tiolism, surgical strikes up for debate at Kumaon lit fest

Jim Corbett Park (Uttarakhand), Oct 12: tiolism, especially in the context of the Indian Army’s surgical strikes on terrorist launching pads in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, came up for debate on the second day of the Kumaon Literature Festival (KLF) here on Wednesday. “The debate is pertinent as after the surgical strikes (September 28), this (tiolism and patriotism) has become a divisiory point to talk on social media and primetime debates,” said jourlist-cum-author Ra Ayyub. The strikes have become a yardstick to measure one’s patriotism, she added.

Ayyub, the author of “Gujarat Files: Atomy of a Cover Up” on the 2002 Gujarat commul riots and their aftermath, clarified that she was not against the surgical strikes, but that “if somebody questions Prime Minister rendra Modi on the surgical strike, he or she is not a patriot enough and is anti-tiolist”. Another jourlist-cum-author, Hindol Sengupta, objected to the opposition’s demand that the government tender proof of the strikes.

“Asking for the evidence of surgical strike is the most moronic thing ever,” he said. On the issue of banning Pakistani artistes from the country, Sengupta was supportive of it. He cited the example of Africa during the apartheid era, when that country’s cricket and Olympic teams were barred from playing intertiolly, especially by their neighbouring countries and then by the Western tions so as to pressurise the white African regime to renege on white supremacy and yield to multi-racialism.

“It is the only legitimate way to pressurise the citizens so that they are forced to question their government as a result of being ostracised by the world,” he said. While participants agreed that tiolism is a concept with different interpretations, jourlist and former Rajya Sabha member Shahid Siddiqui said that it has been used politically by various groups.

“Problem is not with Islam, or Hinduism or any other religion, the problem lies with extremism in any form,” he said, stressing that when tiolism takes an extreme form, its proponents use it to force other people to agree to their own view and then it becomes dangerous. (IANS)