By Sayed Abdullah Sadat for TwoCircles.net,
For past few weeks, especially after the horrific Dhaka incident a trend of a maligning campaign against popular theologian Dr. Zakir Naik has gained a lot of momentum, particularly in the pro-government media. Among the many voices, one of them was of the former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju, which was bold enough to attract some media attentions. This has motivated me to study Katju’s remarks and find out whether his controversial and often contradictory remarks are having any psychological warfare pattern or he is simply a doltish sympathizer who may be seeking some attention after his retirement.
For quite some times now, I have been following Markandey Katju’s post, articles, and interviews about different issues pertaining India and surrounding neighbours. Interestingly he mostly focuses on the issues that directly or indirectly affect Muslim populations or masses. Be it politics, corruption, security or religious affairs, most of his posts, articles and interviews point to this aspect, even when there is no direct reference to it. Although, he does speak once in a while about other aspects, they are very rare and often used as a breaker to the obvious pattern. This has created a sense of curiosity in me to conduct an investigating study on his viewpoints and remarks that he has expressed regarding different issues. This was led to a series of findings that I have come across them in this study, and the significant points that I have noticed in the trend that he has followed so far, are described in the following.
One of the easy ways to stand out in the crowd is to not go with the flow and speak controversy. I believe Markandey Katju is following this trend, however following this trend is not entirely wrong by itself; it rather becomes unpleasant and often is a sign of dishonesty when a series of contradictions and inconsistencies arise from the controversial remarks. The contradictions and inconsistencies can be clearly seen in many of Katju’s remarks and posts pertaining Indian Muslims. It would be very hard to believe that these contradictions and inconsistencies are the results of his immaturity or lack of understanding of Indian Islamic society, since Katju has served in the Indian Judiciary in different capacities, any room for immaturity and lack of experience to this level will certainly bring the entire judiciary system under question, and ultimately the whole democratic system in India.
Some of the instances about inconsistencies and contradictions are as following:
The most recent issue of popular theologian Dr. Zakir Naik who is believed to have been liked by one of the horrific Dhaka incident attackers has become a center point for Katju’s remarks. Firstly, the biased and unprofessional attitude towards Dr. Zakir Naik is condemnable, despite my difference of opinion with him on different issues; I believe he is a scholar that deserves every bit of respect. Maligning the image of a prominent scholar on the basis of admiration by a terrorist is not only unjustifiable but also points to the fact that how some popular media is moving towards unprofessionalism in India, and perhaps in the entire world. I believe many of us do remember the merciless Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kassab, who also expressed his admiration towards iconic film star Amitabh Bachan, and even requested a visit as his last wish before the justice was served onto him. Will this allow anybody or the system to tarnish the image or even take actions against iconic film star Amitabh Bachan?. Think how silly and irrational would that sound. Similarly, what is currently happening in India in terms of a defamation campaign against Dr. Zakir Naik is of the same nature, however, many have failed to notice it. This effect is called mass hypnotization that is often practiced by some media outlets.
What is the role of Katju in this equation?
To recall the many debates of Dr. Zakir Naik, many people have requested an appointment for debate with Dr. Zakir Naik, which was obviously rejected, as Dr. Zakir wouldn’t have time to engage in debates with every single ordinary person. He will definitely choose to debate with the experts of the topic of debate. Katju has challenged Dr. Zakir Naik to debate him on science and theology while forgetting his own capacity and authority in these very topics. How can you challenge a person who is involved in these issues and is his field of expertise for past many decades to spare a significant time and debate you on a topic that you neither have any expertise on and nor any background of it?!. It just resembles that somebody who normally cannot meet Amitabh Bachan threatens him that if he doesn’t facilitate a visit and ultimately a picture with him, he would call him a radical and extremist on the basis that a terrorist liked him. Sounds stupid right?.
Katju started his retirement career by posting soft condemnations of discriminations against minorities and the people of lower caste; this has gained him some popularity from the aforementioned groups but also invited strong criticism from Hindu radical groups. In an appeasing move, then he has begun speaking against many Muslim scholars, he first tried to attack Muslim politicians, and after establishing a group of fans for himself, he started extending his campaign to non-political Muslim religious scholars. While he always stresses his neutrality in the religion by publicly showcasing his atheism and sympathy with Muslims by observing one day fast for the sake of Muslims during Ramzan, but there is not a single remark of him exist against any non-political Hindu religious gurus.
He claims to be an atheist but he has Hindu Bhagwan Shiva images and Mandir in his house. He softly condemns the discrimination against Muslims, while in return infuses the empathy in the minds of Muslims that they are weak and such practices can be natural against weak sections of society, therefore, they must compromise some of their religious practices. He irrationally ridicules the Islamic faith while claiming to be a close friend of Muslims. In fact, he shares some common core values with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), for instance the non-recognition of Indian partition (i.e. considering Pakistan and Bangladesh as inseparable parts of India), promoting the Hindu culture as the common Indian culture, and maligning the parties standing against BJP, such as his defaming campaign against Aam Admi Party (AAP) and its leader Arvind Kejriwalji during the Delhi elections. He justifies his campaign by softly condemning the BJP as well. But when two parties are competing and he daily criticizes one of them with often inappropriate language and ignores the other, how can he claim neutrality?.After noticing a strong shift in public opinion towards AAP, he swiftly termed his maligning campaign as a merely constructive criticism.
He asks Muslims repeatedly and quite irrelevantly to condemn the discrimination against Hindus in Pakistan as well as Bangladesh, in a way trying to emphasize that Muslims are silent on these issues, while I remember many Muslim scholars have condemned these discriminations, and even some of them have distanced themselves from calling Pakistan a Muslim country for its continuous practice of non-Islamic values. He also on many occasions have directly pointed to Pakistan as the legitimate representative and authority of Islam, while undermining the rest of Islamic world and the very Muslim population in India which is considered by many to be larger than that of Pakistan, who all happen to be disapproving many of Pakistan’s anti-Islamic practices and policies.
In short, whether Katju is a dangerous manipulator or mindless friend of Muslims, such controversial and inconsistent remarks by him does not just question his honesty in his claims, but also undermines the very co-existence and secular nature of India that many Indians are proud of, and also undermines the credibility of the Indian Judiciary system of which he was a prominent member.
Author is an MBA and holds a diploma in United Nations and International Understanding. He is currently doing research at the University of South Florida.