WAS EVR ANY DIFFERENT FROM TERRY JONES?

There is universal condemnation, and rightly so, of the call given by the Pastor of Florida church, Terry Jones to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of September 11 attacks at the World Trade Centre. Jones has been variously decried as “lunatic fringe”, “insane” and the Secretary of State Ms Hillary Clinton lost no time in condemning Jones outburst as “disgraceful” and “disrespectful”, citing George Washington to say that the US would not give any sanction to bigotry. But the pastor of a small time church in Gainesville seems to be defiant. He finds a rationale for his threat: “we should address radical Islam and send a very clear warning that they are not to retaliate in any form”.

This may be pastor’s wishful thinking. If his threat is executed, it would only pave the way for more radical Islam than the world is witnessing today. It will be a God-sent opportunity for the masterminds of Jihadi or Wahabi movement to recruit more and more “soldiers of God” for the “holy war”. Already, Afghan militants have said that they would kill every American citizen they come across and they have a track record in executing their threats.

The condemnation for the pastor’s threat is not only from the US Christians and the Arab world, needless to say from India for it considers itself more secular than any other country in this planet, but also from Europe and the Vatican. The Vatican official daily talks of protests around the world against the burning of Koran as it is “contrary to the respect owed to all religions and against our doctrine and faith”.

The buzz word today is Islamophobi a. Europe is worried that “Islam would sooner rather than later conquer Europe”. Ban on veil in France, Belgium and ban on minarets in Sweden and Switzerland reflect this fear. A Vatican official exhorts Christians in Europe to produce more children to counter the huge growth in Muslim immigrants to most of the European countries.
Therefore, the protest against the Florida Pastor is not mainly out of concern for increasing bigotry, but out of fear of Islamists and their intolerance. Take for example Pakistan. The country has banned cartoon networks which telecast Hindu mythology. Can this not be termed as “religious bigotry”. Like good Talibans and bad Talibans, bigotry also seems to be of two kinds. If the bigotry is of non-Muslim variety, it is bad, but not Islamic bigotry.

Be that as it may, one cannot resist drawing a parallel to what happened in our own country a few decades ago. Florida pastor is a small fry and he does not represent all the Christians except for 50 or so group in a small church. His threat to burn Koran could have been dismissed as the misguided act of an immature person. But it received world wide attention and condemnation.
Well, public memory is very short. What happened when the so-called “social revolutionary” EV Ramaswamy Naickar, the face of Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu, led a procession of Hindu gods and goddesses garlanded with chappals, while his cronies were pouring excreta on the idols and beating them up with chappals on the main arterial road of the then Madras city. Forget the Hindu society which lost its verve and nerve after 1000 years of slavery, how did the nation react or the non Hindus. Was there a whimper from Christians and Muslims? Contrast this with the sound and fury against Jones from every religious group or for that matter against the Danish cartoonist.

On the contrary, EV Ramaswamy Naickar, who is no more than an uncivilized man of venom and hatred towards the Hindus, is hailed by his blind followers as great “social reformer”. All his acts to offend Hindu sentiments were eulogised as “social reform” intended to put an end to the superstitious beliefs of the Hindu masses.

The present government in Tamil Nadu has put up statues of this phoney reformer in every nook and corner of the state. To add insult to the injury one such statue was put up just infront of the famous Sri Rangam temple which is the most sacred place for the Vaishnava sect of Hindus. It is like putting up a statue of Godse in front of Gandhi Samadhi or near the Sabarmati Ashram or the statue of Veer Savarkar in front of Jama Masjid in Delhi.

Did any of those who make noise against Jones raise a little finger against Karunanidhi when he defended the statue of EVR in front of Sri Rangam temple? Will he put up the statue of bogus reformer in Velankanni or Nagore facing Christian and Muslim religious shrines. It is not the suggestion of this writer that he should. But why this discrimination. What superstition has EVR removed from Hindu society? You must ask this question to the family of Karunanidhi.

Look at the superstition when it comes to Karunanidhi himself. Did EVR ask him to sport a yellow shawl as against the black shawl, the dress code of Dravidian movement? Can Karuna’s followers or partymen call him by his name. He can be called only by his titles and not by name, so he will be referred to as “Muththamiz Arignar, Tamilaga Mudalvar, Doctor, Kalaignar” and his name “Karunanidhi” will be omitted. What sort of self-respect movement he has inherited from his mentor – EVR? Though EVR said there was no God and God is the creation barbarians and led a movement on that premise, what we witness today in the state is oozing religious fervour with no let up on superstitious rituals