Thursday 13 June 2013

Is India immature for religious discussions on Islam

Have you ever seen intense religious discussions taking place on Indian news channels ?
Have you seen anyone in Media questioning religion like people in the west question violent verses in Quran, they have completely free discussions on such matters.
Have you seen such types of programs in India such as the shows hosted by Bill Maher, who openly criticizes Islam ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt4WVmwhyRw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmizyHFabqQ
The answer is no.

Why doesn't it take place in India ?
The Indian media knows that Indian society is not mature enough have such discussions and also the government will also not support them if they do. The government plays politics on religion.

What will happen if an Indian hosts a TV show like Mill Maher does and questions the morality of various verses in Quran ?
The next day Muslims would protest and there could be violence on the streets. Most of the protesters would be uneducated goons and it would be almost impossible to make them understand what freedom of speech and expression means. While in west almost everyone is educated, in India literacy rate is not that high especially among Muslims. When educated fanatics are so difficult to handle than you may well imagine what would happen with fanatics lacking education and madrasa graduates.
After that politics on religion will be played by Indian political parties to appease Muslims.

The latest example of this was the movie "vishwaroopam" by Kamal Haasan. Muslim groups in India got outraged and threatened the government to ban the movie or remove some of the scenes from the movie which they thought were against their community and showed Muslims in bad light.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_related_to_Vishwaroopam#Islamic_protests_and_banning
At the end impotent Indian government bowed down to the Muslim demands.
Some more example of such incidents:
Muslims threatened the government not to allow Salman Rushdie in Jaipur literature festival.
Song removed from David over objections from Muslim group
http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/1793940/report-song-removed-from-david-over-objections-from-muslim-group
Muslim group protests against Race 2 movie posters
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-01-30/india/36635214_1_muslim-group-protests-jamiat-ulama-i-hind-posters

Internet and Social Media like facebook allows freedom of speech so people turn to social media to express their views.
I have been using facebook for a very long time, there has been instances where I asked certain questions about verses of Quran to which Muslims had no answer and they started abusing and threatening that you cannot question Quran. Most of them haven't really read Quran in detail never really researched whats written in it and just blindly followed what their family, mullahs and imams told them.
 C.J. John, a psychiatrist said - "The situation is worsened by the fact that the social media is yet to mature in India. I do not think the social media culture in India has matured enough to handle a serious or refined debate on social issues. We are still in the honeymoon phase".
 Radical users hound free thinkers on facebook
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/radical-users-hound-free-thinkers-on-fb/article4804734.ece?mstac=0

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