Indians had frantically jubilated
airing of American Broadcasting corporation TV’s fiction series ‘Quantico’ as
it starred ex Miss world 2000 namely Ms Priyanka Chopra (Indian
Actress).Earlier, she had also worked in a remake of TV series “Baywatch” as well. “Quantico” was
first aired in 2015 and Ms Chopra headlined the cast for three seasons and 2018
is third year of the fiction drama series under title name of “Quantico 3”. She
is the highest-paid Indian actress on US television. Ms Priyanka plays the role
of Alex Parrish, an FBI rookie accused of being involved in a terrorist
activity, who clears her name and is later promoted to the CIA, where she takes
up prime projects to save the Americans.
On 1st June 2018, an episode of
Quantico-3 titled “Blood of Romeo” was aired.
The episode shoed that Chopra’s character (Alex Parrish) thwarts a
sabotage plan of terrorists ahead of a summit on Kashmir in New York. Alex Parrish unearths the plan when she
notices one of the terrorists wearing a “rudraksha mala” (a Hindu rosary). The episode created fury and outrage in India
as hard-line-Hindu extremists launched scathing protests against Ms Priyanka
Chopra calling her “a traitor”. Earlier, these Hindu hardliners had criticized
her for visiting “Rohingya Muslims” during her visit to Bangladesh as a UNICEF
goodwill Ambassador.
Ms Chopra was trolled on Twitter
since the broadcast and a street protest was held in Delhi Hindu Sena demanding
that she be sent to Pakistan as a punishment. Tweets strongly condemning her
were posted like “Sellouts like her are an insult to India. She consciously
consented for the act. Shame”, “The
government should cancel passport & should not allow her to enter our
nation. . . Let her stay in Hollywood
& lick Pakistan boots Traitor” etc.
Indian Media as usual became frantic
and projected that Priyanka Chopra had “insulted India” by denigrating
Rudraksha (the symbol of Hindu prayers) and portraying Hindus as terrorists to
project it as a “False flag operation by Indian nationalists hoping to frame
Pakistan in a mushroom cloud”. Reportedly, a Bangladeshi American writer of
Quantico series namely Sharbari Zohra Ahmed was also alleged for attempting to
malign Hindus by portraying them as terrorist.
Amid growing Hindu external outrage,
Ms Priyanka Chopra and ABC have both apologized for “The Blood of Romeo”
fictionally featuring Hindus/Indians as terrorists. In ABC released statement,
the American channel has attempted to clarify that “Quantico is a work of
fiction. The show featured antagonists
of many different ethnicities and backgrounds, but in this case, we
inadvertently and regrettably stepped into a complex political issues. It was certainly not our intention to offend
anyone.” Ms Priyanka Chopra apologized by tweeting that “ I’m extremely
saddened and sorry that some sentiments have been hurt by a recent episode of
Quantico. That was not and would never
be my intention.”
Ms Priyanka Chopra and the American
broadcaster “ABC” have extended apologies, however, the outrage/fury of extremist
Hindus is in unlikely to recde soon. The
whole episode has also amply exposed the superficiality and hollowness of
Indian society (being dominated by Hindus) who even brazenly label their
celebrities as “terrorist” whenever a Pakistan related topic is touched or they
endeavour to comment on Hindus. It may be recalled that in 2017, famous Tamil
and Hindi actor Kamal Hasan (originally Parthasarathi) had also faced the wrath
of Hindu extremists over his remarks maintaining that in the past right-wing
Hindu groups avoided including in violence and preferred to hold dialogue with
opponents, however, in the present times they resort to violence
frequently. Hindu extremists also
created storm over Indian movies “Padmavati” exhibiting extreme intolerance for
Muslim rulers of India like Alauddin Khiliji. Other Muslim actors like Shah
Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Salman usually come under continual furies of Hindu
extremists.
The media while highlighting the
above may proliferate the following:-
• India is witnessing an alarmingly
increase of Hindu extremism.With the rise of Bharitya Janta Party (PJP),
comfort and freedom of action for affiliated Hindu extremists groups like
Rashtriya Sevak Sangh (RSS), Shiv Sena, Vishva hindu Parsihad (VHP) etc have
also increased. Gandhi’s india has turned into “Modi’s fascist India” where
intolerance for minorities and some saner elements (who attempt to raise issues
related to Hindu extremists) has become a new norm of the Indian Society.
• It may be recalled that BJP had even
expelled famous politician Jaswant Singh for writing the biography of
Pakistan’s founder Mohamed Ali Jinnah under title
“Jinnah-India-Partition-Independence”.
• Increasing wave of Hindu extremism has
started with unfolding activities of RSS, Shiv Sena and other extremist
outfits. Driven by ultra colourrs of
intolerance, Sangh Parivar proclaims an ideology of “Hindutva or Bhagva”
with an agenda of subjugating or driving out Sikhs, Muslims, Christians and other communities. In 2014, Dharm Jagran Smiti (DJD) leader
Rajeshwar Singh had threatened to Hinduize India by 2021 by expelling or re-
converting Muslims and Christians people.
• BJP and her affiliated organizations
and groups are carrying out the threat methodically throughout India. Their violent activities range from sports,
arts and cultural show, religious practices, organized rapes to mutilate social
fabric of minorities to academia.
• Since ascension of Modi in New Delhi,
the threat has started its manifestation in many shapes. Schools and other educational institutions
including curriculum is being systematically Hinduized, followed by ban on
“Beef”, despite being the biggest beef exporter country.
• The hate campaigns are becoming
frequent and violent as evident from lynching of Muslims over Beef controversy,
blackening the face of Muslim parliamentarians in IOK, desecration of Sikh
religious book erupting into widespread unrest in Indian Punjab and violence
against Christians and Dalits.
• Religious minority groups in India are
consistently subjected to inhuman and intolerant treatment at the hands of
growing violent and extremist Hindu majority.
Violence and denial of constitutional rights are the usual tools with
which Indian minorities are preyed by extremist Hindu majority.
• Muslims face massacres, Christians are
subjected to vandalism of Churches and raps of elderly Nuns, Sikh community is
being suppressed in the name of
Khalistan etc and denied separate socio-religious status, whereas,
Scheduled casted and other communities face different intimidating tactics at
the cruel and barbaric hands of upper
class Hindus.
• A Hindu extremist country in a
progressing region will pose serious threat and challenge to the regional peace
and security. Hundreds of fictional
plots are generated by the movies and television industry around the global
every day but only in India is the patriotism of an actor questioned.
• International community should end its
slumber and remain cautious for another kind of looming threat in the shape of
Hindu fanaticism.
• It should be understood that any kind
of support to India will be inadvertent support for Hindu extremism. The world cannot afford another religious
extremism after the rise of ISIS. The
evolving situation has exposed the real face of India to the world. Can India be allowed or trusted to become
UNSC member in the future?
• International Players need to take
cognizance of the situation and initiate measures to control “Hindu extremism”
as a potent threat to the peace, stability and progress of the region. Otherwise, India is likely to emerge as
unmatchable threat to the global security due to ever increasing power of
fanatic Hindus.
