Clash of Civilizations

Woke up in the morning and saw the following link on my IP aboutWebchutney which is some interactive media company. There were a number of makemytrip ads with themes from Indian mythology where Ravana doesn't come to take Sita because he is enjoying travelling in the plane. Also the concept of Srilanka tour is shown as Ram going to Lanka with the Vanara Sena. I cannot stop wondering about the creativity of these ppl.

Then I took up the newspaper. I was shocked to read about UP cabinet minister and Samajwadi Party leader Mohammed Yaqoob Qureshi on calling for the beheading of the cartoonist who had sketched Prophet Mohammed for a Danish newspaper and announced that he would give "the avenger" Rs 51 crore and weigh him in gold. The difference between two cultures or two religions stunned me. When a person of rank of Cabinet minister can stoop to such low levels what to say of common Muslim folks. When Hindus, Christans and ppl of other religions are all so tolerant and open-minded about their religious beliefs why are Muslims alone so insecure.

Religion is there to provide a sense of security and strength of mind to believers. If Islam is under threat because of some stupid cartoons then I pause to wonder can Islam be called a religion. And frankly what is the use of such religion which has led to so much killing and bloodshed in the world. If Webchutney had made similar animations on Muhammad or something related to Islam, Indian Govt would surely had to order closing of the company. I salute Danish govt of standing by principles of freedom and liberty of Press.

I cann't compare the cartoon showing Muhammad as terrorist with the nude images of Hindu goddesses by Padamsree, padambhushan and PadamVibhushan M F Hussain(He actually is a contender for Bharat Ratna). And yet the most Hindu extremists have done is to raided his exhibition. Nowhere they have threatened to take his life. And here we have a Muslim Cabinet Minister calling for beheading of a cartoonist.

And the theory that these cartoons may lead to clash of civilizations is baseless. The war is already going on. The country that has given in most to Muslim extremists is India. We banned Lajja before anyone else. We fudge population census figures so as not to hurt Muslim feelings. And in return we are actually the biggest victims at heir ends. More number of ppl are killed in India by Muslim terrorists than in any other country of the world.

So the solution lies not in banning the cartoons, books, movies etc. but actually coming out in support of them. As long as we think of Muslims as forming a totally separate identity and continue to give in to their demands, we will continue to suffer at their ends. Anything should be open to criticism including religion. And when terrorist are killing innocent people in the name of religion what is so bad in depicting god as terrorist in a cartoon. Much less than depicting a goddess in nude.

The expected but sad reaction came out from Indian media. Most of them didn't come out in favor of the cartoons or freedom of press. Indian media is always hell-bound on showing the miniority community in India in good light. Alas they have done it again.

A rather hilarious aspect of the minister's speech was where he said that Muslim women would sold their gold and jewellery to pay to the murderer. The community who still have not been able to assert their natural rights and live behind the veiled burkha can become so organized to protect their god. And the Muslim population in UP is one of the poorest population in the whole world. First they should try to improve their condtion and give respect and dignity to their women. Humans are more important than God.

Tag: Cartoons||Danish ||Webchutney||Mohammed Yaqoob Qureshi