The curious case of Arun Shourie

"You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." This is a quote of Harvey Dent in the popular DC comics superhero movie Batman. It describes the questionable nature of heroism through time, the fall from grace of a celebrity or a well-known public figure. I never thought there will come a time when a person like Arun Shourie would fit the description. 

Arun Shourie is a very well known name in Indian intellectual circles for a long time. He has donned various hats - as an economist, a journalist, a public intellectual. In my assessment, he's an intellectual giant in his own right. There are many people like me who have hero-worshipped him for his intellectual clarity and prowess, elephantine memory, assiduousness, depth of thinking and above all the fortitude to take on any opposition single-handedly. 

The so-called "right-wing" in India is hijacked or seems to be hijacked by the RSS types of intellectuals (with all due respect to selfless social work it does). These RSS types don't have ideological clarity or moral courage to carry on their mission. Worse, they don't even know what their mission is. At the drop of the hat, they dabble and babble on fancy ideas like Akhand Bharat, or Hindu Rastra, but they don't have a roadmap or conviction to carry on.

The indefatigable Abhas Chatterjee described RSS thus - It is like a lifeless monster of enormous proportions rather than a throbbing little bee with a sting. By its sheer size, it is huge. But when it comes to achieving its stated goals, RSS scores low. When it 's about developing the intellectual ecosystem, the so-called representative of the Right-wing does next to nothing. Contrast this with the left and how it has captured the Indian intellectual climate. The left has had a grip over intelligentsia much before Indian independence from the British. This has continued after independence to this very day.

The left ideology and its derision for native culture have continued to this day through various branches of its ecosystem - academics, institutions, media and the likes. The leftist ideology has infiltrated everywhere, its torchbearers are ubiquitous under different cloaks which suit different scenarios and situations. There is a huge gulf created thus, where leftists are everywhere and no one to respond or call out their lies. This is where individuals like Arun Shourie stand out. It's individuals like this who have contributed to the almost non-existent right-wing discourse in this country and challenged the leftist hegemony wherever they could. Sita Ram Goel, Ram Swarup, Koenraad Elst are some of the prominent names on top of my head. Arun Shourie belongs to the same league (He's done some outstanding work as a journalist, a minister and an economist which is beyond the scope of this write-up).

My first book of Arun Shourie was Eminent Historians (I've read more than 4 of his books since) - He had dismantled lies brick by brick in an unabashed way. It is a treat to read any of his work where polemics is laced with scholarly brilliance and filled with a large number of citations and anecdotes. Enough of the Shourie I loved. Let's come to his recent statements and press conferences.

Ever since the run-up to the general elections started in 2013, Shourie passively supported Modi and shown his inclination to join the government in whatever capacity he could. But it seems Modi had other plans. After his stupendous win of 2014, Shourie was not offered any positions befitting his stature. Although in many people's opinion, Modi govt. could have utilized a person like Shourie, I personally think Shourie could have been an asset for a ministry like HRD or finance, but that's the way it was. It looks Shourie had nurtured ambitions and Modi's actions might have embittered Shourie.

This bitterness has warranted some of his recent statements - the government is managing headlines, its economic policies are directionless, falsehood is the hallmark of this government etc. Also, he was repeating the bunkum of the opposition which couldn't hold any water like minorities are unsafe in India in the current political dispensation etc. 

Naturally, these positions have endeared him to the "secular" media and politicians (He has already met dangerous and treacherous politicians like Kejriwal and Mamta) He has given interviews to NDTV more than a couple of times. The "seculars" will use him as canon to take a shot at Modi, nothing more than that.

In his most recent statement, he calls opposition to come together & quotes Lenin "to give history a helping hand" to defeat Modi government. O tempora o mores! A lifelong critic of communists and their modus operandi quoting, of all the people Lenin! Per se, there is no harm in objective criticism. But criticism which is engendered by grouse and pettiness is harmful and it is also unbecoming of a towering intellectual like Shourie.

Deconstructing PK

At the time of writing this, news are pouring in that all the previous box office records are shattered by PK, currently it is the only Hindi movie in 300 crore-club. The 'intellectual class' is genuflecting Aamir khan and Rajkumar Hirani for enlightening the masses about the social evils, superstitions and fraud gurus. The opinion about PK was swinging from critical acclaim to debunking it as trash. Well, I thought let me figure that out for myself. 

I assume you have watched the movie and thus I am saving the trouble of reviewing it. I read in some review that it’s a lift from the Robin Williams sitcom “Mork and Mindy” and adapted to Indian scenario. I’m not sure on that but its brief description looks like they are strikingly similar. Also, it goes without saying it has taken a lot from OMG! We will let that pass. In this post, I’ll try to focus on some of the issues raised in the movie.

The movie starts with making a caricature of what is perceived as popular Hinduism. It’s not the first movie to do so, of course. The director brings in the ‘godmen’, bhajans, bhakts and uses them to ridicule pop Hinduism. Sure, there are many fraudulent babas, gurus in present day India and there were such people in the past too. These kinds of people needs to be exposed for what they are, no doubt. But to paint all gurus as frauds is not only stupid but also malicious. 

In India, the Guru-Shishya parampara is held sacred from time immemorial and for a reason. In many ways, I can say this parampara is the bedrock of Hinduism. Hinduism, being a tradition which has open architecture gives people the freedom to choose whatever path they want. There is no ‘one book, one god, one messiah’ concoction in it. I guess the film makers have absolutely no issues about the faiths that administer such concoction. 

The never ending fixation with Pakistan

The heroine who is studying in Belgium falls in love with a Pakistani guy and they decide to get married. Situations force them to not get married by casting aspersions on his religion and nationality. Eventually he turns out to be a good guy after all. It has become the template of many Bollywood movies in which the heroine falls in love with a Pakistani guy. It’s difficult to understand Bollywood’s fixation and love with Pakistan and Pakistanis. It’s a subtle way of saying – “You idiots! Love knows no nationality or religion”. True, that. So romantic, you exclaim! Many Bollywood movie makers make the same job like some communist writers or naxal sympathizers do – to romanticize terror a serious issue and anyone associated with it. These are 'aman ki asha' type pacifists who advocate Gandhism even at the face of imminent death. To romanticize any issue is to kill it — in the sense, that romanticization disables the faculties to examine critical issues at hand. 

Inter-religious marriages

The portrayal of the heroine who falls in love with a Pakistani guy and the eventual turn of events is nothing but the synthetic pipedream of Hirani and his type of secularists. The parents of the heroine who happen to be Hindu object to the heroine’s desire of marrying a Pakistani and anyone with right mind would do exactly that. Forget Hindus objecting to getting their daughters married off to Pakistanis, I doubt whether even Indian Muslims can muster courage for such unnecessary adventures. The way in which it is showed out is completely divorced from reality and militates against common judgement. 

Let us ask this question – Are inter-religious marriages especially those of Hindu-Muslim so simple and based out of merely love? And no other issues involved and no implications at all? We need not go far. Just try to pick examples from the industry to which Rajkumar Hirani belongs to – Bollywood. Sharmila Tagore married MAK Pataudi and became Begum Ayesha Sultana, Amritha Singh had to convert to Islam before marrying Saif Ali Khan and there are examples of Lucky Ali and the likes. The cases where there was no need to convert, say like that of Mr. Sultan of Sanctimony Amir Khan, they would have expressed their desire explicitly of bringing up their kids as Muslims. Enough said. Needless to say, this is the case with the so-called ‘progressive’ Muslims.

The truth of the matter is Islam or Islamic law sharia’h to be specific, doesn’t recognize the marriage between a Muslim and a non-Muslim. Even if one marries, and refuses to convert, that marriage is unlawful according to Sharia’h. With Islam, it’s always one way street. You can get into it but can’t get out of it. This is one of the many truths that PK successfully covers up. 

Lampooning of Lord Shiva

The scene which has been the reason for the ire of many Hindus is the scene where Lord Shiva (from the protagonist’s point of view) is chased inside the toilet and also shown in his underwear. Lord Shiva is one of the important gods in the Hindu pantheon. In Yogic lore, he is considered the first and the supreme Yogi. Anyone who knows the stories of Shiva from the lore also knows that Shiva is beyond this dichotomy of good and bad, ugly and beautiful, he is often depicted as a cool man smoking chillum. So, he is a cool god. He, as with his followers would not give two hoots for this BS. He is not one of those jealous gods who might go into incessant fits and call for a divine retribution for the perceived blasphemy. Of course Hindus didn’t kill or threatened to kill Rajkumar Hirani for this. 

Self-criticism has remained the hallmark of Hindu society. Anyone who takes some pain in studying intellectual history of India would know this as a fact. Criticism is welcome. So, the issue here is not whether Hindus are offended or not by this but the dripping hypocrisy of the film makers. Any remotely similar treatment to the other revered religious figures like say Jesus or Muhammad would have had violent repercussions. With the former, the movie wouldn’t have got the clearance from censor board; with the latter the movie maker would have met his creator. They know it and they always go for the easy targets. No risks but full bounty. 

Idol worship

Idol worship is lampooned, caricatured to the cringing levels possible. In one of the scenes, the protagonist takes a stone and pastes the stone with the paan and keeps it in front of a college building. This he does to demonstrate the stupidity of the people that they worship anything. True to his claim, people worship. Ergo, people are stupid. Thus goes the argument and its interpretation. 

Now, why would anyone hate idol worship? We need to see the source of the hate of such proportions. It started with Old Testament. There are many verses in Leviticus, Ezekiel, Deuteronomy etc. which warn against the sins of idolatry and then there is the Quran – which has many injunctions to destroy idols. When the Islamic invasions happened, they didn’t just loot the temples but also destroyed all the idols and their action was not without any reason and the actions were divinely ordained.  

The fundamental difference in the position of god in Abrahamic faiths and Dharmic traditions is that, for Abrahamic faith there is a clear duality in god and his creation but whereas in case of Dharmic tradition, god is inherent in everything. Also, when a Hindu worships an idol, he is actually not worshipping that idol but the ideal i.e. god which is represented with that idol. It’s one of the ways of travelling in the path of the ultimate. There! There. You have a problem. You remember the ‘wrong number’ reference in the movie? The insinuation in often repeated reference is that there is ONLY ONE right number i.e only one right way. This is not rational speak. This is coming out from a closet Abrahamic memeplex point of view. 

Somehow, the intellectual class which includes even some well-meaning people has come to believe that there is something wrong with the multiple gods and idol worship but the concept of single god is just alright. But history demonstrates emphatically the faiths which indulged in idol worship were close to nature and never involved in violence to coerce others to their religion. But the religions which advocated in the doctrine of ‘one god, one prophet, one path and one book’ inflicted the greatest violence on the world and it bleeds the world to this very day. But hey, let truth and facts be damned! We are having a gala time and let’s enjoy till it lasts!

Double standards of Censor Board

There are so many things that can be said about the censor board, the system of rating a movie, the way in which the members of the board are appointed and the recently resigned chairperson, the ‘contrived political martyr’ Leela Samson. Leela Samson's crimes — both as the chairperson of CBFC and before assuming that position — are too many to list in a blogpost. Since these issues are beyond the scope of this post, I am not going into the details. 

 

For brevity’s sake let me sum it up – Censor board practiced different yardsticks, standards for different movies. The treatment that PK got was way different from the treatment that the movies like Ya rub, Vishwaroopam, or the recent one MSG got. It was so brazenly different. The best thing that can happen for Indian cinema is to scrap this whole farce called censor board.

In Conclusion

Now, how does these Bollywoodians get so much confidence that they assume the high pedestal and patronize and ‘educate’ Hindus about the ‘superstitions’ they are mired in? – It’s the ignorance of the Hindus they make use of. An average Hindu knows next to nothing about his own Dharma, forget knowing about hostile ideologies or predatory religions. This makes them unable to mount any kind of effective counter-arguments when their traditions, culture are falsely criticized. Many wear this ignorance as badge of honor and mistake it for scientific temper. They think the more vociferous they are in debunking the junk called ‘superstition’, the progressive they look. When they don’t have any knowledge of their tradition & culture, a sense of history, the easiest argument to fall back on is – “All religions are same” – the same cliché-ridden, banal statement which is not only erroneous but also dangerous.

It really doesn’t take any guts to come out with the work of art be it cinema, novel or whatever that are critical of Hindus and their beliefs because you can be cocksure that you won’t be killed or ostracized from the society or from your chosen area. Many regional language cinemas have done it and none of them have run into any trouble. But, it takes real guts to criticize the cherished beliefs of Islam and Christianity ; with the later, your work of art may be censured and with the former you may be killed! One could challenge these Bollywood filmmakers whether they have the mettle to criticize these two religions with the same fervor with which they have criticized Hinduism but knowing their so-called liberalism and the supposed courage is shallow and selective, you know well in advance that the supposed bet is absolutely winnable. 

The malaise is deep, the rot is deep. PK is just a symptom. With all the pomp, PK comes across as an average entertaining movie but tries to preach ‘gyan’ in the garb of being funny. Having said this, I along with many others am against banning of any movie including PK. One of the central ideas of free society is that there should free flow of opinions and ideas – however stupid they might be. And also there is no need to attribute any bad or evil motives to Rajkumar Hirani or Amir Khan in making this movie although there are many reasons to cast such aspersions. I am a firm adherent of this dictum – “Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence”!

Book Review - How India's Intellectuals Spread Lies

The introduction of the book says:

This book takes a rare, hard look at India's leading public intellectuals whose greatness is taken for granted but whose sophistry is overlooked. Ravi Shanker Kapoor exposes them as cowardly thinkers incapable of challenging conventional wisdom.

Importantly, it's not the personal follies and foibles of these worthies that the author finds troubling but their unquestioning acceptance of failed Leftist theories, and slavish adherence to politically 'correct' ideas. Smug in their acceptance by an adoring Left-liberal media they are blind to empirical evidence which flies in the face of their positions, oblivious both to opportunities thrown up by changed times and to the clear and present dangers of the status quo, whether it be the scourge of socialism or the malevolence of Islamic terror. Thus the spreading of lies, a betrayal of both their own vacation and of the Indian people

The author uses his pen as a butcher wields his knife. In Kapoor's abattoir, no cow is holy enough to be spared - and no reputation hallowed enough to be revered. Combining journalistic experience with solid scholarship, Kapoor relishes in taking on some of the biggest icons in India's public discourse. His is an original voice.

True to its introduction, the book takes a rare hard look at the leading intellectuals of India in a never before manner and breaks the shallow theories they preach and exposes the sophistry they indulge in.

Public discourse in India is increasingly dominated by the people who are leftists or the people who are left-leaning. This book takes a hard look at the people who muddy already muddied discourse of India – how they insinuate and reduce the public discourse to the level of sloganeering and clichés.

Synopsis:

When the communist utopia was in the making in the erstwhile USSR, many human rights atrocities were a daily happening. Many intellectuals and journalists visited the USSR, but they failed to report things as they were due to their allegiance to an ideology. Lenin coined a term for such people – “Useful idiots”. These are the people who blindly and unquestioningly accept leftist lies. The author, Ravishanker Kapoor likens them to the Sheep in George Orwell’s Animal Farm and also to Gandhari of Mahabharata – who is not born blind but chooses to be blind. India has its own set of useful idiots. In his own words the author has exposed the intellectuals as the sheep in the animal farm, as descendants of Gandhari.

The liberals – that’s what most left leaning intellectuals call themselves as, have perverted the values for which liberalism truly stands for. For instance, liberals traditionally sought to limit the scope of the state action and to prefer non-governmental initiatives wherever possible. But the contemporary liberals would ask for just the opposite – favor an increased scope of state action in areas such as education, health care and social welfare.

In a country where sloganeering is confused with etiquette and platitude with wisdom, it’s hardly surprising shouting passes off as the cry of long-suffering, silent majority – If you ever happen to counter the leftist lies you will be shouted down, as the tyranny of decibels rule the roost. You will be abused - in fact abuse is used as the argument, and the name calling – the anti-poor, a Hindu fundamentalist, a lackey of MNCs. These are the time-tested techniques of the left. One more reason for the left’s success in having a great influence in public discourse is that, it has hijacked the pro-poor agenda. The reading habits of Indians and the intellectual bankruptcy of the so-called Indian right aggravates the matter. So, the leftists are free to spread their canards.

Then, the author takes the intellectuals to task – Arundhati Roy,Jawaharlal Nehru, Khushwant Singh, Kuldip Nayar, Mani Shankar Aiyar, P Chidambaram. And puchures their claims, some by empirical proofs and some by effective counter-arguments.

After this, the author explains how the intellectuals spread red propaganda – in most of the cases the liberals act as the B-team of commies. They have an inordinate influence in organizations like NCERT and likes and spread their propaganda and lies through the government prescribed text books and influence the kids at a very early age. The media – is full of liberals and commies - is used as a machinery to spread their canards. Some are born blind, some get afflicted with blindness, and some blindfold themselves. Communists belong to the first category ; liberals and intellectuals belong to the other two categories.

In the concluding chapters, the author explains how communists use guilt as the weapon of mass deception. The leftists saw the society as machinery which can be designed according to some dogmas – dialectical materialism, scientific socialism et al. - rather than as an organism. Communists and left wing intellectuals are the generals of mendacity. Human civilization is the target ; they are softening the target by using the technique of guilt-mongering. The bombardment of lies and white lies continues unabated. More often than not, liberals end up as accomplices of the Left in this war against civilization. They become useful for the commies. That is why Lenin called them “Useful idiots”.

In the final chapter, the author proposes a way out – A theory of Indian conservatism. First he clears off the myths surrounding conservatism. The three strands of conservatism are – open society, free economy and limited government. The origins of conservatism and the three strands are explained at some length. The author says there is a need to develop conservatism as an ideology in India and argues Indian conservatism is inherent and unspoken. In fact, Indian conservatism – based on individual liberty and focusing on open society, free market, and limited government – be in tune with will not only be in tune with the traditions, conventions, and intellectual history of the country but also allow them to grow in a healthy manner. And the final warning – The nation is doomed unless a sizable part of its Illuminati embrace conservatism wholeheartedly.

Conclusion – All in all, I found this book as one of the best reads in the recent times. This book should be read to understand the muddied waters of political discourse. The writing style of the author – holding no cows holy, calling spade a spade – endears him to the readers. This book sets the tone for the much needed alternative discourse in India.