Intolerance in India: What’s wrong with this debate

“Intolerance in India” has become the new hot topic. Recent comments made by Aamir Khan (a Bollywood actor) had prompted me to write this piece.

Despondency, disquiet and discomfort. These are the feelings that I’ve also felt from time-to-time. You read the news and you see all kind of bad shit going on in the world and suddenly you’re overwhelmed with a cocktail of emotions. Sometimes you even wonder if this really is the world you live in, do such kind of people really exist? I watched the latest Aamir Khan interview where he talks about “intolerance” in India. I think I understand when he says there is a sense of insecurity, owing to the fact that we get to see a news article on variety of misdeeds every single day. But he’s wrong when he links all of this to the “rising intolerance” in India. Surely, the recent acts of intolerance are getting some attention, but saying that intolerance is growing in India is wrong. Just because the acts of “intolerance” are getting excessive, hyped and incorrect media coverage doesn’t make our country intolerant in general.

I would also like to comment on the way these extremely sensitive issues are handled by our great media. When I was writing this piece the trending topic was “Actor says rising intolerance has prompted him and wife to consider leaving India”. The views of a celebrity on a certain issue are more important than the issue itself. The news today is dictated by the opinions of a few than actual facts. Nobody even cares to look into the issue. Every news outlets want their headlines and the best way to get them is by asking a celebrity to comment on the issue. For months we have been witnessing the rant of “growing intolerance” in India and social media has been very proactively reacting on every statement that has been issued so far. One person makes a comment, then some criticise him, some applaud him and some issue their own statements. The cycle goes on. Is this how such issues should be treated? I’m not against people issuing statements. It is a good thing that eminent personalities voice their opinions. This is how a debate starts. But our great media makes the news out this debate, totally ignoring what’s the basis of the debate. They also tend to take things out of context, often delivering meaningless and misleading information. What we need are facts and opinions that are very well thought-through. If there is growing intolerance in our country then how are we quantifying this growth? How has the number of hate crimes related to religious intolerance changed over the time? What kind of societal reforms do we need in such as situation? What is an individual’s role in a model tolerant society? Is government is to be blamed for rising number of hate crimes on the lines of religious intolerance? How can tolerance be “enforced”? All these questions are worth asking but are not being asked.

There is no chance of making an impact if this form of news making continues.