Our insecurity: Manifest in our protests

Okay, so we have done it again, shown the world how lily-livered we are, how frightened, how insecure, how incapable of taking criticism, of having a healthy discussion or disagreement, a difference of opinion with someone as demanded of a true democracy; and as prescribed by our Hindu shashtras as a way of broadening the vision and the mind.

Yes, I am talking about the latest ban, this time on one of their own, and a senior at that. Our government, as you know by now, has banned Jaswant Singh’s book on Jinnah, for insulting Sardar Patel, or for a perceived insult to Sardar Patel.

Whenever something is banned, its sales go up. A film that would normally lie unwatched becomes the coveted object of much smuggling; a book that no one may have heard of flies off the shelves. That is why I always suspect that some financial deal has been struck between the marketing body and the banners. Instant sales. Henry Miller knew this. As do Salman Rushdie and Taslima Nasreen. Ask their publishers.

What does an instant reaction like this say of us who bad it? Pitiable insecurity, that’s what. It is only those really frightened of their own worth who are so afraid of debate, or criticism. If we were confident of ourselves, if we really believe in what we believe in and know that it is the right thing, or the correct position or the true path, no amount of criticism, no differing view can harm us or sow seeds of doubt.

Politically this is true as well. Look at a country like North Korea. They do everything to keep the developments of the world away from the eyes of their wretched and hungry people because they know that once their population is aware of how the rest of the world is, their will be revolts. And from time to time that is what China tries by trying to block access to the internet, or the writings of some critical journalist digging at an unsavoury truth, with little long-term effect.

Frankly speaking, how many of us even care who is blamed for the Partition? The person on the street? Your college student drinking tea at the kitli? Your local shopkeeper? No, nearly certainly they would be more concerned about a cricket score or the latest movements of the stock market. Historical accuracy or myth is not our staple here — unless of course we are carefully drummed up to get into a rage about some perceived insult. This can easily lead to riots.

We as Gujaratis have so much to feel secure about. Why then are we still not so? It comes out in so many ways. We don’t take pride in our own language — how else can we explain the latest move to downgrade it by doing away with the nuances of the rhsva and  deergha, the difference between the ‘u’ and the ‘oo’ sound and between the ‘i’ and the ‘ee’ sound? When each sound has a purpose, a music, how can an entire state wish to become tone deaf, and that too with official sanction.

Again, I rarely find people who take pride in our literature or who know it well — outside the Sahitya Parishad of course. Or people who pretend they never watch Gujarati language television if educated. Or who desperately try and speak English, by peppering their Gujarati with inappropriate or badly pronounced English words.

This insecurity is manifest in the vociferousness of our protests that it is not so. That we ARE the best, the richest, the brainiest etc. Wonderful. Then shouldn’t we stop insisting and repeating this, and let others say it instead, or let the book be read so that people can decide Sardar’s worth for themselves? Or are we considered too dumb to tell wheat from chaff?