By Ubaidur Rahman for TwoCircles.net,
Javed Akhtar, a poet and writer, did not speak anything noticeable in Parliament in last 6 years but his farewell speech in Rajya Sabha on March 15, 2016 put him in news all over. It was more due to his chanting of “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and ridiculing of Owaisi for not chanting it.
However, if analyzed critically, this speech conveys a lot about him than ‘chanting of slogan’, here’s a look at what it conveys.
In his “Farewell” address, of all the issues plaguing, “Bharat Maa” was his choice of condemning something or more specifically “someone” specific is telling. For example, he talked about India having largest number of youths and that there was a need to channel such resources, yet, he did not choose to say about the arresting and labeling of JNU students under spurious sedition charges. At another time he talked about India having largest number of TB patients, yet he did not choose to mention a line about Vyapam Scam in Madhya Pradesh for selection of medical students. The interesting part of his speech that applied to himself was, raising of non-issue and fanning and potentially enabling more nuts.
In his address, without mentioning Owaisi’s name he referred to him by calling him to be the one who assumes himself as a national leader, but in reality he (Owaisi) was a leader of a mohalla, in a city called Hyderabad in a state called Andhra.
He referred Owaisi, without mentioning his name, as the one who assumes himself to be a national leader, but in reality Owaisi is a leader of a mohalla, in a city called Hyderabad in a state called Andhra. Maybe Javed Akhtar absolutely hates Owaisi, which is his right, but it is telling that he has to belie the fact that Owaisi is the elected MP of the entire Hyderabad constituency regardless of how insignificant the constituency might be. It is telling that he had to ridicule that mohalla of Hyderabad of Andhra, which is a part of “Bharat Maa”. It is also telling that after trying to minimize Owaisi as a mere leader of a mohalla, he shamelessly reacted to this mere mohalla leader’s utterance.
He went on to “condemn” Owaisi for his objection to say “Bharat mata ki Jai” and there by blatantly rejected Owaisi’s right to object to raise a particular slogan that is not prescribed in the Constitution. It is telling that after lyricing about Constitution, Democracy, and Secularism, he condemned someone for exercising his right.
It is telling that after urging thankfulness for the Constitution we have, he does not even want to refer to the Constitution to see if it mandates raising a slogan. What a Member of Parliament we had there! It is also telling that after warning against straying from secularism, he clinged to the (oxymoronic, since he is an atheist) belief of “Bharat Maa”.
Before making another point, lets visualize this. Some nut decreed a sentence that Owaisi’s tongue must be chopped off and Maharashtra’s assembly threw one of the MIM MLA out after he did not chant the said slogan.
Akhtar “exercised” his right to chant “Bharat Mata ki Jai” makes one wonder if he was a member of Lok Sabha, would he have demanded Owaisi chant the slogan and on refusal, gang up with other members to get him suspended.
And he went on to “balance” his condemnation with condemnation of those who say Musalaman ke do sthan, khabrastan aur Pakistan. It is telling he thought there was equivalency there. One is resulting in people losing their lives, no prizes there for guessing which one.
In conclusion, Akhtar did not give a farewell speech, he performed one.
Nevertheless, if one does not judge these MPs by their chanting or non-chanting of such slogan and prefers to rate them according to their Parliament record of 6 years for Akhtar Vs 2 years for Owaisi then it reveals that
1. On attendance, Akhtar was present for 53% while Owaisi was 87%.
2. On Debates, Akhtar participated in a 6 debates while Owaisi in 33.
3. On Questions, Akhtar did not raise any question while Owaisi raised 414.