Can the Indian liberal, the invisible non-entity, stand up?

There is no such animal called the 'Indian liberal'. If at all it exists somewhere, it does not stay in a herd. It takes soft, opportunistic and individualistic positions on issues and is fiercely protective of the idea of freedom — its own freedom, that is. Sometimes, it makes convenience-driven common cause with others; but mostly, stays aloof. Because it finds other liberals illiberal.That makes him a weak, irrelevant presence in the society. Politicians won’t woo him because he is not part of a herd and thus cannot be of much help. People at large won’t be sympathetic to him because he stands nowhere. He has the intellect to view the world in different perspectives but he has few takers.[caption id="attachment_186950" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="The developments around Salman Rushdie at the Jaipur literary festival allow the Indian liberal the opportunity to stand up and be counted. AFP Photo"][/caption]That is sad. But that is also the truth about our liberals.The developments around Salman Rushdie at the Jaipur literary festival allow them the opportunity to stand up and be counted. How? They should insist on Rushdie’s presence at the prestigious event and stand firm without worrying about how the local or the Central government stands on the issue.Politicians have their compulsions. Let them have it. Since there will be no end to that — there will be some election or the other around always and there will be no stop to pandering to the whims of a section of Muslims or Hindus with doubtful popular following in their community — there’s no point being sympathetic to their compulsions. The local police won’t help because they have a compulsion — to follow the orders of the political bosses. So let them follow the orders.The organisers of such events should prepare themselves to take head on the challenge thrown by the religious groups. Admitted, it does not look nice for people into literary or cultural pursuits to get into a situation of confrontation and conflict. But, unfortunately, show of strength is what everything boils down to in the country. There are threats of attack and use of physical force on a particular target — Rushdie in this case — and everything gets disturbed.Someone needs to call the bluff of such groups. Politicians are afraid because they feel the groups represent their community or at least its majority voice, which may be far from the truth. The organisers have no need to be concerned about that. If they put their foot down once, it would certainly send a strong message across. Why not tell the authorities 'we will have our own security in place so please don’t worry about us?'If the approach leads to ugly situations, so be it. The consequences may not be good but the fight is worth it. There is too much nonsense happening in the name of religion and illiberal thinking — Rushdie’s case is curious since he has come to India several times after his book, Satanic Verses, was banned in the country. There was never any protest then. Now that elections are around, the issue has been resurrected. There has to be a motive to it. Resistance is the best answer to the groups.The kind of intolerance being sought to be perpetuated by these groups is not part of the national culture or tradition. The country is known for its spirit of assimilation and accommodation. Even among the Muslims, there's tolerance to contrarian thinking — there's no evidence that the average Muslim goes blindly by unreasonable fatwas issued by religious heads. There’s no proof that all Marathis support the Shiv Sena's opposition to Rohinton Mistry’s book, Such a Long Journey. Then why is the country so differential to these small bunch of supposedly influential people? Clearly, it is a recent trend that has snowballed, aided by opportunistic politics.The only problem here is whether our literature lovers, liberals, capable of any such action. They are notorious for their inability to rally behind a cause. If they stay united for this one cause at least they would be doing a great service to themselves. The must realise the reality in India: if you are not in a herd you are a nobody, intellect can go to hell. They have to stay firm on having Rushdie at the festival.The Indian liberal must be a flesh and blood animal, not an invisible entity.