Pain of a celebrity being an Indian Muslim
Ram Puniyani
Shah
Rukh Khan is no ordinary celebrity. Being the lead actor with a very vibrant
presence on big and small screen makes him to be very much on the top. Recently
the communal elements asked him to produce his patriotism certificate. Khan in
one of his articles in The New York Times-Outlook Turning Points ((January
2013) suggested that India has a bias against Muslims and goes on to say that
“Political leaders have made me a symbol of all that they think is wrong and
unpatriotic about Muslims in India.” He also writes “There have been occasions
when I have been accused of bearing allegiance to our neighboring country-this
even though I am an Indian, whose father fought for freedom of India. Rallies
have been held where leaders have exhorted me to leave and return (to Pakistan)
when they refer to my original home land.”
In
response to this the Pakistan foreign minister Rahman Malik was quick to ask
the Indian Government to provide security to Khan. Hafiz Sayeed went to the
extent of inviting Khan to Pakistan with a promise to provide him with
security. Both these are sort of pinpricks which are usually dished out by the
neighbors to each other. When Hindu minorities suffer in Pakistan the immediate
chorus comes up here in India is to ask to take steps for security of Hindus in
Pakistan. Malik and Sayeed were just trying to put some salt in to the wounds of
Indian psyche, not that they are concerned about Indian Muslims as such. They
belong to a country where large section of Muslims themselves is struggling to
live the life of dignity. A section of Muslims is being called Mohajirs and is
denied most of the privileges of citizens. In Pakistan currently the Shia
Muslims and Ahmadiyas are an object of wrath. So lesser said about Rahman Malik
and Hafiz Sayeed Company the better.
The
criticism directed against Khan was that he is giving ammunition to the elements
across the border to criticize India. But can we keep the wounds of Indian
Muslims under wraps, with no smell polluting the air? As far as Khan’s
statement that there are biases against Indian Muslims is concerned, it is a
painful reality. Muslims have been demonized; the strong streak of Islamophobia
persists all over. The myths, stereotypes and biases against Indian Muslims
were heightened with the partition tragedy, when the communal forces propagated
that it is due to Muslims that India had to be partitioned. This is a total
misreading of recent history as majority of Indian Muslims neither supported
the idea of Partition nor were behind the Muslims League. Muslim League cut a
sorry figure in 1937 assembly elections as majority of Indian Muslims did not
vote for Jinnah party. And after the Jinnah’s resolution demanding Paksitan in
1940, majority of Indian Muslims took out processions opposing the demand of
Pakistan.
The
other biases against Muslim community started intensifying through the
propaganda by the communal forces, the biases about the Muslims related to the
atrocities committed by Muslim kings, the biases related to polygamy, number of
children, beef eating and their loyalty to Pakistan. The parallel process of
communal violence started marginalizing them from social scene, the violence
against them (Muslims are 13.4% as per 2001 census; Muslims are close to 90%
amongst the riot victims). These stereotypes against Muslims are currently at
peak and hatred resulting from these biases is leading to repeated communal
violence and polarization.
While
the average Muslim has been living with these biases pasted on his/her
forehead, after 9/11, ‘All terrorists are Muslims’ has also been popularized
through various mechanisms, section of media, words of mouth, SMS chains
through mobile phones and the social media. While in the regular channels
Muslims are too few, in the offbeat channels of social life, they do excel as
in sports, music and films. At the same time the Muslims, who by mistake reach
the top slots in position of authority have to be more careful for obvious
reasons. Here the communal parties and outfits pick up some pro-Pakistan label
against Muslim celebrities. Dilip Kumar, Yusuf Khan, was initially given the
same abuse of being for Pakistan and he had to face lot of music when he was
awarded the highest civilian honor by the government of Pakistan,
Nishan-e-Pakistan. Lot of demonstrations was held in front of his house by
these outfits to humiliate him. That may be one of the reasons for him not
being awarded the highest civilian honor, which he deserves many times over.
Mohammad Azaruddin, the outstanding cricketing talent and ex-Indian cricket
Captain was mocked that he plays poorly when playing against Pakistan, to
enable Pakistan to win!.
Shah
Rukh Khan is another such celebrity. He had to face the double flak. Being a
Khan, twice he was detained and stripped at the US entry points. Interestingly
when he was detained many of his fans were approaching him for his autographs
right there. In India the Shiv Sena, claiming to be a patriotic organization,
holding on to Hindu Nationalism not Indian nationalism, has meted similar
treatment to Shah Rukh Khan. Khan is from Peshawar and it is an enlightening
point to know that his father was the follower of Khan Abdul Gaffer Khan,
Frontier Gandhi, and participated in freedom struggle.
Shah
Rukh Khan knows he is too secure; he is not talking as a victim, it is not from
the angle of victimhood. He is expressing the anguish of being a Muslim at a
time when in India the anti Muslim sentiments are at a peak and these get a
boost from global Islamophobia created by American propaganda. Imagine the pain
of an Indian when he is looked down to be owing allegiance to the neighboring
country? Only those seeped in the values of Indian freedom struggle and those
respecting the values of Indian Constitution can feel the anguish of Shah Rukh
Khan and many more Muslims, celebrity or not, who have to keep producing
loyalty and patriotism certicates time and over again, and that too to those
belonging to the politics based on the ideology, which was not a part of
freedom movement and has little respect for values of Indian Constitution.
In
popular psyche the identification of Indian Muslims with Pakistan has been
cultivated with vehemence by communal forces. Muslims are more loyal to
Pakistan is a standard propaganda. How can we judge patriotism of an
individual? By cheering for the cricket teams or by allegiance to Indian
Constitution? The matter of fact is that some disgruntled Muslims may be
showing their anguish by cheering for Pakistan, in cricket matches, but that’s
where the matters rest. A lot has been made of this deliberately and this
falsehood has become part of social common sense. Shah Rukh Khan has been made
a deliberate target by the communal forces and it is a part of their game of
manufacturing biases against Muslim community as a whole. His expression in the
said article is expression of what many Muslims suffer in India, celebrities
included.
The contents of the article rest on the its author.
