose? Who counseled Muslims to fringe victimhood post Godhra train carnage or Kishtwar or Muzafarnagar or Assam? Irony that extremely erudite people like Ms. Ghose resort to convenience of untruth to make their point wherein the real mess lies elsewhere.

Not stopping there Ms. Ghose keeps on writing her version of India. Here is a sample which needs some examination before we move forward.

Hindutva activists may want to tear Muslims and Hindus apart through love jihad and ghar wapsi campaigns, but metropolitan middle-class Hindus thronged to see Haider, some even silently shed a tear for the Kashmiri Muslim hero. Jingoists may propagate violent rhetoric against Pakistan as a dog whistle for majoritarian nationalism, but PK, Raju Hirani’s clever comic caper lampooning Hindu godmen, is reportedly the biggest grosser in the history of Bollywood, and wild-eyed agitators for a ban on the film have been roundly outvoted by the vast majority of moviegoers.

For people like Ms. Ghose, the Idea of India is their “metropolitan middle-class”. The poor in our villages and countryside never feature in their scheme of things till the moment there happens to be a chance to blast the BJP government, either at the center or the state. So while praising Haider Ms. Ghose conveniently forgets to take account of the majority of our population that lives in our villages. And it is only the brilliance of Ms. Ghose that lets her see the movie goers as Hindus alone. It is again her brilliance that she finds Hindutva activists as the primary catalyst in socially tearing apart Hindus and Muslims. While she conveniently fires at Hindutva activists she forgets to mention the names that are opposing a uniform civil code. Isn’t that also a necessity in bringing coherence between Hindus and Muslims, Ms. Ghose? Talk about tearing apart, Ms. Ghose fails to mention the existence of something called article 370. People can separate a state from the rest of India for political gain but Ms. Ghose sees the real reason of indifference between Hindus and Muslims elsewhere. Congress ruled the nation for 60 years and still 90% of Muslims are in deplorable social and economic state, but ask Ms. Ghose to point the reason of such difference between Hindus and Muslims, she looks at the Hindutva brigade. For Ms. Ghose Aligarh Muslim University or Jamia Milia Islamia are not example of social divide but RSS, VHP and Banaras Hindu University are. For Ms. Ghose the amount of money that PK generates automatically becomes a vindication of Amir Khan’s flabbergasting comical take on Hindu beliefs but Vishwaroopam is an attempt at dividing Hindus and Muslims. MF Hussain’s myopic nudity of Hindu Goddesses were acts of creative masterpieces while Salman Rushdie doesn’t get the similar comfort of her mighty pen. For her ‘Ghar Wapsi’ is division of India on religious boundaries while Christian missionaries driving thousands of tribals to Christianity everyday are humanitarian efforts.

She further writes

Sadhvi Niranjan and Yogi Adityanath may conjure up hatred in the quest for votes, Muzaffarnagar riots may bring poll dividends, but from the ‘Khanate’ of Bollywood to the Hamid Ansari-led Rajya Sabha to India’s tennis torch-bearer Sania Mirza to business legends Yusuf Hamied and Azim Premji to the cricketing quicksilver of Zaheer Khan and the Pathan brothers, India’s exceptional Muslim citizens are icons whose achievements are proudly, subliminally claimed by Indian nationalism even if the ‘Muslim’ is apparently antithetical to it.

There is a striking similarity among all secularists while mentioning the names of notable Muslims of India. They somehow tend to forget the name of our ex-president Mr. APJ Abdul Kalam. So Ms. Ghose should get the benefit of doubt for her ignorance. That apart, here I was expecting, Ms. Ghose being so vocal about the misuse of religion for votes, to start with the pioneers of this filthy precedence. Who did ‘Sahabanoo’ Ms. Ghose? While Ms. Ghose hammers on the present, she interestingly forgets this particular case, which may be the very first visible misuse (or is it use?) of religion in our political discourse. Surprisingly, for reasons best known to Ms. Ghose she preferred to start with the two BJP members instead. Sadhvi Niranjan and Yogi Adityanath might be wrong but then from whom they learnt this art? What was the quest Ms. Ghose when Manmohan Singh said to have dedicated all national resources at the disposal of Muslims as the first accumulators? If Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti was wrong with her ‘Haaramzada’ comment then so are Sagarika Ghose and many of her media and political friends for coining terms like ‘Hero of hatred’, ‘Maut Ka Saudagar’, ‘Hindu fascist’. I know, remembering the past isn’t an easy task but then Ms. Ghose is too exceptional a journalist to forget such blatant hypocrisies so easily.

Then Ms. Ghose picks up the Owaisi thread. I give that to her since our secularists of late are desperate to somehow find that one thing to counter Modi after the Gujarat 2002, Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal failed drastically in making any impact. So let’s see what she writes.

The rising star of ‘Muslim’ politics is now the rumbustious Asaduddin Owaisi, leader of MIM, the Hyderabad city MP, once dismissed as a ‘fringe’ element, but now positioning himself as a ‘national’ leader whose party rather impressively won two seats in the Maharashtra assembly elections, one more than Raj Thackeray’s MNS.

Ms. Ghose in one of her posts after J&K election was very critical about the numbers BJP got in the state. According to her, the presence of BJP in Jammu alone doesn’t signify the resurgence of the party in the state. Keep it in mind; BJP won 24 seats in a state where they were never considered having any credible existence. But today Asadudin Owaisi has to be a force to reckon with since he managed to win just two seats in a vast state like Maharashtra. Ms. Ghose was even doubly critical after the general elections. She along with Farid Zakaria did some mind boggling mathematics to conclude that, since only 31% of the country want Modi to be the priminister the majority of 69% don’t want that fascist as the state head. Can Ms. Ghose please furnish the vote share of MIM in the state of Maharashtra? The same MIM which even can’t rule the Hyderabad (forte of MIM) Municipality on their own suddenly becomes a huge force to counter the Modi juggernaut. I never thought wishful thinking can be so potent. Didn’t I say at the beginning that our secularists are desperate for that one thing to counter Modi? Be it real or self-imaginary like Mr. Owaisi and MIM, seems to matter least, no?

Ms. Ghose goes on edifying us lesser mortals about the phenomenon called Asaduddin Owaisi further.

45-year-old Owaisi is fast becoming the Muslim opposite number to saffron politics, a claimant to being the sole spokesman who once warned of a ‘third wave of Muslim radicalisation’ after the Assam riots and whose intolerant cadres attacked Taslima Nasreen. Owaisi appeals massively to the young Muslim’s rage and victimhood, by projecting himself as the tough-talking saviour of his community.

In the emergence of Owaisi as sole spokesperson of the Indian Muslim lies a dilemma of the community: if the so-called mainstream ‘secular’ parties will not address their concerns, if BJP will be seen to deny them representation, then why not turn to a politician who is openly promising to promote ‘Muslim’ interests?

So another piece of enlightenment is right here. It is quite interesting to learn that those who opposed Taslima Nasrin are a bunch of intolerant people while those agitating against PK are bigots, zealots, wild-eyed and what not. I must congratulate Ms. Ghose and her wisdom for managing to segregate two things so perfectly which otherwise appear so similar in nature. But that should be fine since Ms. Ghose’s school of thought always tells her to name the Islamic fanatics as gunmen while Hindu Sadhus and Sanths as bloodhound terrorists. I should congratulate Ms. Ghose once more for drawing parallels between Owaisi and RSS. We communal Hindus were too blinded all this while by our compulsion of analyzing only the ‘We will kill all Hindus in 15 minutes’ nonsense of Jr. Owaisi. How unfair it was on our part to ask Ms. Ghose and her ilk to answer if they have ever heard any Hindutva activist propagating as poisonous ideology as Akbaruddin Owaisi did. Similarly, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Sakshi Maharaj and Praveen Tagodia are lampoons of the society while Asaduddin Owaisi is a tough talking politician. Can Ms. Ghose please clarify what she would have termed Modi had he talked the same language of Owaisi; a tough talking politician or a religious bigot? 

The grand differentiation qualities of Ms. Ghose are further solidified in the second paragraph. Strangely, the agitating Hindus are always the trouble makers since they agitate for no apparent reasons while those from Islam seems to have genuine grievances always. Hindus opposing something nasty as Wendy Doniger’s book or PK are dogmatists and noise makers but those disrespecting and burning Azad Maidan or hurling stones at our security forces are the perpetually aggrieved lot. Praveen Tagodia or for that matter Narendra Modi showing concern for Hindu cause become fascists while Owaisi becomes the savior of the Muslims and in turn a great political leader. Ms. Ghose further elaborates why Muslims, irrespective of how absurd their demands are, ought to be identified as their ‘concerns’ while Hindus asking for basic respect towards their religion and religious figures become barking scoundrels. Ms. Ghose then goes on to elaborate how Muslims are perfectly justified in moving towards Owaisi. But ask her why those Hindus shouldn’t also be painted with the same brush for moving towards Tagodia, you will be welcomed with profanes like ‘guttersnipe’.

Then Ms. Ghose suddenly switches back to her year old gaffe of counting the number of Muslim MPs in our parliament.

The 16th Lok Sabha has the lowest number of Muslims ever since the first general elections of 1952. There are just 24 Muslim MPs, down from 30 in the previous Lok Sabha, who constitute just 4.4% of the House. For the first time in an Indian Parliament there’s not a single Muslim MP from UP, as BJP did not field a single Muslim candidate across the vast swathes of north and west India except for the sole exception of Shahnawaz Hussain.

It is because of Ms. Ghose I came to know that there should be a quota system in our parliament as well. Though I asked her a year back and still waiting for some kind of answer, I must take this opportunity to ask her again – what made Ms. Ghose to think that only Muslims must represent Muslims in the parliament? And how not a single Muslim winning from UP becomes the talking point while Ms. Ghose never debated the absence of a single Hindu MP from Kashmir for such a long period? And how does that becomes a concern when the contesting Muslims lose their seats in a democratic exercise? Does democracy need to accommodate all kind of religion even if few of them are not winning worthy? What kind of logic is this Ms. Ghose? Why everything has to be either secular or communal in Ms. Ghose’s world? Lowest number of Muslims in 16^th Loksabha is because of the low winning percentage of the Muslim candidates and why such a simple logic must go through the scrutiny of a secularism prism? Can Ms. Ghose, in the same length ask her favorite politician Mr. Asaduddin Owais the reasons for his complete disinterest in giving a single ticket to any Hindu? MIM distancing itself from Hindus can be a core philosophy of the party while BJP, even if not, can be accused of hate mongering for not having enough Muslims in their ranks. Perhaps it is about time I join “Sagarika Ghose College of Sociology” for the required enlightenment.

To end her highly confusing post, for a refreshing change, Ms. Ghose does the unbelievable – she spoke truth for the first time in the entire post.

Beyond the yelling bigots, there’s a silent more welcoming truth: Indian Muslims would not be the second largest community in the world, if the true Hindu was anti-Muslim

That is the exact point Ms. Ghose. I am glad that you finally got the point though I was expecting a smart soul like you to get that a little earlier; may be around 2004, if not 2002. India is a secular country because Hindus are in majority. You can only look around the globe and different demography to know, what happens when Muslims attain the majority population. Has majoritarianism been so abundant in India as projected by Ms. Ghose, we would have turned a Hindu nation a long time back. For Hindus to remain as secular as they are, we only need to thank the age old philosophy, teachings and civilization, which unfortunately Ms. Ghose’s and her highly intelligent ilk term as abject bigotry.

Remember, "Jo Daar Gaya Woh Mandir Gaya"?