So SRK can pee in a church in DDLJ. Nobody gets offended.
Minor girl can be raped in a temple. Nobody gets offended.
Come to think of it - Hrithik Roshan was romancing near Haji Ali in Fiza, and nobody got offended.
But Hindu woman kissing a Muslim boy in a temple on-screen. THAT'S offensive! Never mind the scores of college kids who make out in empty temples anyway. Reality does not matter. If someone says it is offensive on a whim, it is! You see - it is very easy to be outraged in India for all sorts of illogical reasons. You can be outraged over someone eating beef, you can be outraged over someone kissing someone else, you can be outraged over someone writing a book, you can be outraged over a great many things. Unfortunately, when it comes to the real test where you expect outrage, that is where this country remains mute, like when a rape-victim is burnt alive in police custody on her way to testify in court. THAT can be forgotten, in fact, it's hardly noticed, if at all. But I bet 'A Suitable Boy' and how it offended some people is going to be discussed for months, vehemently at that.
Gone are the days when Bombay movie got rave reviews. Today's India has become super intolerant and it's become fashionable to associate every inter-religous romantic interaction with 'love-jihad'. It was so sad to see the reaction to Tanishq Ekatvam ad, and watch it being withdrawn. The morons who said Tanishq was advocating 'love-jihad' because Hindu woman was married into a Muslim family, are now beating their chests that a Hindu woman kissed a Muslim man in A Suitable Boy. I seriously don't know whether to laugh or to cry considering the reason for being offended.
Who are we kidding about the direction in which this is going? Are we blind or we don't want to see? This kind of forced separation of religions is going to have disastrous results in terms of sustaining peace and harmony. Heaven knows - this country has seen enough violence and riots! This is against everything India stands for as a country and our pride in its religious freedom.
Kangana Ranaut has been awarded Padma Shri, someone who supports extremist views against Muslims and recommended shooting mullahs in public. But Deepika Padukone was boycotted for showing her solidarity with abused students subjected to violence in JNU. This government's marketing strategy is executed beyond excellence in discrediting everything and everyone who even remotely criticizes it. They've done a great job of brainwashing everyone that such information should not be believed and anyone voicing such an opinion has a malicious intent behind it. Even more disturbingly, they have been subtly provoking people to bully or harm anyone who is vocal about alternate views. Remember Gauri Lankesh?
Of course, everyone who expresses dissent has nothing to do all day but deliberately make stuff out of thin air without any rationale or fact to keep undermining the government because they are so 'anti-patriotic', right? So they say! Or is it the other way: Everyone who bullies dissenters has no basis in fact or rationale to have fanatic faith in the government and needs no ethical stand to abuse and bully genuine critics?
Apparently, asking Mullahs to be shot is not offensive. But kissing in a temple is. So why don't we bulldoze the plethora of erotic sculptures present all over ancient Hindu temples and be done with it? Why did a Hindu God Lord Venkateswara marry a Muslim then?
And kindly do not make stupid arguments! I am of course against forced conversions. But isn't insulting to think that full-grown adult women are not capable of making religious choices for themselves? Are we 'protecting' them by restricting their freedom in the same way Khaps wanted to 'protect' women by banning cell phones?
As a Hindu, I hate the way Hinduism is being re-defined by certain extremist groups. I hate that my religion, which has one of the most liberal and open-minded universal views, is being hijacked to represent idiotic interpretations proposed by a chosen few who barely comprehend it. I hate that my patriotism to my country is being redefined to reverence for one government. I hate the joke that my country is being made into. This has to stop.
Dear extremists, before you say it let me answer it:
NO - You can shut the fuck up about asking me to leave India, go to Pakistan, call me anti-nationalist, anti-patriotic, believer of 'paid media', pimp to 'Western media', convert to Islam, denounce Hinduism, and any other illogical retort you always come up with when you have nothing logical for defense. I don't give a damn about your bullying. This is MY country and I have every right to express what I feel and I am not going ANYWHERE. Chill folks! I am not the one who is being clouded. Maybe consider for once the possibility that you are the one blinded and get out of your bubble before it's too late. Hopefully, we don't have to repeat history to remember the lessons it teaches us.
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Related posts:
1. Yo, What's Your Beef: Sharing heartranjan's post - link
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