PUNE: It is rare for a thinker-writer-politician to be given a 'rockstar' treatment, with adulation dripping at every word he uttered. But considering Dr Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP, who was in the city on Saturday to attend 7th edition of Pune International Literary Festival, to engage with the audience comprising mostly young minds, this was a given.
With queues stretching long outside the already bursting at seams auditorium, Tharoor didn't disappoint the gathering and answered each question, provocative and otherwise, with aplomb. He was in conversation with writer Manu Pillai, who was also his former chief of staff.
Pillai asked the MP from Thiruvananthapuram, 'Why are you still with Congress?' and got a fairly detailed answer. Tharoor was wooed by the principal political parties of the country, after he stepped down from his post as the Under Secretary-General of United Nations. “A BJP minister in Vajpayee government, called me in 2006, after I stepped down from my unsuccessful race for Secretary General of United Nations, and he asked me to join their party. 'We know that Congress will also ask you, don't go to them. Come to us'. I replied, 'You already know my views'. He was very charming and persuasive and said, 'Is there any political party with which you can agree on everything? You don't agree on some points, it's fine. We are a meritocracy, we will see your merit'. Although I was touched by that, I found it difficult to align with the political ideas in BJP's manifesto. First, was their emphasis on Hindutva. Second, they had just conducted a campaign with a message of 'India Shining' without asking who India was shining for?” he said.
Tharoor, who has written imporant works like 'A Great Indian Novel', 'Why I am a Hindu', 'The Hindu Way of Life', added, “I see politics as a vehicle to advance the ideas, principles and values that I hold dear and that I want to see my country progress along. My principles have been consistent over the years as seen in my writing. India, as our freedom struggle established, must be a country for everybody, irrespective of their religion, caste, language and region. Everyone has equal rights in democracy and everyone has an equal stake in our country. I also believe that we must be a country that encourages growth and entrepreneurship and at the same time, be concerned about social justice for those who are marginalised.”
His books and how certain portions of the satirical novel - 'The Great Indian Novel' - were pulled out and distorted to malign Tharoor and win mileage in 2019 elections were also discussed, along with the 'thin-skin' that we have developed as a nation. But what got the maximum cheer was when the Congress MP talked about his ideas on Hinduism, Kashmir and Pakistan.
Tharoor says that he owes his understanding of Hinduism to Swami Vivekananda. “Swami Vivekananda's preachings are extraordinarily relevant today. At the World Parliament of Religions, he said, 'I am proud to speak to you in the name of a faith that has taught the world not just tolerance but acceptance'. We all have been taught about virtues of tolerance. But what Vivekananda wanted us to realise is --'Tolerance is a patronising virtue. Because tolerance says, I am the truth, you are an error, but I magnanimously indulge in your right to be wrong'. Whereas acceptance, which Vivekananda says that Hinduism is all about, goes beyond it. 'Acceptance says I believe I am the truth, you believe you are the truth. I respect your truth, you respect my truth'. To my mind, this is the fundamental strength of Hinduism. You can worship, practise your faith in different ways. It's your individual quest to become one union with your idea of divine. That freedom of thought makes Hinduism astonishingly relevant to 21 st century,” he added.
Touching on the subject of Kashmir, the politician said, “As far as Pakistan's attacks on India in UN were concerned, the Opposition is 100 per cent with the Indian government. Pakistan's track record is very poor. It has no right to criticise us. But I have every right to attack the government for the way it has treated people and elected leaders of Kashmir who are under house arrest. I will speak for the well-being of Kashmir and Kashmiris as an Indian MP and an Indian citizen. I asked in Parliament on August 6 - “When will a Kashmiri mother be able to take her child to school? When will you give us that normalcy? Schools are empty in Kashmir because there is no way that any parent would drop their child at school knowing that schools cannot communicate with them in case something goes wrong.”
He also put to rest his comments on 'Hindu Pakistan' for which he was in controversy. Tharoor said, “The phrase Hindu Pakistan was first used by Jawaharlal Nehru. The Std VIII CBSE's Civics textbook has mentioned this. What is this Nehruvian view? Our freedom struggle got divided on one principle - 'Is religion going to be the determinant of nation?' Those who said 'yes' created the idea of Pakistan. Those who said 'no', included Nehru, Gandhi, Azad, Ambedkar and Rajendra Prasad. They said, 'Our struggle is for everybody. We will create a country for everybody. We will write a Constitution for everybody'. That is the fundamental difference between Pakistan and India. If BJP succeeds in turning India into a Hindu Rashtra, then that will be the biggest victory for Muhammad Ali Jinnah. I don't want Jinnah to win. Pakistan is built on the idea of one nation, one language, one culture. I have met Pakistani Christians whose passports are stamped as 'non-Muslims'. What a humiliation! Would you want this for your Parsi and Muslim friends? I would be ashamed. We are not like that, we must not become like that. And, as far as I am concerned, Hinduism is not like that. Hinduism is a faith of great acceptance that cherishes and is enriched by the diversity of that country.”
