As a nation, we are too much in awe of bans. Now we see the sword of Dasmunsi’s cinematic abilities looming over the much awaited The Da Vinci Code.
Dasmunsi’s sword, assisted by unsubstantiated fears of insecure fringe groups who proclaim themselves as the only representatives of believers around the globe, is now taking the form of a double-edged sword. It can cut both ways.
It can cut the joys of movie buffs into size. It can also smoothen the ruffled feathers of the only children of the Almighty, who have zero tolerance towards conflicting ideas, challenging notions and all and sundry which they see as a threat to the holy cocoon in which they live.
So when Catholics across the world will view Tom Hanks crack the Da Vinci Code, a motley group of self-proclaimed believers in the land of tolerance will rejoice. Their moment of truth comes from the ease with which a spineless Union Government bowed to their dictates to see a conspiracy angle in a movie.
So what if The Da Vinci Code is blasphemous itself? Will its screening crumble the mighty religion? If that is the case, then our clergy and its cohorts on the streets should rather ponder on how to resuscitate a crumbling kingdom of heaven from the tsunami of onslaughts it is set to face.
This farce of blasphemous indignation has been enacted across the world for so much time, whether it is Hussain’s nude paintings or Prophet cartoons or the Da Vinci Code row itself.
The common element in all these "heavens may fall" protests is the religious Right. And the hapless Dasmunsis who seek every reason to pamper any thing remotely connected to the most sought after endangered commodity in the country: Religious sentiment.
So we go on banning cow slaughter, religious conversions, text books, movies and books, while we bombard search engines with a wish list of all things which we ban. This is what the nation's founding fathers visualised as unity in diversity. Amen
