I was just reading a post by Shobhaa De [https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/politically-incorrect/enjoy-your-fame-and-spare-us-the-sermons-leslee-2/] in which she heartily criticises Leslee Udwin for her documentary on ‘India’s Daughter’. She asks her not to give us her sermons, casts aspersions on her calibre as a journalist and in effect, her credibility to produce a documentary on a sensitive subject like this, and also questions her motives.
This was just one incident, but on a larger scale, I started wondering…are Indians over-sensitive to criticism?
First a look at our country. We have on our hands, a country that has been developing for the past many decades and yet…today, we have a country, that even in the 21st century has no qualms about publicly attending to nature's calls, and suffers from shoddy infrastructure, a bad education system, little control over population growth, rampant unemployment, corruption at all levels, crime, etc etc. It is a country that for large part, is not safe for women. Where unfortunately the mindset largely is that women should remain at home. Where unfortunately, the male opinion is that women should dress conservatively, otherwise, she herself is “inviting” trouble. It may be argued that many of the problems afflicting this country are found in many other countries too, but that should not concern us. The question really is that, are we, as Indians, guilty of misplaced pride. I am no less patriotic than the other guy. But let us start calling a spade a spade, and then perhaps, and only then, can the country start making real progress. Surely not by harping to the glory of the past. Our rich mythology, our epics, our culture, our heritage, don’t matter much to the man who is unable to put a meal on the plate for his children today. Today the world may be justified in having a poor opinion on India based on how we appear today, without reference to our rich past. The past is of relevance only if we exploit that heritage and cultural superiority to meaningfully catapult us to the folds of prosperity for our people.
So, in effect, this criticism of others’ criticism of us, is nothing but intolerance, not dissimilar to the intolerance of fringe groups in other parts of the world who resort to violence to make their displeasure known.
Leslee Udwin may or may not be a capable journalist. But we cannot question her right to report matters in the manner she chooses to. We also cannot question the right of the western world to react to that video in the manner they choose to. Not if we pride ourselves on our democratic credentials. We cannot convince people through propaganda. See what happened to the communist countries when they kept feeding falsehood to their own people and to the outside world. We cannot improve ourselves by shutting out images not favourable to us. This is like that attitude of “Mein apne bachhe ko peet sakta hoon, par majaal hai ki paduasi kuch keh bhi de mere bachhe ke baare mein!”
When we introspect honestly and with sincerity, we will realise where we really stand, and what we need to do to improve ourselves as a society, systemically and from within. And when we do that, videos like this will end automatically in the dustbin of public imagination.
There is no need whatsoever for a strong resilient country like India to be overly sensitive to criticism. We shall prevail. On our own terms.
