Cultural fascism
On May 1 and 2, 2006 the illegal attack on a dargah in Vadodara city by
well known rowdies of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Vishwa Hindu
Parishad and Bajrang Dal (BD) created communal tension. The torching alive
of young Rafik Vohra on the second day showed us that hate that is still
simmering thanks to some political outfits in Gujarat. The timely
intervention by the union home ministry after Rafik Vohra had been
attacked helped contain the situation.
But as the controversy detailed below shows, deep-rooted
intolerance has now become legitimate in Modi’s vibrant Gujarat. On May
20, 2006, Dr Ganesh Devy expressed his views in Tehelka on the
prevalent atmosphere in the state. His words created a literary storm with
Gujarati writers of repute hurling personal abuse and even venom. In his
article, tracing the source of the growing violence in Gujarat, Ganesh
Devy told Tehelka that there was a relationship between a society’s
acquisitive tendency and the emergence of violence. He also talked about
the role of the ‘decent’ people in breeding hatred.
Dr Devy founded the Bhasha Tribal Academy in Tejgadh, 92
km from Vadodara. He was instrumental in publishing Dhol, a
magazine brought out simultaneously in ten tribal languages. Through his
writing, he explains to non-tribals why we should get rid of our obsession
with the mission of bringing tribals into the mainstream.
Ironically, though Tehelka is not read widely in
Gujarat, alert eyes were quick to remedy this. Photocopies of the piece
were circulated and nearly everybody who is anybody in Gujarati literature
reacted angrily to Devy’s comments. Articles that appeared in newspapers
and writers made statements demanding that Devy tender a public apology.
Angry and vicious views expressed by litterateurs Shirish Panchal, Ranjana
Argade and Sitanshu Yashashchandra confirmed what Devy had been brave
enough to say.
An imminent meet of the Gujarat Sahitya Academy was
scheduled to be held at the Tejgadh institute. Following the outbreak of
intolerance, Dr Devy was threatened; apologise or the venue would be
shifted. Finally, the meeting was held at Mandvi in Kutch. Author and
activist Mahasweta Devi declined to attend the meet at the new venue. Devy
wanted to avoid any campaign in his solidarity. He, like many others,
leads a precarious life in Gujarat.
June 2002: At a meeting at the Gujarati Sahitya
Parishad in Ahmedabad in June 2002, ostensibly to discuss the aftermath of
the genocide, speaker after speaker sang praises of the tolerance religion
preaches but none wanted to support a proposal for the restoration of Sufi
poet, Wali Dakhani or Wali Gujarati’s tomb, flattened in the dark hours of
the night on March 1, 2002 by bulldozers of the Congress-dominated
Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. Suddenly, rationalist writers began
claiming that the tomb was an encroachment and angry voices asked those
who had made the proposal whether they were concerned about earthquake
victims or only the delay of relief to Muslims. The faces of the very
people who had been singing paeans to tolerance were now distorted by
hatred.
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