Naseeruddin rants and raves for a good half hour against Hindu bigotry and the Right-wing hatred, then softly concedes that neither he, nor anyone in his family, has personally been harmed or hurt in any way by the so-called Hindu bigots in any manner. This is a telling confession- clearly then, his worldview where ‘Islam and Islamists are under threat’ is based upon hearsay, social media gossip and biased media reports. Maybe his sources are Rana Ayub and Mohammad Zubair, whose only agenda is to beat the drum of ‘Islam in danger’ to whip up support in the West and the Middle East. One’s sources say a lot about one’s intellectual biases. How much credence can be placed upon such dubious rumormongers?

Naseer’s long monologue is interspersed with servile interjections of Nidhi Razdan, who does not once contradict the thespian-gone-senile, not even when he blames his own news sources- social media and TV channels – for spreading and solidifying hate. In fact, the two certified liberals then criticize these news sources in unison, perhaps because democratization of information has burst the monopoly of few anchors, fake historians and paid columnists. These are the people who crave for state-owned media and censored social media spaces, China being their model state. Of course, they love everything Chinese, except the best policy innovation of China – the Xinjiang Model of Re-education and Sinicization of Religions, including Islam and Christianity.  

Naseer begins his rants with the lament that had the blasphemy occurred in Islamic Republics of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, the perps would have been beheaded by now. This is not the thought process of a liberal intellectual, rather a narrow-minded street-level thug, who respects neither free speech nor rule of law, unless that law is the medieval Shariat. Unfortunately for Shah, Sovereign Democratic Republic of India is not run by Ulemas, and hence beheading for the so-called Gustaakhs is out of question. He has to live with this fact. Rather grandly, he also declares that there is not even a single instance of any Muslim disrespecting Hindu gods and goddesses. This clean chit doesn’t take into account the recent spate of venom spewed against Shivlings, and ignores the nudes painted by that overrated painter, Pervert Fida Hussein.

Shah lists many examples of Muslim volunteers going out of their way to provide comfort to Hindu or Sikh devotees in India and the neighbourhood. Predictably he does not croak (he never has) against the systematic liquidation by forced conversions, abductions and killings of Hindus and Sikhs in these Islamic countries. That does not suit his agenda, nor does undertanding align with his worldview. He talks about Muslim sewaks providing food and water during the Pandharpur Yatra. Nidhi helpfully acknowledges the Islamic benevolence in allowing the Amarnath Yatra every year. She refrains from pointing out how many times have the Yatris been attacked by jihadis. That would have spoilt the script and hopes of ‘aman ki asha’. The aim is clearly to demonstrate that one side has a very large-sized heart, whereas the other is full of narrow-minded and hateful bigots. The show is about Hindu bashing and blaming, after all.

When Nidhi asks Naseeruddin what would he say to those who are issuing death threats to the supposed blasphemes, Naseer resorts to whataboutery and asks how many have stood up for Rana Ayub, who receives rape and death threats, and verbal abuses every day. He rather argues that the ‘blasphemes’ shall receive official security anyway, and hence it doesn’t matter what he has to say to those empty vessels who issue such threats. Empty vessels, did he say? Perhaps he wishes they were not empty!

Again and again, Naseer asks where are the Hindu liberals, and why don’t they speak up. But he never once says where are the Muslim liberals, and why do they maintain strategic silence. Naseer brands the ruling party as the ‘winning side’ and then goes onto compare them with Nazis and Fascists. He talks about how Mussolini was considered the saviour of Italy, and how popular was Hitler. He doesn’t say how the popularity of various godmen and messengers has similarly been very high. He dare not say that.  One community if it votes as a block is supposed to be promoting democracy. The other side, if it does not endorse his world view, is supposed to be behaving like Germans of 1930s. Nidhi Razdan does not ask Naseer why as per him is there hardly a single modern democracy among 56 or 57 Islamic nations that exist. Such questions might puncture the narrative, hence they are best avoided.

Naseer declares The Kashmir Files as a fictionalized version of events. Of course he is not grilled as to which parts of the film were concocted. Forget about expressing solidarity with the dead and banished Kashmiri Pandits of the past and the present, and calling out the jihadis for their ghastly deeds, this shameless bigot has the gall to term the actual events that took place as ‘fictional’. Nidhi of NDTV does not ask the senior actor the basic question – whether the BJP spokesperson misquoted the texts, or made up the charges, or if she quoted accurately but that the rest of the world must keep mum out of politeness? This question is important, for it helps in determining if the statements could even be classified as ‘blasphemous’, or are just ‘harsh truth which must not be spoken for the sake of peace and harmony.’ Naseer’s words, being an ace liberal that he is, would have helped clarify matters. But Nidhi, being an ordinary journalist, did not realize the significance of this question.

Or perhaps, she was too sold on his Us Vs. Them rhetoric, and let him walk away rather too easily. Naseer’s truculence reminded me of George W. Bush’s ‘ Either you are with us or against us’ remarks after 9/11. Poignantly, his thoughts are based upon fake news and false propaganda. What a fall for a man who sells himself as an atheist!

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#atheist #ndtv #worldview #islamindanger #arabcountries #nazi #fascism #hitler #mussolini #RW