Gautam Adhikari asks some uncomfortable questions in The Intolerant Indian. The answers will determine the fate of the nation
Gautam Adhikari asks some uncomfortable questions in The Intolerant Indian. The answers will determine the fate of the nation
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On a pleasant evening in the summer of 2002, Gautam Adhikari and his wife were chatting with friends at a festival of Satyajit Ray's movies in Washington DC. A gentleman, whom Adhikari knew from before, came up to him and asked whether he was aware of what happened in Gujarat that day. 
When Adhikari said he wasn't, the gentleman said: "A bunch of bloody Muslims burnt a train carrying Hindu pilgrims at Godhra station. You know, Godhra, they say, has a 30 per cent Muslim population. Well, I think by tomorrow that percentage will be down to zero. And you secularist Indians can be free to lament your losses."
The gentleman's outburst puzzled Adhikari. He writes he was always aware of his leanings towards a conservative view of life, but never took his statements as an omen.
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However, over the next few days, "as a hellfire consumed Gujarat and two thousand men, women and children, mostly Muslim, died in that spell of madness in the state", Adhikari felt the need to write about (or write to?) those Indians "who did not seem to appreciate the idea of pluralist tolerance, which formed the structural framework of Indian democracy".
Early on in the book Adhikari defines himself as a liberal-secular democrat who also happens to be an agnostic (those who are familiar with his columns in the newspapers he edited would be aware of this). He adds that some of the views expressed against organised religions may offend some.
Indeed, in the second chapter itself Adhikari spares no punches as he attacks what he calls "the fiercely Hindu nationalist segment, led by the RSS and the BJP on the right of the political spectrum and a bunch of dogmatic and outdated Marxist parties and intellectuals on the left."
And before you think this is yet another Congress handout, Adhikari exposes the Grand Old Party for what it is. Here's a sample: "The Congress speaks tolerance but its record on the ground leaves a trail of confused thinking at best, and cynical maneuvering at worst, particularly during the Emergency."
And while he is critical of the radical Hindu right, Adhikari doesn't spare the Islamists either. In the chapter titled Islam and Intolerance, he writes: "Even as the modernists tried to create a new identity for Muslims, the Ulema and other conservatives reinvigorated efforts to galvanise the masses towards an identity defined in Islamic terms.
Maulana Maudadi, an Islamic scholar, rose to prominence in the early twentieth century by asserting that the 'law of Allah should become the law by which people lead their lives.'
Critical of the Left, the Right and the Centre, Adhikari's book then is a plea, as he says, for the restoration of a liberal spirit in public life, and of an India that has space for everyone. Even if you disagree with his thesis, it is worth a read. It's always good to know the other side.
The Intolerant Indian, Harper Collins India,
Rs 399. Available at leading bookstores.
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