No Place For Intellectual Pluralism
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
10 February
2024
A
professor and five students from Pune University were arrested a week ago on
charges of allegedly hurting religious sentiments through a play based on
'Ramleela,' which reportedly contained objectionable dialogues and scenes,
as per police reports on Saturday. A clash erupted between members of the
RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and students from Pune
University's Lalit Kala Kendra over the play staged on Friday evening.
"When a group of people suddenly becomes
acutely 'aware' and over-sensitive about certain ethnic and religious beliefs
and starts defending them tooth and nail, their fanaticism and belligerence may
shock even those who belong to their belief system but aren't so truculent."
Dr Amartya Sen, The Argumentative Indian (added notes)
Mind you,
Sen's The Argumentative Indian hit the stands in 2005. Almost two
decades have elapsed since then. Twenty years ago, there may have been some
sane voices among the Hindus but today, Hindu society has become religiously
over-sensitive and touchy. A city like Poona, which has always been culturally
and intellectually advanced like Calcutta, is also condemning the students and
their teacher for 'insulting' the religious beliefs of the majority. This trend
is alarming.
First of
all, this show was a part of the curriculum. It was a workshop which was
vandalised by the goons. What the students enacted on the stage was nothing
new. The same has been going on for decades and centuries in Ramleela shows in
the Hindi belt of India. None ever objected.
Ramayana is
more of a folklore than being a (definite) mythological book or treatise. It
can be interpreted in various ways. The sub-plots of Ramayana are '
interpretative and experimental appendages.' They've been interpreted
differently. For example, the character of Meghnad (Ravan's son) has been
presented in more than 30 ways.
Michael
Madhusudan Dutt's celebrated 'Meghnad Vadh' (written in blank verse)
presents him positively. So much so that Sita cursed Lakshman for killing Meghnad
on the sly! No one ever objected.
But today,
if you say that, Hindus will say that being a Christian (Michael Madhusudan
Dutt embraced Christianity), Dutt's intention was to 'insult' Sita. Not only
that, it'll be an act of sacrilege or blasphemy in today's Hindu India. Alas,
things have drastically changed in the last ten years. There's no place for
public debate and intellectual pluralism.
Today, an
average Hindu is as much a zealot as an average Muslim has always been. This
saddens all those who're rational and consider god and religion as anathemas to
mankind.
----
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/spiritual-meditations/intellectual-pluralism-hindu-india/d/131688
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