Duplicity of the Left

But is anyone listening?
A good op-ed in www.dailypioneer.com by Anuradha Dutt.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=OPED&file_name=opd3%2Etxt&counter_img=3

Duplicity of the Left

If the duplicity of leftist intellectuals and activists was in doubt, two incidents serve to expose them completely. The first concerns their silence on the shocking case involving the rape of Imrana Bibi by her father-in-law, and subsequent issue of a fatwa by a Deoband cleric prohibiting her from living with her husband. The woman, thereby doubly victimised, may have little hope of redressal within the framework of Islamic law, which, in the present instance, seems to hold her in the wrong.




By contrast, Hindu women, in view of the codification of laws for their community on modern, secular lines, have access to a criminal justice system that acknowledges rape as a cognisable offence.



Sadly for Imrana, even the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, which is yet to eliminate the barbaric practice of triple talaq - considered un-Islamic - is reported to have endorsed the despicable fatwa. Muslim intellectuals and journalists who zealously guard their personal law against attempts at reforms so that it becomes more equitable in terms of gender and community relations, have scarcely spoken on her behalf.



Permitted so long by free India's rulers to exist on an island of medievalism amid a sea of modernity, Muslims, in general, appear to be oblivious to the terrible injustice suffered by the victim. Feminists, particularly of the Left, who have made a career out of crying themselves hoarse over transgressions involving Hindus, are also quiet.



Among political parties, it is the BJP alone that has taken up the woman's cause, with spokesman Arun Jaitley underlining the urgent need for India to implement a uniform civil code. At the least, Muslim personal law should be reformed in order to protect women from its misuse and to make it conform to the constitutional pledge of granting all Indians equal rights and a life of dignity.



The Congress, which is to blame for allowing Muslims to retain an outdated personal law in a secular democracy, is naturally unwilling to act. And, the Left, always vocal while endorsing the community's right to disputed pilgrimages such as the one at Ayodhya even as it targets Hindu practices and religious leaders, has hidden its head like ostrich-like in the sand.



CPI(M) politburo member Brinda Karat, commonly seen to be a proponent of women's rights at public fora, has not dared to condemn the outrage perpetrated against Imrana by mean, narrow-minded clerics. Neither she, nor others of her ilk have bothered to endorse Mr Jaitley's proposal for a uniform civil code though one might have assumed that egalitarian, liberal ideologues would be the first to voice such a demand.



Her silence possibly owes to her party's long-standing stratagem of nurturing the Muslim votebank by playing up to its weaknesses, which has yielded the desired results in its bastion West Bengal and occasionally, Kerala. Yet, the lady has exerted herself to target the renowned Patanjali yoga exponent Swami Ramdev on the charge of adulterating ayurvedic medicines prepared at his Hardwar ashram with human and animal remains.



The episode provides further proof of the Left's deceit. While turning a blind eye to the excesses committed by Islamic prelates as they deploy occult intercessions on behalf of the superstitious among their flock - lethal practices that have been graphically portrayed by TV news channels she has demanded a probe into the swami's affairs.



The guru, who is daily watched on television by lakhs of viewers, has triggered a revolution of sorts in the sphere of holistic health by his demonstrations of yogic kriyas as well as vegetarian dietary remedies for maladies. His debunking of American colas and fast food as much as the mammoth allopathic medical industry has made him many enemies. His supporters suspect that the attack on him is part of a conspiracy to destroy his reputation.



Certainly, the swami's spiralling popularity and the effectiveness of his prescription for a healthy life have served to make many Indians value their own heritage. His successful propagation of Patanjali yoga has indirectly won new adherents to the Hindu cause since the swami also happens to be extremely nationalistic in his discourses. And, his brand of patriotism has a spiritual flavour, akin to Swami Vivekanand's.



This may have induced CITU, the CPI(M)'s trade union wing, to mount the attack on him by joining disgruntled ashram workers. For, the eventuality most feared by communists and Congress alike is a Hindu resurgence, spearheaded by religious gurus rather than power-hungry politicians. They would do their best to nip it in the bud.