DigitalGoa.com reports: "Demand of ban on Da Vincy (sic) Code is a political stunt by Goa cabinet says Parrikar. Says, book is anti-Christian and called for voluntary boycott rather than ban." Sent: 17-May-2006 13:13:35.
Yes, Parrikar is right. It is a stunt. Just as was his own (Parrikar's) carefully manoeuvered front-paging of a photograph showing the (then) archbishop and auxiliary bishop greeting him (that is, Parrikar) on his swearing-in in 2000. Or, another (not-accidentally-frontpaged) photo showing him greeting the archbishop on his birthday! This is the kind of a controversy that everyone loves. It puts us all into a frenzy. If you watched TV news on Wednesday evening, you would be forgiven if you believed that India's fate hinged around a movie created in the "Christian" West and about a religion whose adhereants form a two per cent population in India as a whole. If a novel can be "anti-Christian", as Parrikar puts it, then so can a film critiquing the treatment meted out to Hindu widows. Quite convenient. And, we can all go in a tizzy over a nonagerian's alleged paintings of Hindu deities in a disrespectful way. So let's go about censoring everything we have even the slightest reservations about. (Supercop Julio Ribeiro took a sensible stance on this issue, IMHO.) Of course, anything that you don't like can always be termed "hurtful to sentiments". To add to this mix, cases like these are going to be continually showcased as examples of "pandering of the minorities". Nevermind that it doesn't make an iota of a difference to the lives of the people of this region, minorities or otherwise. There are better ways to work on matters of faith, than pleading with the State for bans! For instance, the ban on Salman Rushdie's book was forever held out by Hindutva apologists as an example of "minoritism". So was the reversal of the judgement in the Shaha Bano case. Ironically, the Shaha Bano case only gave Muslim men the right to continue paying a pittance (Rs 500 per month, if one recalls right) to their divorced wives ... One would have thought that the women were Muslim too, so how is this pandering the minorities? By keeping women in exploitation, are we "pandering" to them? Not just that, such issues conveniently allows all sides to play politics with the issue. The alacrity with which the Goa government responded to the Dan Brown-Da Vinci Code made it seem as if this was the most burning issue Goa was facing. Of course, it's a convenient issue -- it doesn't cost someone in government (or Opposition) anything to take a stand! What's more, someone like Parrikar can have his cake and eat it -- criticise the Congress "minoritism" and simultaneously claim the book is "anti-Christian". So when he comes out against more books that "hurt sentiments" tomorrow, would that make him a true secularist? It also has other implications. While Parrikar kills two birds with one stone, the paper that he and his intolerant saffron fringe set up just after their unexpected departure from power -- the Gova Doot -- has the occasion for a screeming eight-column headline 'Da Vinci Code var bandeechee Gova sarkarachee magnee. Khristee dharmanishteenyacha dabavapuday mantrimandal zooklay". Even the Sandesh Prabhudesai-edited Sunaparant has a five-column Page 1 lead with the story, titled "Kristanvanee 'hai' mahanlyarooch 'Da Vinci Code' film Bharatant. Goem sarkaran maglem, kendran dilem." (Only if Christians agree will Da Vinci Code come to India. Goa government requested, and the centre agreed.) Instead of taking up such emotive which matter to the community and to the wider society as a whole, a few hotheads and mis-advised religious leaders seem to be barking up a tree, in a way which would probably be used against them at a later date. It's not that there's any shortage of issues either that could make a difference, both to the minorities and the wider society as a whole: blatant anti-minority campaigns in newspapers published in languages or scripts not traditionally read by them; their disproportionately low presence in government service and particular senior posts or the police force (as laid out by the National Minorities Commission), or even roadblocks in expanding educational institutions despite having the capacity and track-record (or even studying in the medium of your choice, on some specious argument). Couldn't we steer clear of emotionalism for a change? FN _____________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. Goanet mailing list (Goanet@goanet.org)