Off-centre | Mahua Moitra vs Nupur Sharma: No double standards, please
Off-centre | Mahua Moitra vs Nupur Sharma: No double standards, please
No, Mahua Moitra should not be arrested. But shouldn’t she apologise for giving offence to Hindus?
Well — it had to happen. Sooner or later. What goes around comes around. The All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC), including its supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, had demanded Nupur Sharma’s arrest, accusing her of insulting the Prophet of Islam. FIRs were filed against the former BJP spokesperson in West Bengal, in addition to other states.
Now, out of favour TMC Lok Sabha member, Mahua Moitra, seems to have put her foot in her mouth. Again. This time over her remark at the India Today Conclave East 2022 in Kolkata on Tuesday, 5 July. Reacting to the controversy over the poster of Kaali, a documentary by Canada-based filmmaker Leena Manimekalai, Moitra said, “To me, Kali is a meat-eating, alcohol-accepting Goddess. There are some places where whiskey is offered to gods and in some other places it would be blasphemy.”
Earlier, in the same session, she also took the moral and political high ground, criticising Nupur Sharma for her comments on Prophet Mohammed, which she said were “at odds with the law of the land”. Moitra said that she was “a believer in the freedom to criticise. But there is a very strong line between freedom to criticise and freedom to incite violence”. The assumption being that her insults to Hindus and Hinduism are not an incitement at all.
Earlier, on 28 June, she had also tweeted in favour of arrested Alt News co-editor and activist Mohammed Zubair: “Four days police custody for @zoo_bear — enough time for Delhi police to cook up whatever else they need to. Meanwhile Fringe Sharma chilling at home with family waiting to be safely rehabilitated by BJP at opportune time.” Sadly, the tweet also insinuated that Sharma’s not yet being arrested while Zubair was in police custody was somehow wrong or unfair.
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Now, several FIRs and complaints have been lodged against Moitra herself. Worse for her, her party has distanced itself from her, similar to what the BJP did to Sharma. But in her case, Moitra’s own retaliation in unfollowing the official TMC handle, when read in conjunction with the public dressing down she received from Didi on 11 December 2021, coupled with Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s quick and open support to her, makes one wonder if there is more to the incident than meets the eye. Is a defection, for once in the opposite to usual direction, from TMC to the Congress, on the cards? Or is the whole incident a publicity stunt? Whatever be the outcome, Moitra certainly seems to have scored a self-goal.
Let us examine what is at stake. It is not whether Goddess Kali can or cannot, is or is not, worshipped with offerings of meat and alcohol. So what if she is? Does this mean that saying this in the manner in which Moitra did will not offend Hindu sentiments? Compare it to what Nupur Sharma said. Can it be denied that her comments are supported by Muslim scriptures, namely the Haadith, and also endorsed as true by many reputable Islamic scholars?
Giving or taking offence is not based on precepts or even practices. It is often based, pure and simple, on prejudices and passions. For Moitra to expect that only Hindus should not — and will not — take offence is bad both in logic and in law. The so-called blasphemy sections of the Indian Penal Code, 153A, 295 and 295A, are not concerned with facts but with intentions and outcomes. Moitra’s subsequent defiance shows her as unrepentant: “Bring it on BJP! Am a Kali worshipper. I am not afraid of anything. Not your ignoramuses. Not your goons. Not your police. And most certainly not your trolls. Truth doesn’t need back up forces.”
But, one might ask, “What is the truth, Ms Moitra?” Let us concede for a moment that Kali may be worshipped in some shrines with offerings of wine and meat. Isn’t it true that this is done in a sacral context and in conformity to strict rituals? How can one draw a parallel between such forms of worship and a filmmaker dressing up as Kali and smoking up? Speaking of the latter, which ritual or practice records the Goddess smoking? None.
Why isn’t this truth being emphasised too? Why shouldn’t Moitra have admitted that even if she knew of meat and wine being offered, the Goddess has never been known — or shown — to smoke. And that such a depiction may therefore give offence? The utter disregard of Hindu sentiments and deliberate insouciance of the poster in question cannot be missed. Nor the history of giving insult to Hindu deities both in Indian and foreign films. Something that these same filmmakers would dare not to with Islam or for that matter almost any other faith tradition.
Why the double standards, Ms Moitra? Let’s go back to another tweet of hers from the past to see how insulting she can be. This one is from 21 May 2021, in which she referred to Union Minister Giriraj Singh as “being from the Chotiwala Rakshasa Clan!” Chotiwala is an obvious reference to Brahmins who wear a tuft; Rakshasa means a malignant fiend. Isn’t this intemperate and insulting, to say the least? Others may even call it anti-Hindu bigotry and hate speech.
Let’s now consider what Tharoor said in her defence: “It’s obvious that Mahua Moitra wasn't trying to offend anyone. I urge everyone to lighten up and leave religion to individuals to practice privately.” Indeed. Would he also urge the killers of Kanhaiya Lal and Umesh Kolhe also to “lighten up” instead of murdering people? Perhaps, he thinks that Hindus should also “lighten up” over Leena Manimekalai’s lighting up dressed as Kali?
What is wrong with all these instances of hypocrisy is the expectation that only Hindus should be tolerant and pocket all insults, intended or imagined. Other faiths, on the other hand, may police, bully, browbeat, even eliminate offenders, taking the law into their own hands. Therefore, anyone giving offence is the culprit. But when it comes to Hindus, taking offence, not giving it, becomes a crime.
It is such double standards that are objectionable. Indeed, they will no longer be tolerated, if the mood of the nation is anything to go by. Luckily for Moitra, even if multiple complaints and FIRs have been filed against her, there is little fear, as yet, of her life being in danger. Unfortunately, this is not the case with Sharma. She is really in danger. It is even doubtful if she can return to a normal life. Such a huge punishment for alleged blasphemy in a modern society is not acceptable. For Hindus to remain largely tolerant, slow to take offence or be roused to religious zealotry and violence, the other side, especially their aggressively “secular” co-religionists, must also show more self-restraint and fair play.
The author is a professor of English at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Views expressed are personal.
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