Secularism in Denmark Vs Pseudo-Secularism in India

By: V Sundaram
February 07, 2006
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Carsten Juste, the chief editor of a Danish newspaper in Copenhagen on January 30th 2006 apologised for publishing caricatures of Mohammed the Prophet that had triggered a boycott of Danish products across the Muslim world and generated threats to Nordic citizens abroad. He stated by way of clarification: "In our opinion, the 12 drawings were not intended to be offensive, nor were they at variance with Danish law, but they have indisputably offended many Muslims, for which we apologize”.

The controversial cartoons which had generated so much of heat were first published by Jyllands Posten in September 2005, and the debate was re-ignited last week when a Norwegian Christian magazine republished the illustrations. One of those Cartoons depicted the Prophet Mohammed wearing a turban shaped as a bomb. The cartoons, penned by 12 different illustrators, ranged from the cliché of a terrorist with a curved sword and bombs in his turban, to cartoonist Lars Rein's contribution about which a pupil wrote—in Arabic—on a black board, that "Jyllands-Posten`s staff are a bunch of reactionary provocateurs". `Jyllands-Posten` is Denmark`s daily with the largest circulation and this daily published the questionable cartoons after a writer complained that nobody dared illustrate his book about Mohammed the Prophet.

These republished cartoons are considered blasphemous in Islam, which forbids depictions of the Prophet Mohammed. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Libya have already withdrawn their ambassadors from Copenhagen as a mark of protest against the cartoons and their publication in a newspaper.
In Gaza City on January 30th 2006, armed Palestinian militants stormed an EU office in protest, just a day after the radical Al Aqsa Martyrs` Brigades distributed pamphlets and notices urging Nordic nationals to leave the Palestinian territory within 72 hours.

The Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen had first refused to meet angry ambassadors from Muslim countries for several weeks stating that freedom of speech was firmly protected in Denmark. But on January 30th 2006, he for the first time retraced his steps by expressing his criticism of the publication: "I personally have such respect for people`s religious feelings that I personally would not have depicted Mohammed, Jesus or other religious figures in such a manner that would offend other people”.

According to many reports, public anger in Pakistan was already rising in December 2005, when police tightened security at the Danish embassy at Islamabad amid fears of reprisals. Foreign ministries in the Nordic region have warned their citizens against unnecessary visits to the Gaza Strip or the West Bank. The Danish Red Cross recently pulled back three members of their staff, two from Gaza and one based in Yemen.

The blasphemous cartoon controversy has triggered calls for a boycott of Danish products. Egypt's Federation of Chambers of Commerce has launched a boycott and plans to urge organisations in the maritime transport sector to halt their dealings with shipping lines that transport Danish goods. Supermarkets and Departmental Stores in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE, have started removing Danish products from their shelves. The boycott call has prompted a Danish food company, which produces a range of dairy products for sale in the Arabic region, to close a dairy in the Saudi city of Riyadh that employs 800 people.

Egypt, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates have joined the condemnation and demanded apologies. UAE Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs Mohammad Nakhira al-Daheri has warned that these cartoons could spark off a "dreadful clash of civilizations". He also added: "As much as we condemn extremism in every part of the world ... we condemn the abuse that was published, which represents a cultural extremism”.

Earlier on Monday, before the Danish newspaper apologized, Editor Carsten Juste published an open letter on its website in Arabic and Danish defending the cartoons as part of a "Danish debate on freedom of speech—a right we value highly in Denmark". He had observed that he ‘strongly rejected the allegations that the cartoons were part of a campaign against the Muslims’. In his subsequent apology letter Carsten Juste clarified that "Jyllands-Posten is a strong advocate of democracy and freedom of religion. The newspaper respects the right of any human being to practice his or her religion".

The cartoons have also provoked criticism from within the European Union, but the European Commission Monday said it stood behind Denmark`s defense that the cartoons were published in the spirit of free speech. Denmark`s Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller said he would discuss the ongoing row at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

A commission spokesman said the boycott on Danish goods was being taken very seriously as a "boycott on the EU".

Unlike in Denmark, in India we have a Government which promotes not true ‘secularism’ but ‘pseudo secularism’, not to protect the Indian polity but to protect the political interest of the Indian National Congress. In this context it becomes relevant to point out that some years ago when M.F. Hussein painted an image of Goddess Saraswati in the nude, there were protests from the Hindus in all parts of India and the world. Several Hindu organisations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad complained that Hussein`s paintings hurt Hindu sentiments, promoted enmity between different religious groups and were against the dignity of women. The mafia of mass media in India completely ignored the feelings and sentiments of more than 800 millions of Hindus.

The Ram Janmabhoomi Movement is one of the landmark events of post-independent India. It has completely altered the texture and complexion of Indian politics, drastically altering the fundamental reference point for evaluating many other aspects of our society. Hindutva has become the focus, instead of Karl Marx who is dead in Russia and Eastern Europe and is being kept alive in India by a motley group of disgruntled communists who functioned as traitors during the Quit India Movement in 1942. Those who are in the forefront of the Ram Janmabhoomi Movement are rightly claiming that the Hindus are no longer ashamed of identifying themselves as Hindus. It will make the prophesy of Shri Arnold Toynbee come true: “Today we are still living in this transitional chapter of world's history, but it is already becoming clear that the chapter which had a western beginning, will have an Indian ending, if it is not to end in self-destruction of the human race. At this supremely dangerous moment in human history, the only way of salvation for mankind is the Indian way—Emperor Asoka`s and Mahatma Gandhi's principle of non-violence and Sri Ramkrishna`s testimony of religions."

Against this background, Hindus of India should realise that they should all close up their ranks and become united to defeat the narrow political interests of different political parties which are holding aloft the banner of ‘pseudo secularism’ in order to capture the vote banks of Muslim and Christian minorities in India. Pseudo secularism and minority fundamentalism are two sides of the same coin minted by the Indian National Congress and distributed by all the other political parties forming part of the UPA rickety coalition in New Delhi.

V Sundaram

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