The Supreme Court has rightly admonished former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma for her communally loaded comments against Islam. Speaking in a perspicacious manner the apex court said she has a “loose tongue”, she has “ignited emotions across the country” and that she was solely responsible for what happened in the aftermath of her utterances in a TV debate. The observation that she should have apologised to the nation also must be well-taken; and the poser from the court as to why she was not arrested be viewed in the right spirit. While the BJP has suspended her to pacify the Islamists, the government too should have taken a stronger view. In a nation where religious beliefs of one and all are respected, loose talk from any quarter should best be avoided. However, the kind of politics that the BJP pursued has left sufficient scope for the likes of Nupur Sharma to hold forth.
All this is not to justify the aggressive responses from sections of Muslims to the controversial comments. The Islamic world as a whole rose in protest and some countries summoned the Indian envoys and registered their protests. That’s all fine as long as they have not taken matters to a more complex level. The BJP having announced Sharma’s immediate suspension was in itself a positive response. India is a nation that guarantees freedom of speech. Its TV debates are a free-for-all and often lack rhyme or reason. Passions rise. Even discourses outside the TV frames too are often of a loose nature. Unlike the enforced calm of Islamic nations, India is a noisy democracy. As a society, we cannot keep our mouths shut.
The murder of a tailor in Udaipur (Rajasthan) and the killing of a chemist in Amravati (Maharashtra) that followed the instant protests against the former BJP spokesperson were equally shocking and are condemnable. They were done to death for their positive responses to Sharma’s comments — as per media reports. By doing so, at least small sections of Muslims have demonstrated a tendency to go overboard. It is important that they understand the harm they cause to their own community in a nation where they enjoy equal rights as citizens. The founding fathers of the Indian Constitution have ensured as much. Appreciably, India has matured to a level when communal riots are rare; unlike the scenarios till the time of the Gujarat riots in 2002. It should be in the interests of all to maintain and promote communal peace. A spark can ignite a flame, which could ultimately play havoc with the lives of one and all.
