The selective memory of those returning awards

‘In essence, while I appreciate your earnest care for the nation’s welfare, your eagerness in returning the awards seems not be driven by data. The data is at worst favouring the present disposition or it provides an inconclusive result. It seems to be directed at Narendra Damordas Modi and nothing else,’ says Sriram Balasubramanian in an open letter.

Dear Intellectuals,

It has been a pretty hectic week with many of you returning your esteemed awards amidst the rapidly evolving political landscape in Bihar. While it pleases me immensely that you have united as a front for a social cause, I find your new found vigour quite fascinating to say the least. There are many reasons which I would want to elucidate but I will go point by point to share my perspective. Hope you are not intolerant enough to brush this aside since it doesn't come from the cauldrons of your elitist cocoon.

Before I get into this, I would categorically like to state that I condemn communal acts of any kind including the Dadri incident -- every act of crime needs to be condemned and such acts are something that India should do away with. Having said this, let me get onto my points.

My very first observation on this episode is this. I find it quite alarming that not many

of you perform due-diligence when coming to addressing these issues. While you were so spontaneous in attacking the current government (more specifically the prime minister), did any of you bother to do follow up on the case that has happened at Dadri? In spite of the fact that such an incident has happened and even when it has consumed of national attention, how many of you asked about the status of the case in Dadri?

As of date, there has been no charge-sheet filed in the case and since law and order is a state subject, the state of Uttar Pradesh has not done its duty to this point. So if you are the protector of the intolerant, may I ask if any one of you has raised a consistent voice against the UP government for their dismal law and order situation? And have any of you raised a voice against these gruesome incidents too here and here (external links).

These questions have a meaning, they are not rhetorical in nature and does not indicate that two wrongs can be a right -- yet they are meant to highlight a particular mindset that some of you seem to possess and that some of you are consumed with.

This lack of attention to detail in the case above seems to have consumed your thought process also since most of you seem to think ‘the country has become intolerant ever since the new government came to power’. Anyone with any sense of rationality and common sense would go by the numbers to validate this and not mere rhetoric.

So here are the numbers which reflect the facts not media perception nor rhetoric. As summarised here, there were 668, 823, and 644 incidents of communal violence nationwide in the years 2012, 2013, and 2014 respectively (the last three full years for which we have data). In each of these three years, UP recorded 118, 247, and 133 communal incidents, which resulted in 39, 77 and 26 deaths respectively, and, 500, 360 and 374 injuries respectively.

Till January 2015, according to the same data, there were only 72 incidents which took place -- the arithmetic is quite clear here. In the year 2013, there was a spike in the number of communal tensions due to the Muzzafarnagar incident.

May I ask two basic questions here -- How is it that communal tensions have ‘increased’ when the number of communal incidents was far more in the previous government than the current one? Second, were you sitting on a couch in the hills of Ooty when the Muzafarnagar riots took place? A far more deadly and more insidious sequence of events yet you had nothing to talk about it. Even when you spoke about it, it was the ‘UP government’s fault’ then yet now it is ‘Modi the fascist’ fault.

In essence, while I appreciate your earnest care for the nation’s welfare, your eagerness in returning the awards seems not be driven by data. The data is at worst favouring the present disposition or it provides an inconclusive result. It seems to be directed at Narendra Damordas Modi and nothing else.

I am no hero-worshiper of Modi yet the scant disregard you give for a sitting prime minister of my country urges me to write this. Irrespective of whatever your issue was, did you bother to respect the office of the prime minister and seek an appointment to meet him? Has anyone of you reached out to the PM or conveyed your concerns to the man who has been elected by a billion people? I would have waved my hat to you if you had the maturity to reach out to the prime minister, considering he is a statesman now above parties, keeping away all your pent-up prejudices over the years.

That would have been a sign of maturity and statesmanship from some of you intellectuals to bring a mode of conciliatory behaviour and find a meaningful solution to the current crisis that the nation is confronting. The nation needs the minds of intellectuals who are willing to have a constructive dialogue not bemoan it as fascist at every move it makes. You mean to say that you have more collective wisdom than that of a billion people?

As far as I am concerned, the issues at hand in front of the government are plenty including the allies hooliganism & the extreme right wing’s actions. The Modi government has to take many proactive steps to overcome some of these challenges -- both in terms of messaging and the perception.

However, what irks me is the opportunistic verbal discourse that some of you are adventuring into just because you hate the man to the core. Your personal vendetta against Modi cannot be at the cost of my country and the reputation of its people -- I seriously hope you come to terms with your hypocrisy and try to have a constructive dialogue with the current dispensation. If ever you want justice, constructive dialogue is the only way ahead on this issue. It will uplift your stature as well as the country’s too.

Image: National Award winners (left to right) P M Satheesh, Madhushree Dutta, Saeed Akthar Mirza, Kundan Shah, Irene Dhar Malik and Beena Sarkar Iliyas announce the returning of their national awards against the growing intolerance in the country recently. Photograph: Shashank Parade/PTI Photo

Sriram Balasubramanian is a writer and graduate research scholar at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.