Award wapasi, intolerance mark debate in Bihar

The tolerance-intolerance debate took a somewhat comic turn, with actor Anupam Kher planning a march to the Rashtrapati Bhawan against artists and film-makers who had returned their awards as a protest against “growing intolerance” in India. Kher’s decision came on the heels of some Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders apologising for criticism of actor Shah Rukh Khan who had said the Indian society was becoming intolerant; while others insisting as vehemently that the Bollywood actor was allowing religious factors to cloud his judgment of Indian society.

Even as BJP General Secretary Kailash Vijayavargiya withdrew his tweet that said Khan’s soul was Pakistani, and apologised if his comment had hurt anyone, a mutinous BJP MP from Gorakhpur, Mahant Adityanath, said there was very little difference between the language used by Shah Rukh Khan and Lashkar-e-Tayyeba founder, Hafiz Sayeed who masterminded the Mumbai 26/11 attack. There was no indication that Adityanath had been pulled up by any responsible person in the party.

Adityanath added, "Shah Rukh should understand that if Muslims don't see his films, he will be on the roads. There is no difference in what Shah Rukh Khan and Hafiz Saeed say," he said. While senior leaders like Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu and Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar fended off attacks on Khan – with Venkaiah Naidu asserting that India was proud of Khan – Shiv Sena seized the opportunity to score another point against the BJP and declared that they supported Khan and judged him one of the most talented actors in Bollywood and that he should not be targeted simply because he is a Muslim.

Officially, the BJP reacted with unambiguous course correction: spokesperson Nalin Kohli officially distanced the BJP from Adityanath's remarks.

"His (Adityanath) comments are incorrect and uncalled for.  They do not reflect in any way the core belief of BJP or that  of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"There cannot be any comparison of any law-abiding Indian  citizen with a terrorist like Hafiz Saeed, certainly not Khan  who is a much loved and respected Indian national and  artist," BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli said.

The counter-mobilisation against the return of national awards will be in the form of a march on Saturday to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, led by Kher. Exactly how and when the march will take place is still being worked out. But Kher’s orientation is clear from an incident last month when he walked out of an event followed by booing by audience during a debate at a literary festival in Mumbai on freedom of speech.

Kher was among the panel of speakers at the debate on 'Freedom of expression is in imminent danger' organised as part of the Tata Literature Live Festival. Kher, along with BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli, spoke for the motion, whereas former BJP ideologue Sudheendra Kulkarni and noted writer Shobha De spoke against the motion. Kher recalled Shobha De's past as an editor of a film magazine "which printed gossips about which film star slept with whom".

When the audience began hissing, Kher went on to say, "People have an agenda and cannot handle a chaiwala becoming a PM." As the booing continued, Kher said he had spoken to the festival organiser Anil Dharker earlier and expressed his apprehensions of a paid audience at the debate. This infuriated several members of the audience who kept on booing the actor. He finally stormed off the stage.

Earlier this week, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley openly challenged statements by Shah Rukh Khan, Arun Shourie and others who had expressed concern about the growing intolerance in the society. He had said there was no intolerance. This obviously was the signal for the BJP to start speaking out: with Vijayavargiya speaking first but regretting it, followed by Adityanath. All this could be a ploy for the Bihar elections that are in the final stages of polling in largely Muslim areas.