National icons are national assets
Chhatrapati Shivaji maharaj is a national icon. canards should not be woven by foreigners to defame him. People will come down heavily on those who degrade our national heroes.
A NATION lives by certain ideals. A nation boosts its self esteem by drawing lessons from lives of national symbols and national icons. It is over centuries that legends are woven around lives of national icons. There are tender feelings that a nation has for its icons. These feelings and emotions are understood and felt by men and women of the nation. Men and women of flesh and blood look up to the icons who were men and women of flesh and blood. A real nation worships its real icons. A nation feels disturbed when an attempt is made by a foreigner to make a dent in the image of an icon. A professor living and working in New York and absolutely unfamiliar with the religious, cultural and historical background of Bharat makes an attempt to write on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. He does not go into depth but just takes a look at stories he might have heard in parlours and bars where banters were flying at a tangent. He treats them as pieces of evidence to upset the applecart and denounce parentage of the national icons. Without producing even an iota of evidence, the gossip monger from New York has the temerity to write that Shahaji was not the father of Shivaji. Dadaji Kond Dev was the biological father. An absolute canard that must be shredded into smithereens and the gossip monger should have been sent to a prison for insulting a national icon.
It is indeed a matter of shame that the Indian State remained a dumb spectator while a foreigner insulted our national hero, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. In this country unless people take to streets, unless they resort to violence and damage national property, they are not heard and their grievances are not addressed. There are numerous examples to prove that the government of the day surrendered to mobs of looters who pillaged whatever came their way. In the present case the government at the centre should have counselled the publishers to refrain from publishing a book of fiction that would outrage the national pride and create a law and order situation that might go out of hand.
JUDICIAL INTERVENTION
When the government of Maharashtra rightly proscribed the book entitled SHIVAJI: HINDU KING IN ISLAMIC INDIA, written by James W. Laine and published by the Oxford University Press, New York in 2003, the Indian counterpart of the New York publisher based in New Delhi challenged the banning order in the Bombay High Court. The High Court set aside the proscription order of the Maharashtra government and the government went up to the Supreme Court in appeal. The Supreme Court upheld the order of the High Court and protected the constitutional right of freedom of expression. This has caused a lot of turmoil in the country now.
As a student of law I had heard from our professors who were practising advocates of the High Court that “Law is an ass” and an ass must not be permitted to mount on the heads of human beings. A law should be interpreted intelligently keeping in view the cultural and historical traditions and conventions. A writer or a publisher has a constitutional right of expression but at the same time their right cannot be permitted to trample on the rights of self esteem and respect for a national icon of the entire nation. Our Hon’ble courts have erred in making that decision and allowing an open sale of the said book. The book makes a travesty of truth. A pulp of fiction should not be permitted to ride roughshod over national sentiments. It would be in the fitness of things to file a Review petition in the Supreme Court of India and a prayer be made to examine the case de novo as it hurts national sentiments of millions of men and women o the entire nation.
Historians of the calibre of Sir Jadu Nath Sarkar, Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Sardesai have given an assessment of the life and times of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The writings of eminent historians of India would weigh in our favour and demolish the canard spread by a foreigner. Perhaps the legal case was not handled as deftly by the government counsels and Their Lordships were bereft of sound arguments demolishing the offending view of James Laine. Anyway, it can be done even now.
The national honour must be redeemed and our Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj be painted in correct light as an independent King who never accepted the vassal status of the mughals of Delhi. Shivaji had fought for and achieved the Hindavi Swaraj where women and the downtrodden were given justice by the State that he established. Indeed, an ignorant foreigner who played with the national honour of the Indian people should be hauled up in the People’s Court and be dealt with as per the law of the land.
Let it be known to one and all that Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is a national icon and shall continue to be so. He is the king of kings and lives with honour in the hearts and minds of people of India.
 | Previous Post |
| Next Post |  |
This comment has been removed by the moderator
Respect for Freedom of Expression demands that we should be ready to listen to unappetizing and unsavory analysis of those who do not agree with us. People who advocate fulsome support to the writers who insult the religious icons have no right to criticize James Laine. My views may be at variance from James but, perhaps, the court has made its decision wise foundation. Expectations of Perfection in political Icons is a wishful thinking and when it is hurt it should be taken as a personal matter.
Chhatrapati Shivaji was a great king who fought for his people's faith, the Hindu Dharm and honour of women. He encouraged the Hindu sanskriti. As a self made king he knew the hardships of common man and always made efforts to ameliorate them. We Indians admire his courage and ability to take on cruel generals like Afzal Khan and kill him.
Writer James Laine knew nothing about the history of Shivaji's fight for establishing a Hindu kingdom in the teeth of opposition from the Mughals. I condemn James Laine and the Oxford University Press for writing and publishing a fictitious book that is an insult to the dignity of our Indian nation.
Login
 Login through Social ID
|
Not finding what you are looking for? Search here.
