The latest row over Goddess Kaali is another indicator of the widening societal chasm
The ‘hurt sentiments’ business has gone too far; it is increasingly making it difficult for public figures to express their views. A little-known filmmaker does something scandalous in Canada, and a Member of Parliament has to face a police case in India! Toronto-based filmmaker Leena Manimekalai is a well-known name in our country now === not because she has won an Oscar or made waves at Cannes, but because she sought cheap publicity. The poster of her documentary showed Goddess Kaali as smoking. Her documentary Kaali was exhibited at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto. “The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto has said it ‘deeply regrets’ causing offence to members of the Hindu and other faith communities and has removed the presentation of the documentary Kaali after the Indian mission in Ottawa urged the Canadian authorities to take down all ‘provocative material’ related to the controversial film,” a news agency reported. At a conclave organised by a media house, Trinamool Congress leader and MP Mahua Moitra reacted to the Kaali row, saying that everyone has every right as an individual to imagine and worship Goddess Kali whichever way they like. “If you go to Bhutan or Sikkim, for example, when they do puja, they offer whisky to their god. Now, if you go to Uttar Pradesh and say that you give whisky to your god as prasad, they will say that is blasphemous,” she said. Now this is a politically unwise remark in these sanctimonious times but this is certainly not blasphemous; it just upholds religious freedom.
The message is clear: I worship my deity as I deem fit; you do it as you like it. Let’s coexist peacefully. The Bharatiya Janata Party, however, objected to her views. “Trinamool supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should clarify... We think this is the official stand of the ruling TMC to hurt the sentiment of Hindus to get votes,” BJP leader Rathindra Bose said. Another BJP leader filed a police case against her, but Moitra remained undeterred. “Bring it on BJP! Am a Kaali 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,” she tweeted. But her party, the TMC, panicked; it feared of getting dubbed as anti-Hindu. The TMC tweeted: “The comments made by @MahuaMoitra… and her views expressed on Goddess Kaali have been made in her personal capacity and are NOT ENDORSED BY THE PARTY in ANY MANNER OR FORM. All India Trinamool Congress strongly condemns such comments.” Such is the power of sanctimoniousness that the party had to “condemn” a reasonable comment by arguably its most articulate parliamentarian. All this because an attention-seeking filmmaker indulged in a despicable publicity stunt! By crying all the time about hurt sentiments, a section of Hindus has made the entire community the target of publicity seekers like Manimekalai.
