Far be it for me to say I told you so but I almost did tell you so.Not once but twice in a span of four days.
My January 20 blog said this about the threat to author Salman Rushdie's life in India. "I hope the intelligence reports are not just an expedient device that someone in the bureaucratic establishment is using to get around this ticklish issue. Perhaps that someone reasoned that if Rushdie were to be warned of a “credible” plot to assassinate him, would he still take the chance and visit for the greater glory of the freedom of speech?" Well, that earns me some bragging rights to at least say, "I nearly told you so."
There are already news reports in India that the threat was manufactured to keep Rushdie from the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF).
Then yesterday I wrote what I thought was a spoof about fictional Mumbai mobsters planning a hit on a fictional author by shutting down his video address at an event. I was careful enough not to make it an obvious reference to Rushdie by describing the fictional author, in the immortal words of Pistool Ganja, as “chusa hua aam” or sucked out/shriveled up mango. Rushdie is still like a ripe Kashmiri apple. So no similarity there.
This morning I read the news that Rushdie’s video address to the JLF was canceled in the face of a mob of angry Muslims threatening violence. One of them was quoted by the IANS as saying, “He (Rushdie) is a criminal writer as far as Muslims are concerned. He has insulted Prophet Mohammed and there is no way we will let him speak even if he is doing so from abroad. There will be trouble if the speech by Rushdie goes ahead. Muslims are never afraid of dying.”
So what is going on is that real life is writing the next plot of Rushdie’s novel. All that he has to do is report what is going on. There is enough magic realism and the theater of the absurd in it.
Speaking of the theater of the absurd, what Rajdeep Sardesai, a high profile news anchor (Aren’t they all high profile?), tried to do was priceless. During a debate on the Rushdie visit controversy, Rajdeep tried to end his show on a high note. Among the four panelists were Asaduddin Owaisi, a Member of Parliament representing Hyderabad, and writer and freedom of speech activist Ruchir Joshi. Before I quote the exchange, here is a bit of a background on the two men in the context of the controversy.
Owaisi has found in the embarrassing controversy an embarrassment of political riches to assert himself as the new uncompromising voice of the Muslim community. He seems to have succeeded. And Joshi has cast himself on the other side, having controversially read excerpts from ‘The Satanic Verses’, Rushdie’s 1988 book which is banned in India. It is hardly surprising that the two men can’t stand each other.
So Rajdeep, in keeping with the highest tradition of journalism, tried to extract an invitation for a sumptuous Hyderabadi meal from Owaisi to Joshi on national television.
Rajdeep: Will you invite Ruchir Joshi…you you cook some of the best Hyderabadi food I know? Is it possible to bring you and Ruchir Joshi together and resolve this?
Owaisi: No, I am extremely sorry Rajdeep, I cannot invite to my house a person who blasphemes my prophet. The lessons that can be learnt from this debate is please be within the confines of law…Criticize Islam, you have all the right but there is a difference between blasphemy and criticism… You cannot question my identity in the garb of your liberalism.”
While Owaisi was smacking down social graces Joshi’s hand reflexively went up to his forehead as if to scratch an non-existent itch. It was an involuntary gesture of exasperation.
Joshi responded saying this: India is a vast and plural country where 90 percent of the people can’t read. We have waited 23 years to hope that some kind of reasonable attitude will be shown by the extremists. We are now done with patience Chetan (Bhagat). We have tried to hope that they would see sense…We would continue to our non-violent protest. If the law is bad, it will go. New, better laws will be replaced through our efforts and we will continue to lodge our nonviolent protest and whatever that entails we are all willing to do. Okay?”
So okay. There you have it. Both sides are intransigent and therefore perfect for the hungry 24/7 broadcast news beast.
On a slightly trivial note, India is not 90 percent illiterate as Joshi said. The general literacy rate is 75.06%, 82.14% for men and 65.46% for women, according to the 2011 census. Even if you factor in political exaggeration it is not less than 70% overall. Even in 1947, when India became an independent country, the literacy rate was 12%, which makes the illiteracy then lower than 90%.
That said, literacy does not necessarily translate into education, knowledge and enlightenment.
