How a frank opinion upset the so-called democratic Indians

On April 20, I invited one of Pakistan’s leading scholars, now based in Sweden, to my YouTube channel for a discussion on Indian elections. That was not the first time he had come to my channel; previously, on two occasions, he made appearances and talked freely about Pakistan-India relations and issues that have turned Pakistan into an extremist society. This particular interview, however, garnered unusual attention not because it featured a scoop but because Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed, the author of Pakistan: A Garrison State, endeavoured to take high moral ground to speak truthfully about the existing socio-religious pivot India has taken to.

Dr Ishtiaq minced no words in explaining why a prime minister of India, of Modi’s stature, should not act like a priest when visiting temples or conducting other religious rituals. Like any historian, he predicted India’s unravelling if, despite being a democracy, it silenced opposition voices; the ruling party tried to impose its brand of religious thoughts; and the Hindutva theology was allowed to encourage otherisation. Dr Sahib was in pain to see India moving in the direction that had brought Pakistan to its present cul de sac. He cautioned the country against ignoring Nehru’s democratic principles, which formed the foundation of India’s economic growth. He argued that fingers were being raised on the fairness of India’s general elections. He pointed out that the Election Commission of India had lost quite a bit of its autonomy. In all fairness, Dr Sahib agreed that it had been a BJP policy to not have any Muslim candidate in its cadre, making it compulsory for the party to nominate Hindus for Muslim-majority areas.

As soon as the interview was aired, Dr Ishtiaq was hurled with abuses. He was blamed for insulting India by talking candidly with a Pakistani columnist. To them, it was an added injury to their bruised ego. He was taunted to have “behaved like a Pakistani”, even though India has been honouring his scholarship for decades. Many requested that the Indian government and people stop inviting Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed to India. Some non-entities did YouTube shows in an attempt to disgrace Dr Sahib further. A lady attention seeker on YouTube made a point-by-point rebuttal programme in an effort to show Dr Sahib his place.

All this is done because an elderly scholar, who is the custodian of decades of institutional memory of Indo-Pak relations, admires India for its specular development; is a firm believer that the partition did more wrong than right to Pakistan; and talked his heart out on the constitutional crisis engulfing India.

The worst part came when a show was aired from Canada to justify Dr Sahib’s viewpoint. It did not end there. The Pakistani-cum-Canadian-cum-Indian-cum-Santani guy called one of the naggers to his show and requested he pardon Dr Sahib. It went beyond that. The Pakistani-Canadian-Indian-Sanatani guy tried to further ridicule Dr Sahib’s scholarly stature by acknowledging the nagger’s point that Dr Sahib’s knowledge was stuck in 1947.

All this is done because Dr Ishtiaq told what, to him, is true of India. All the abuses, the blame game, the allegations and counter-allegations were done because the so-called democratic Indians have no tolerance to hear the other side of the story. Because the so-called democratic Indians have no respect for different views. Because the so-called democratic Indians are wearing a superego on their sleeves cut from the cloth of BJP’s ideology.

A friend of Dr Ishtiaq, who is a frequent visitor to Pakistan, did not even mind abusing me on air and assured his Indian audience that Dr Sahib would never come on my channel.

Sanjay Dixit, a former Indian bureaucrat, has the liberty to talk ill of Islam and Pakistan on his YouTube channel. He does it every day. The attention seeker and the nagger have no issue with that. But they had an issue when a Pakistani columnist, on one of her bad days, talked against the Hindu religion. No one has the right to disgrace anyone’s religion. That was a wrong gesture. One is apologetic for that. At least someone can move on and lower the ego for peace.

What has been done to Dr Sahib was an utter shame. Taking him to the cleaners was a disservice to those who claim to uphold India’s democracy.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27^th, 2024.

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