"A Religiously Surcharged And Over-Sensitive Society Is Its Own Enemy"
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
5 August
2023
A lecturer at Poona's Symbiosis College of Arts
and Commerce, Ashok Sopan Dhole, was
arrested for allegedly making derogatory remarks about Hindu gods during
a lecture to Class 12 students.
The
incident came to light when a video of Dhole allegedly making objectionable
comments about Hindu, Muslim, and Christian gods went viral on social media.
Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the right-wing student organisation,
expressed their anger after viewing the video, prompting the president of Pune
Hindutva Organisation, Ravindra Dilip Padval, to file a police complaint.
The teacher
didn't say anything derogatory or objectionable about the deities of Hinduism.
I saw the video clip in which he just said that the god was one, though we
called him by different names. He narrated a story of a drowning man, who
called many (Hindu) gods to save him. As we say in English, too many cooks
spoil the broth, none came to his rescue and he drowned, whereas a Muslim and
Christian were saved because they believed in Allah and god and didn't call any
other deities for help.
Should one
be arrested for such a simple narration?
Of late,
Hindus have become too militant and bellicose. Now everything is umbrageous to
them. Even an oblique reference to their truckload of gods can land you in
prison." A religiously surcharged and over-sensitive society is its own
enemy," said Dr Radhakrishnan, one of the greatest scholars of Hinduism and
Eastern Religions. He was the Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and
Ethics at Oxford. Once at Oxford, the great professor was teaching Charvaka
Darshan, one of the six schools of Indian philosophy which is completely
atheistic in nature. A brilliant student asked him, "Professor, do you believe
in this atheistic school?" Dr Radhakrishnan said, " Yes, while
teaching an atheistic faith, I also become an atheist and when I teach theistic
schools, I become a believer."
This is the
level of classroom discussion between a world class teacher and his equally
gifted students at one of the finest universities in the world.
And here in
a Hindu India, 17/18-yr-old useless students are making videos of their
teacher, who's not indulging in anything hanky-panky, and circulating them. So
many Hindu outfits and their unemployed fanatic members are ready to be
offended and they look for such opportunities to steal a few moments of
publicity.
The poor
lecturer did nothing wrong, but in these religiously surcharged times and
climes, the very words god and religion have become red rags to a bull. At the
moment, Indians are chloroformed by god and religion and they shall remain in
this slumberous state until they're violently shaken and stirred like a soda
water bottle.
----
A
regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative
religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the
world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/interfaith-dialogue/religiously-sensitive-society-enemy/d/130387
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