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June 23, 1998
SPECIALS
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How Readers responded to Saisuresh Sivaswamy's recent columns
Date sent: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 14:56:13 -0000
From: "Raviraj Rao" Eureka! I've invented something smaller than an electron! Comrade Sai's brain! To the Rediff staff: Are you going the fascist way? Your actions very much prove a point or two in that direction! Teach Sai (some kind of editor there?) tolerance before printing his sermons... Raviraj Rao
Date sent: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 12:41:02 -0500 Dear Sai, This is L Narayanan, a frequent chat guy who was chatting with you not long ago about Ayodhya. Your recent article about the shadow PM is thoroughly misplaced and written without any supporting evidence -- or at least some incidents showing that the PM's word was not heard and the home minister was overruling the PM's authority. You should remember the words of Mr Advani that he always considered him as a junior to Atalji. Each one has a set of audience and their own charm. Trying to compare their personalities is different from giving a misplaced view about the government, and trying to write articles without any concrete proof. As you know, whenever a CM visits Delhi, he usually discusses the law and order with the home minister, meeting with the deputy planning commission chairman for funds apart from meeting the prime minister. There is nothing unusual in meeting Mr Advani, he being the home minister. Moreover trying to always link RSS with the government is an instance without any proof. Can you show Vajpayee or Advani (for that matter) meeting any RSS leaders as was being done in previous governments when Chandra Swami was met by key people in the Cabinet? As you have mentioned, only in recent times has the finance minister or defence minister become popular. This is because in the previous UF regime, Mulayam had MPs overtly supported by the Communists to counter his own PM, and the DM was powerful in the Cabinet. Even then home minister Indrajit Gupta was making a noise, and he was heard. You should also remember there was no separate home minister in the initial days of Deve Gowda and this important portfolio was reserved for the CPI. The press was glorifying Mr Gupta even before he took the oath, because the home ministry is a crucial portfolio. Your article places a misconception among the readers that the home ministry is given importance only due to Advani. As you know, the BJP regards the country's internal problems partly due to the lack of a proper will by previous governments to tackle the growth of fundamentalists (read Naxalites, terrorism in Kashmir, TN), and that is why Advani's voice is being heard. It is not as intended by your article that Advani is being readied by the RSS for replacing our greatest statesman Mr Vajpayee. I strongly condemn the article for giving a false notion about the on goings in the government. See you again in Quorum for further discussion.
Date sent: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 07:48:05 +0300 It is easy for Saisuresh to get into an orgy of self flagellation and see everything wrong with Hinduism. Tolerance or the lack of it is not defined by people who go about ransacking people's houses. To define and to discard a religion on that basis is a sick and illiterate joke. All religions go through their ups and downs. Admittedly Hinduism is in need for its scholars to look deep within and come up with something, but again is any of the larger populace interested? The daily routine is so deadening and soul-depressing that higher thoughts rarely, if ever enter an average person's mind. All round one sees a degradation and the individual must believe that he is a helpless victim of circumstances thereby causing the vicious circle. The argument that the painting was around for 20 years is hardly an excuse!! By that logic, the child molester in Belgium who was at it for the past few years must be allowed to get away since no one said anything for so many years. One would expect that reactions can be received only when one is aware of something, or am I missing something here? I personally did not know it till I read about it and certainly felt upset -- does that make me any less tolerant? Why is it that anyone can take pot shots at Hindus and their religion and feel they have an artistic right to it? By this, I am not trying to say that the Hindus must equate themselves with everything negative from other religions, but why is it that it is so easy to dump this religion as a matter of course as being "liberal." It is amazing how we all fall for the subtle and not-so-subtle propaganda about anything Hindu from the West. Personally I have had a rather, shall we say interesting, experience here in Bahrain where I encouraged my eight-year-old son to play with some Pakistani children since I considered myself also liberal (God, what a word !!) .... Well, suddenly I found that they were not playing and in spite of my probing no answers were forthcoming. I subsequently found out through another Pakistani family's daughter that the first child's parents were saying things like; "Woh ganda Hindu ke saath khelna mat (Don't play with that dirty Hindu boy)" -- I could not believe my ears till my son also confirmed that during the car-pool journey to school the child used to tease him about the Hindu religion. Remember here we are talking about an eight-year-old boy who goes to an expensive British-run school in Bahrain. What does that say? I can see that my son is scared and he does not quite know what is going on, but he knows it is not something very nice. This will stay with him and may ruin his feelings in the future. So don't just look for the easy route of criticising everything Hindu. It is trite, simple and plain stupid. By all means criticise artistic policing, intolerance, backward-mindedness but for God's sake (or is that passe), don't dump the religion if you do not understand it! S Dayanand
Date sent: Tue, 02 Jun 1998 19:05:54 -0700 It is a pain to read through the articles by Mr Saisuresh Sivaswamy. He has this uncanny ability of reading everyone else's mind, making unsubstantiated claims, and portraying a so-called 'secular' self-image. Most of the time, his basic tone is to provoke a group of readers, rather than making his own point on this paper. Of course, an author can have a point of view and share it with the readers. However, in doing so, s/he does not have to become our moral guardian. I guess the fact that we put up with his articles indeed shows the 'tolerant' attitude of the great country we are all proud of. Mr Sivaswamy, please think twice before calling this 'tolerance' into question.
Debabrata Dey
Date sent: Tue, 2 Jun 1998 14:03:23 -0400 Excellent Saisuresh!!! We all should be vociferous in our criticism and contempt for this scum of our society. We should all wake up to the designs of these present day Nazis. They have already begun planning a systematic destruction of our people. The Nuke tests and the statements thereafter of leaders like L K Advani has brought upon us an ever looming fear of mass, disgraceful, ugly destruction. They have obligations only to the dead of the Hindu society, and they are willing to sacrifice the living for them. Now there should be no doubt left in anybody's mind that these 'true secularists' are nothing but venomous leftovers of all the hatred that has been spun for centuries on this sacred land of Buddha, Ashoka and Gandhi. For fear of being branded as cowards, or for the fear of their backlash, we should not let them demolish our culture and people.
Date sent: Tue, 02 Jun 1998 13:55:33 -0400 Where do you get columnists like this Saisuresh freak? What rights does this guy have to define Hinduism and Hindu tolerance? Its these self proclaimed secular people that are causing the greatest damages to the religion and its followers. I'm a Hindu myself and though I'm not very religious, know how to respect a religion whatever it may be. I don't go about committing sacrilegious acts against any religion. I have enough brains in my head to know what's right and what's not, Maybe that's what Husain and you lack. Even after thriving in this country for so long Husain, who's supposed to understand our culture does the opposite. He insults it rather than uphold the religion of the majority in the land that has fed him. Sita is worshipped as a mother in many communities. One should not hurt the sentiments of any community. Religion does not play any role in this. I don't justify the RSS and Bajrang Dal fanatics. But one should learn to respect the beliefs of others. Maybe we all need to be more literate rather than educated. Ravi I
Date sent: Sun, 31 May 1998 05:00:06 -0500 Hindus have been tolerant of intolerance for ages. The result has been their downfall. Now Hindus are beginning to assert their feelings and that frightens psuedo-secularists, like Saisuresh. Many devoted Hindus cannot tolerate seeing their goddess mothers Sita and Saraswati being dishonoured. No artistic freedom on earth gives anyone the rights to insult and humiliate devotees of any religion. We can accept Husain's apology if it is sincere, although very late in coming and obviously under threat. But to hypocrites, pseudo-intellectuals and atheists, like Saisuresh, it should be clear that they cannot get away with their demeaning logic of artistic freedom. Art should be to enhance humanity in people, not to insult and humiliate millions of innocent people. However, one good is coming out of all this. Hindus are being awakened and have started asserting their fundamental rights.
TR Rao
Date sent: Sat, 30 May 1998 14:27:35 -0400 Keep your point of views to yourself. Look at history and get real. It's time we stand up for ourselves. What have you done except criticise people who have the guts to stand up in a thousand years?
Date sent: Sat, 30 May 1998 17:08:59 +0200 At the outset, I must say that I agree with the author on one issue -- the issue of caste, which has trampled upon the lives of scores of our people. But having said that, I must also add that the article, although a sincere outburst of anger at the Parivar-sponsored thugs, misses the bull's eye on a few issues that it attempts to touch upon. First and foremost, the Bajrang Dal does not represent the entire Hindu population. And hence its action does not reflect the so-called intolerance of practised Hinduism. Even Atal Bihari Vajpayee has condemned the action, although it is equally true that the likes of Balasaheb Thackeray have not only justified it, but proposed similar action in many other issues. Even among the BJP there are many who would not pat their back for the acts of the Bajrang Dal. However, my point is not to hold brief to the BJP and its Parivar. The common people in India, the Hindus especially, as it is about 'practised Hinduism' that we are talking about, are still tolerant to other religions and their people. In fact, I would say that the Hindu is more tolerant towards people of other faiths than s/he is to that of his/her own, if the latter belong to one of the underprivileged sections of Hindu society itself. This brings us to the other point that the author has mentioned. The reason Hindu society is so fragmented or stratified as historians prefer to put, the roots of this malady certainly lies in the institution of caste. There are no two ways about it. Maintain the present divisions, the society would never be well-knit again. It is a moot question, whether these divisions, which incidentally were only four in the beginning and which were based rather on profession, did not prevent the society from being harmonious and peaceful during ancient times. We do not see instances of caste wars in our ancient history. Irrespective of whether people accepted the divisions and lived happily together or not, there is no basis for maintaining them now. They are mere cobwebs that are sullying the form and content of our society now, and hence must be summarily booted out. But tolerance is a different issue altogether. The issue of tolerance leads to the question of tolerance to what? I think tolerance does not enter the picture at all when it comes to the question of coexisting peacefully with people of different faiths. One cannot say one tolerates to live with persons of different faiths or view point. It is utter arrogance to say that. In fact, the greatness of Hinduism and its tenets is that irrespective of the diversity in creation -- which includes differences that are natural and man made, all beings are essentially one and divine. A religion with this doctrine cannot be intolerant at all. If there is intolerance in practised Hinduism, then the roots of that must lie elsewhere. No individual or a single cause can be blamed for this situation. It is a collective crime for which many, if not all of us are responsible. Coming to Husain and his nude portrayal of Sita on Hanuman's tail, I haven't seen the portrait myself, so I cannot say if I am outraged by that or not. Nevertheless, art with its innate and essential freedom of expression, can also ruffle feelings of a common man who is not necessarily a Bajrang Dal activist. The difference in expression between a common man and the activist is that the former, although hurt maintains a dignified silence and lives with his hurt, whereas the latter goes about brandishing it openly and even turns the hurt into anger and destruction. The reason for this difference is that for the activist, it is a profession. And for many of them, it is also an issue of power -- to display which is always a temptation, which is not so in the case of a common man. That the activist grabs headlines and is the centre of attention is the sign of the times we are living in. The whole situation of hurt Hindu pride and sentiments would have, and could still take a different and better course -- if the difference between a common man and his/her feelings and that of the activist is properly discerned by all, including politicians and intellectuals and opinion makers. The rise of the BJP and its ilk is a telling reminder and evidence of this. If politicians and others mentioned above had understood this difference, and not pretended as though the common Hindu was totally satisfied with the way things were happening to him/her and his faith, the platform would not have been hijacked by the BJP and its ranks. This is where the common culpability of all lies. Very often this blaming the Hindu religion for all the ills of the country is attempted by many, which from the way I understand the religion, is a grave mistake. Hence this long and winding comment.
Date sent: Fri, 29 May 1998 21:37:29 -0400 It seems Saisuresh Sivaswamy is out of his mind. People like Husain have a right to hurt the sentiments of the Hindu population in the name of art, but Hindus in the name of so-called tolerance have to be silent spectators. I think columnist like Saisuresh should feel ashamed of being Hindu and Indians. We fail to understand why Husain can't paint something else rather than painting Hindu gods and goddesses nude. I would like to ask Saisuresh whether you can paint Mother Mary in the nude in any secular Christian country like the US, Canada, Britain or any other Western country. Or whether he can criticise Prophet Mohammad in any Islamic country. This is not to say that we Hindus should be theocratic, but there has to be an element of respect and decency towards the gods and goddesses of any religion. Hindus have shown their tolerance for centuries, but not to react to such a blasphemous attitude of Husain or similar disrespectful artists is in itself an act of cowardice. And that guy doesn't seem to be stopping. It is unfortunate that in the name of tolerance, we should tolerate blasphemy. Indeed Saisuresh should be ashamed to be Hindu since he seems to be supporting such blasphemous artists. If by painting our gods, goddesses and national heroes nude Husain makes India proud, then we do not need such a pride. I seriously think columnist like Saisuresh should be restricted on this network not to allow these kinds of articles on the Net. After all, how many of us will tolerate seeing our mothers painted in nude?
Date sent: Fri, 29 May 1998 20:28:33 -0400 I appreciate your unbiased view on Husain. Thanks for publishing such an article. The recent attack on Husain seem very silly and politicised for political gains. This is a great insult to the artistic community. If Husain is offensive, why should he choose this method of expression? When he painted these kinds of paintings 20 years back, why did people appreciate him for his work then? And now suddenly what made them attack him? I am sure any artist will not hurt the feelings of others, but he can understand the pain of others and try to put it on canvas. It's just because he is an Indian artist, he feels a sense of belonging for this nation and hence chose this subject of our mythology for his art. In fact, every Indian should be thankful to him for bringing our mythology and culture in his paintings, instead of choosing some other foreign subjects for his paintings. We see so many nude sculptures in most of our temples and appreciate the art. For Husain the subject was more important (and respected). He has his own style of expression. He has developed his own forms to express his emotions through his art. We should not perceive his love and respect for Indian culture and mythology in a negative way. Now, I too personally feel he is liked by most Indians except some communal elements who are trying to politicise every opportunity they get. I hope everyone understands this and stops such attacks on other artistes. Instead let's divert our attention on crimes on women, whom our heritage depicts as (shakti) goddesses. Every now and then we hear of rapes. Even small kids of age 11 and 12 years have been gang raped repeatedly in recent days. Why does no one raise a voice against such offences? Don't we see our goddess in these small kids? Let us think rationally to build our nation which will be rich in all respects, where everyone feels more secure and morally rich.
Date sent: Fri, 29 May 1998 22:23:06 +0100 Does Saisuresh have any idea what he is about? This self-appointed guardian of the liberal Hindu tradition seems to believe that his yearnings for placidity in the face of provocation represent some sort of higher state of being that all of us "lumpen" Hindus should aspire to! It is true that there is much to criticise in our faith as it is practised today, and unfortunately one such feature is the woolly minded thinking of people such as Mr Sivaswamy. No other faith permits the desecration of its symbols, and the more rigid a faith seems to be in this regard, the stronger the sense of identity that it seems to foster. We could do with a stronger sense of identity, and it doesn't necessarily involve becoming a brown shirt either. Goondaism is unacceptable in a civilised society, and I am anything but an apologist for the practitioners of strong-arm tactics. The rather sanctimonious, holier-than-thou attitude displayed by Saisuresh is equally unacceptable.
Date sent: Mon, 25 May 1998 17:29:10 -0300
From: Akshay <tewari@is2.dal.ca> 'The only way, it believes, that the "unfinished business of Partition" can be wound up, is through a military engagement with Pakistan, never mind the human, economic and social costs of such a confrontation.' What the hell are you trying to say? Can you go and live in Kashmir? Go live in Kashmir or try talking to those Hindus who have been massacred just because they are born to Hindu families. So its okay for Pakis to kill Hindus on a large scale in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir; and NOT okay if the BJP does the same against Pakistan? India has no problems with Muslims -- OUR MAJOR PROBLEM IS HINDUS LIKE YOU WHO ARE BACK STABBING THEIR OWN COMMUNITY. Try writing about the hundreds of Kar Sevaks killed by Mulayam Singh Yadav when they went to build a temple next time.
Date sent: Mon, 25 May 1998 10:34:17 -0400 It is a perfect analysis of the present situation. The heat wave of Pokhran is still hot for other analysts waiting for an opportune time. Let the other analysts also come out of the den and explain the facts to the people. For them, Sivaswamy's message is very clear: 'The heat is out of the steam.' Come out and let the world know the real intent of the politicians and their compulsions for the nuclear blasts.
Date sent: Sun, 31 May 1998 23:09:30 -0400 An excellent article. This should open the eyes of the Sangh Parivar to channelise their resources in a much constructive manner. They are just repeating history, which will lead us nowhere. Keep up the good work.
Arun K R
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