Author: Times News Network
Publication: The Economic Times
Date: May 27, 2006
URL: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1577187.cms
Even as Narendra Modi-baiters on Friday came
together to put the blame for the opposition against the screening of Amir
Khan's Fanaa on the Gujarat administration, the rent-a-quote mob in the 'secular'
spectrum chose to ignore the decision of the Congress-led Punjab government
to ban The Da Vinci Code.
The Communist parties and their progeny, Sahmat,
projected the "social boycott" of Fanaa - both the BJP and the Congress
in the state have come out against the Khan-starrer - as a demonstration of
the "cultural fascism" prevailing in Mr Modi's Gujarat. "Gujarat
now has the distinction of allowing a small group of people with a clear agenda
of communal hate politics to deprive the people's access to culture,"
a statement issued by Sahmat said.
Interestingly, Sahmat was silent when the
UPA government capitulated to pressure from hard line elements in the Catholic
community over The Da Vinci Code and made community leaders "super censors".
The CPM, it be recalled, refused to take a public stand on The Da Vinci Code.
Nor did the Communists comment about the government's flirtations with hard
line community opinion.
This stand of the Left leaders is not surprising
as they, of late, have been displaying an itch to appease hard line minority
sentiments. It be recalled that the party was in the forefront of a cynical
attempt to communalise the country's foreign policy. Its leaders regularly
addressed meetings convened by hard line outfits in support of Iran's nuclear
ambitions and even used it to drive a wedge between the community and the
Congress during the just-concluded elections in Kerala.
The electoral success in Kerala appears to
be encouraging the Left to persist with its appeasement strategy. The rivals
of the Communists say that refusal to condemn the Punjab government and its
decision to ignore the UPA government decision to get The Da Vinci Code cleared
by Catholic leaders are reflective of the Left's approach towards hardline
opinion among minority communities.
What must be comforting for the Left is a
"secular consensus" on this approach. As a matter of fact, even
the prime minister, who talked about protests against Fanaa had not spelt
out its stand on The Da Vinci Code.
