Lokmat Office Attack: A Classic Example Of Misinterpretation!

Amid all the talk of tolerance and intolerance going on among people and making headlines in the media, this comes as a classic example of misinterpretation. As I was checking out the morning headlines yesterday, this news caught my attention and I was unable to decide whether I should be furious and condemn it or simply laugh it out. Lokmat, one of the leading and widely circulated daily in Maharashtra witnessed attacks on its offices at several places two days ago after it published a cartoon in one of its news stories on Sunday.

Initially, when I went through the news, I couldn’t make out what the exact issue was and what made people go so furious as to attack the daily’s offices at several places. After reading about 4-5 news reports of the same news published in different dailies and websites did I come to know that the newspaper had published the cartoon of a swine in one of its news stories that was named ‘ISIS cha Paisa’ which translates to ISIS money. The Islamic State has been making a lot of headlines in the international media these days due to its growing power and atrocities and also due to the recent attacks in Paris of which it claims responsibility. The cartoon published by Lokmat depicted currencies of several countries falling into the piggy bank that had the name of Prophet Mohammad written on it just like the ISIS flag.

Protestors, as reported by news channels, attacked several Lokmat offices across Maharashtra and also burnt the Sunday copies of the daily to demonstrate their anger. People also resorted to social media to condemn the newspaper and express their views. The cartoon, they said, was derogatory as the swine is considered haraam (inauspicious) in Islam. The Muslims argued that the cartoon had hurt their sentiments by showing a pig and establishing its connection with Islam and ISIS.

When I saw this news, honestly, it made me laugh. It also made me think whether people actually have any work in life rather than misinterpreting every single thing that crops up in the media and then demonstrating their anger through violent protests. Okay, let’s just imagine that the cartoon hurt the sentiments of Muslims. But, they could have simply written to the editor mentioning it and Lokmat would have apologized if they had made a mistake anyway. In my personal view, I don’t think Lokmat has made any mistake, although the daily has already apologized for it.

Ever since childhood, we all are aware of piggy banks and most of us have also used them to store money that our parents and relatives gave us occasionally. In fact, a piggy bank has always been a commonly used symbol globally that depicts savings, money and finances in general. The graphic designer who made the cartoon, of course, did not have any intention of hurting people according to me. The cartoon was a simple and clear illustration of how ISIS gets its money through various sources across the world for its terrorist activities. Thus, the currencies depicted belonged to different countries and were falling in a single piggy bank that was shown to belong to ISIS. Therefore, the script or the name of Prophet Mohammad on it, just like it features on the ISIS flag!

Why do people always have to misunderstand and misinterpret things and then resort to protesting in a violent way? Aren’t there better things to think about in life or grave problems in our country to deal with? Chennai is battling the worst flood in 100 years, flights have been canceled and thousands are stranded, the entire city is under water! Isn’t this an issue more serious than a cartoon published by a daily? People have time to gather and protest, to burn newspapers and attack offices, but how many of them actually thought of helping people in Chennai? Why don’t people come out together to offer help to others rather than causing violence in the society?

It is high time each and every one of us thinks about this and acts in a sane way. Humanity, after all, is greater than any religion in the world!

Amir Khan Isn't Anti-National... He Is Being Portrayed As One!

Lately, the internet has been going viral with posts about the Amir Khan controversy. Amir Khan, one of the most popular and adored actors of the B-Town has been receiving enormous opposition from the people for comments he did not make! People have literally resorted to calling him a traitor and bashing him online for calling India intolerant and unsafe. My question here is, why is Amir Khan being criticized for a statement that he did not make in the first place? And why are people responding to a statement made by Kiran Rao?

Okay, so I feel everyone has got the freedom of expression in our country that is conferred upon every citizen alike by the Constitution. So, as far as it does not cause loss to anybody, we, the citizens of India, can express ourselves freely and convey our opinions and views in public, just like I am writing this post to express my views on the controversy. Kiran Rao simply made a statement that she feels unsafe in India due to the growing violence and religious discrimination among people. She feels it will cause a bad impact on her children’s mind if such an atmosphere prevails in the country. What’s wrong with that?

As soon as the media reported this issue, trolls and posts started making a buzz on social media and Whatsapp. I have even received posts that suggest Amir Khan to leave India and shift to Pakistan, Afghanistan or Syria if he thinks India is intolerant. Personally, I feel India doesn’t need to be compared with these nations in any way. Of course, the situation is much better in India than these countries when it comes to violence and killing of innocents. Kiran Rao never said that these nations are better than India. She only said she wishes to shift in another country where she and her family could lead safe and sound lives, where her children would be raised in a peaceful environment and grow up to be non-violent, responsible citizens. Do you know there are so many such people in India, or mothers, in particular, who think of this in order to give their children a better life?

Every year, so many people from India move abroad for studies and job and settle there. Many of them, even after completing their education, do not return to India. In fact, following the reservation system in India and many other evils, we have lost so many genius brains to other countries who are now serving companies such as Apple, Google, etc. But nobody blames them or calls them traitors! Why? Even they had the same thoughts in their mind while they moved to these foreign countries to serve huge companies abroad, isn’t it? They did not see enough scope to grow and prosper in India which made them move out and serve other nations. Then why is such as big fuss created when Amir Khan’s wife mentioned about moving out of the country? Is it something new?

Other than the funny ones, Whatsapp and Facebook also witnessed posts stating that Col. Mahadik’s wife who recently had to bid farewell to her braveheart husband forever when he lost his life fighting the terrorists, wants both her sons to join the army and serve the nation. On the contrary, Kiran Rao wants to flee the nation because of her insecurity. Now, this is a case of perspective according to me. Not everyone is brave or has the guts to sacrifice their lives. In fact, most people who criticised Amir Khan and Kiran Rao for their statement themselves won’t be willing to lay their lives for the nation. Col. Mahadik was indeed a brave soldier and has a brave family. But that doesn’t mean someone who is not as brave must be criticised.

Another irrelevant thing that people did was to sort of boycott Snapdeal, uninstall its app from their phones, just because they have Amir Khan as their brand ambassador. Dear people, Amir Khan and Snapdeal are different entities altogether. None of them have any connection with each other’s personal views. So please start thinking rationally before you act!

And, by the way, those who declared Amir Khan a traitor by making an opinion based on posts on Whatsapp and social media, let me tell you that Amir Khan clearly said that the statement that his wife made was disastrous and big. He is clearly not happy with the statement that his wife made, nor does he plan to leave the nation. This is clearly a case on media hype because the media perhaps has no other important issues to report currently.

Please think rationally before you make any opinion!