Today in Hindu-majority country of India, insult and mockery of Hindu Dharma, Hindu deities and Hindu customs is going on unabated through mediums like Web series, movies, Stand-up comedy, books, paintings, social media and so on. The most unfortunate aspect regarding this issue is that many namesake and ‘secular’ minded Hindus appreciate and support such type of Hinduphobia due to ignorance and lack of pride for Dharma, while most of the Hindus ignore these incidents.
The main reason behind this apathy of Hindus and unabated Hinduphobia is lack of Dharmashiksha to Hindus and lack of unity among them. When any such insult to seats of faith of other religions happens, everyone from those communities unitedly protest against such incidents forcing concerned people or organisations to apologise or withdraw their products, content etc.
Let’s have a brief look on how various mediums indulge in spreading Hinduphobia
Web Series
With the availability of cheaper, faster and easier access to the World Wide Web (the internet), India has taken great strides in taking a large chunk of the population ‘online’. A whopping 67% of this online population is under the age of 40; 14% being below the age of 15. This entire population is exposed to a plethora of content – educational, inspirational, controversial, objectionable, even downright illegal; all this – often free and unrestricted. Of these, lately, OTT (over-the-top streaming platforms) or simply ‘streaming media’ have taken the country by storm.
From one service in 2008, India has seen a spurt of these streaming platforms over the last decade, to about 40 platforms worth about 3000 Crores today. This growth is simply due to ‘greater freedom in choosing content’ and ‘lack of any regulation’. This translates into greater inclusion of uncouth language, copious amount of nudity and violence. For example while ‘major’ streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime have aired shows that had nudity written into the script, there are other streaming platforms like Fliz which serve pornographic content without any accountability. Apart from this everything that is held sacred in India – family values, marital relations, societal wellbeing, cultural values, patriotism; are being systematically targeted and reduced to something of ridicule as was seen from the outrage against web series Sacred Games, Laila and Patal Lok. This is an alarming development as the youth of this nation will grow up with the idea that nothing that this nation has to offer is of any value.
Here are some examples :
1. Gandii Baat (available on ALT Balaji and ZEE5) : Features sexually explicit scenes and themes like incest and rape.
2. Game of Thrones (Netflix) : Extreme acts of violence and torture, viewers are subject to nudity, death and extreme acts of sexual nature. The show has a record count for number of characters murdered, with over 3500 murdered in the concluding season of the web series.
3. Sacred Games (Netflix) : Negative portrayal of Hinduism and Hindu culture; portrayal of the ancient Guru-Shishya relation as a homosexual relationship. Read More
4. Laila (Netflix) : Series showing Hinduism in negative light with almost Nazi-like portrayal of a future ‘Hindu’ government. Read More
5. Paatal Lok (Amazon Prime) : Derogatory references to Sikhs, Gorkhas and other communities. Defamatory portrayal of Hinduism. Read More
6. Code M (Amazon Prime) : This series shows the Indian Army in poor light. The Indian Army is shown to be indulging in nepotism, castism, corruption, murders and fake encounters targetting a particular community. Every episode maligns the whole institution of the Armed Forces.
7. XXX 2 (ALT Balaji) : Morally corrupt as the series is, this time around ALT Balaji has stooped to a new low. A new season of its show X.X.X Uncensored shows a Lieutenant Colonel’s wife seducing her civilian doctor (saying that the husband is only interested in his drinks and spending time with fellow officers), dressing him up in her husband’s uniform and then spanking him in a role-play (where she addresses the doctor as her husband). She rips open the uniform shirt too. Later it turns out that the woman is the doctor’s mother-in-law. The Armed forces represent the epitome of Sacrifice. The army men themselves wear their uniform with pride as it signifies their willingness to sacrifice a comfortable family life and even sacrifice themselves to protect the nation. Innumerable men and women have died protecting the dignity of the uniform. The uniform is not a prop to be used in sexual role play, ALT Balaji ! Read More
Stand-up Comedy
There has been a trend from last few years to mock and insult Hindu Dharma, Hindu deities, Hindu icons and Hindu practices by so-called comedians. Few of them subtly mock Hindus, while many of these people use very derogatory language to do this. Here are some of the examples :
Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj (Netflix) : A ‘comedy show’ which focuses on various issues, and has repeatedly shown India, her culture, her politics, her leaders in poor and often defamatory light. Read More
Comedian Sanjay Rajoura : A complaint has been filed against ‘Aisi taisi Democracy’ comedian Sanjay Rajoura for mocking Hindu gods and goddesses and hurting religious sentiments. A complaint was filed by Hindu activist and former Shiv Sena leader Ramesh Solanki with Mumba Police. Read more
Comedian Agrima Joshua : A massive controversy broke out after a snippet of a video of a stand-up ‘comedian’ Agrima Joshua insulting the memorial to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the Arabian sea went viral on social media platforms. As the groundswell of outrage snowballed, involving political parties such as Shiv Sena and MNS, who raised their grievance with the comedian’s patently disrespectful remarks, Agrima Joshua grudgingly apologised for hurting the sentiments of the followers of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and tweeted that her video has already been taken down from the Internet. Read More
Books
The medium of books has long been used to demean and insult Hindu Dharma. There are innumerable of books and published indulging in spreading Hinduphobia from last so many years. One such example is Vishv books.
The Delhi Press has attracted a lot of controversy over the years due to its editorial policies that have often taken a derogatory approach towards the Hindu religion. It is one of India’s largest publishing houses and its popular publications include The Caravan and Champak. One of its associate companies, Vishv Books, publishes textbooks for children along with books on various other issues.
Recently, a user on Twitter, who tweets under the username @kirron909, flagged off several titles Vishv Books had published that were off a markedly anti-Hinduism slant. Some of them were authored by Rakesh Nath, who is one of the inheritors of Delhi Press founded by Vishva Nath, and oversees the affairs of Vishv Books. Titles of the books include Dharmik Karmkand: Pando ka Chakravyuh and Dharm ka Shaap, which were authored by Rakesh Nath himself.
Paintings
Paintings is also one of the mediums used by Hinduphobic minds of so-called artists who insult Hindu deities and Dharma through their ‘Freedom of expression’ and so-called ‘Art’. Everyone knows about the anti-Hindu and anti-national painter M F Hussain. Today he is no more, but still his paintings depicting Hindu deities in nude are sold and bought by so-called Art enthusiasists.
