TO HELL WITH FUNDAMENTALISM

ON 25^TH JANUARY, ON THE EVE OF INDIA’S 59^TH REPUBLIC DAY, WHEN THE PRESIDENT, PRATIBHA DEVISINGH PATIL, ADDRESSED THE NATION, A SENSE OF PRIDE DESCENDED ON ALL INDIANS WHO SAW HER DOING SO. INDIA HAD JOINED AN ELITE GROUP OF NATIONS WHO BOAST OF HAVING A MEMBER FROM THE FAIR SEX AS THEIR FIRST CITIZEN. IT SPEAKS VOLUMES ABOUT THE GENDER EQUALITY THAT IS SLOWLY EVOLVING IN OUR COUNTRY. BUT AROUND THE SAME HOUR A DIFFERENT DRAMA WAS UNFOLDING DOWN SOUTH AT MANGALORE, WHERE PUB GOING YOUNG WOMEN WERE BRUTTALY ASSAULTED AND MAN HANDLED BY A GROUP CALLED SRI RAM SENE BRANDING THEMSELVES AS ‘MORAL POLICE’.

INDIANS ARE WELL FAMILIAR WITH THE TERM MORAL POLICING. COME FEBRUARY 14 AND THESE FUNDAMENTALIST GROUPS LIKE THE BAJRANG DAL AND THE SHIV SENAS GET DOWN TO OUTRIGHT VANDALISM, ATTACKING YOUNG COUPLES, SABBOTAGING GIFT SHOPS AND BURNING DOWN ANYTHING THAT IS EVEN REMOTELY ASSOCIATED WITH THE WORD ‘LOVE’, DOING ALL THIS IN THE NAME OF POLICING THE YOUTH OF THIS COUNTRY. ALL RELIGIONS ARE NOT SAME, BUT FUNDAMENTALISM, NO MATTER TO WHICH RELIGION IT MIGHT BELONG TO, IS. FUNDAMENTALISTS INSPITE OF THEIR RELIGIONAL DIFFERENCES ARE NOT A DISPARATE GROUP OF INDIVIUALS. THEY ARE ALL ALIKE, SHARING THE SAME SET OF CREDO AND FOSTERING THE SAME DOGMAS. THEY HAVE AN AVERSION FOR MODERNITY AND LOATHE GENDER EQUALITY. IN FACT IN WOULD BE PERFECTLY PLAUSIBLE IF ONE PUTS THESE SRI RAM SENE, BAJARANG DAL AND THE TALIBANS IN THE SAME BRACKET, AS THEY ALL HARP ON THE SAME CHORD.

THE PROBLEM WITH THESE FUNDAMENTALISTS IS THAT THEIR IDEOLOGIES PREVENT THEM FROM COMPREHENDING THE FACT THAT WOMEN HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO LIVE A LIFE OF THEIR OWN. THEY STILL VISUALIZE A SOCIETY THAT IS MALE DOMINATED. THE MANGALORE PUB INCIDENT IS A TESTIMONY TO THIS. THE GROUP RATIONALIZED THEIR ACT BY ISSUING A STATEMENT SAYING THAT WOMEN ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO INDULGE IN DRINKING. WHAT DIFFERENCE DO YOU SEE IN SRI RAM SENE AND THE TALIBANS, WHO WHIP WOMEN WHOM THEY SEE VENTURING OUT OF THEIR HOMES ALONE? IT IS SAD THAT EVEN IN 21^ST CENTURY THERE EXISTS A SOCIETY THAT IS SO HEAVILY INCLINED TOWARDS MALE CHAUVINISM. BUT WHAT IS SADDER THAT SUCH A SUCH SOCIETY EXISTS IN OUR VERY OWN INDIA, WHICH IS BASKING UNDER THE GLORY OF INCHING CLOSER TO MODERNITY WITH EVERY PASSING YEAR. INDIA IS ONE OF THE FEW COUNTRIES THAT HAS EMERGED FROM THE SHAMBLES OF THE BRITISH RULE AND HAS SO APTLY HANDLED THE MANTLE OF MODERNITY THAT IT HAS AWED THE REST OF THE WORLD. THE IDEAS OF DEMOCRACY, SECULARISM AND EQUALITY THAT INDIA PRACTICES UNDERLINES THE DOCTRINES OF A CIVILIZED AND MODERN SOCIETY. THE STATUS OF EQUALITY TO WOMEN IS GUARANTEED BY THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA. BUT THE PICTURE PROJECTED BY THE ACTIONS OF THESE FUNDAMENTALIST GROUPS IS GRIM AND GHASTLY. WHEN THESE PEOPLE ROB WOMEN OF THE RIGHTS PROVIDED TO THEM BY THE CONSTITUTION WITH SUCH BRUTALITY, THEN YOU ARE FORCED TO RAISE THE QUESTION IS THIS WHAT MODERNITY IS? ARE THESE AN ACT OF A CIVILIZED SOCIETY?

BUT THE WORST PART OF THE IGNOMINY THAT WAS INFLICTED ON THE WOMEN IN THE MANGALORE INCIDENT IS THE SILENCE OF THE GOVERNMENT. IT’S HORRIFYING THAT IN SPITE OF THE MAGNITUDE OF THIS HORRENDOUS ACT IT TOOK A HUE AND CRY FROM THE MEDIA ACROSS THE NATION TO WAKE UP THE STATE GOVERNMENT OF KARNATAKA. AFTER WAKING UP THE GOVERNMENT DID PERFUNCTORILY ARREST PRAMOD MUTHALIK, THE CHIEF OF SRI RAM SENE, BUT GIVEN THAT OUR JUDICIAL SYSTEM IS BOGGED DOWN BY DISCREPANCIES, THIS MOVE SEEMED ALL BUT AS A FARCE. ON THE CONTRARY HE COULD HAVE BEEN SUBJECTED TO SOME OUT OF THE ORDER METHODS OF PUNISHMENT THAT WAS SUGGESTED BY THE YOUTHS FROM ACROSS THE NATION. FOR INSTANCE HE COULD HAVE BEEN MADE TO SEE A COMPILATION OF RAUNCHY ITEM NUMBERS FROM BOLLYWOOD FLICKS. OR HE COULD HAVE BEEN SUBJECTED TO SOLITARY CONFINEMENT FOR A DAY IN FRONT OF MTV. MAY BE SUCH INGENIOUS METHODS OF PUNISHMENTS WOULD HAVE ENLIGHTENED ON HIM THE FACT THAT THE POPULAR CULTURE IN INDIA HAS GONE FAR BEYOND PUBS. AND THAT HIS ETHOS IS NOT JUST SEEMINGLY REDUNDANT BUT OUTRIGHTLY DISGUSTING. THE YOUTHS OF THIS COUNTRY DO NOT WANT ANY SAFFRON CLAD, SELF-PROFESSED ‘MORAL POLICE’ TO COME AND SHOW THEM THE WAY TO LEAD LIFE. THEY ARE COMPETENT ENOUGH TO BE SELF-ARBITERS OF THEIR WAY OF LEADING LIFE. ALL THAT THEY WANT TO SAY TO THE LIKES OF MUTHALIK IS “TO HELL WITH YOU AND TO HELL WITH YOUR FUNDAMENTALISM”…….