Daily Times

The birth of children is a happy occasion in any family. So, it was not surprising that Saif Ali Khan Pataudi and his wife Kareena Kapoor celebrated the birth of their son with aplomb on 20th December 2016.

However, once Saif, who is a history buff, decided to name his son after Timur, all hell broke loose. Twitterati slammed the actor for his audacity to name his child after a barbarian, who was responsible for the destruction of Delhi and the killing of thousands of people, mainly Hindus, at the time of unseating the Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq of the Delhi Sultanate. The attack on Saif in the social media is a reflection of our feelings, attitudes and the decadent values.

It may be recalled that although Timur-e-Lang (Timur the lame) is known to the world as a barbarian, but a little known fact about him is that was a military strategist and a tactician. Besides, he was also proficient in three languages — Persian, Mongolian and Turkic.

If the contention is that we should not name our children after a barbarian, who was accused of massacring over 10,000 Hindus, then what about the great Asoka and Shivaji, who were equally responsible for killing hundreds of people during the war. There is historical evidence of Marathas of having killed thousands of Bengalis and Gujarati’s, during their conquest of Bengal and Gujarat. Ashok was also accused of killing thousands of soldiers during the Kalinga battle, whose brutality led to a change of heart, and the subsequent embracing of Buddhism. People in India continue to name their children after Shivaji and Asoka. They why a double standard when it comes to naming a child of a Muslim invader? It is also equally possible that Saif would have named his child as an iron man, as Timur means ‘iron’ in Persian.

However, at the heart of this particular issue, is our unbridled right to name our child after any historical personality. It does not matter whether we name them Timur, Ghengez or Gabbar, as long the upbringing of the child is based on sound values.

Saif was also was trolled in the social media when he married Kareena, whose father was a Hindu and the mother a devout Christian. People branded the marriage as ‘love Jihad” and a ploy by the Muslims to lure and marry Hindu girls with the sole aim of converting them to Islam. Incidentally, his parents also had a successful interfaith marriage.

We are seeing an increased trend of intolerance when people of a particular faith marry a person from another faith or for that matter when they marry people from other nationalities. When Sania Mirza, a sports icon, who has brought laurels to India in tennis, married Shoaib Malik, a famous Pakistani cricketer, she was questioned about her patriotism. For months, she was trolled in social media questioning her choice of marrying a Pakistani national. In fact, she once broke down on a national channel when a local leader called her as “Pak daughter-in-law.” Each time she wins a major tournament, she is forced to prove her patriotism.

If the right wing fundamentalists are criticized for their intolerance, what about the Muslim fundamentalists? Recently, the Muslim clerics took strong objection to Md. Shami, an Indian cricketer, for posting a family photograph, where his wife is shown wearing a gown. The clerics got offended with the photograph and accused Shami’s wife of not following the dress code for Muslims. Similarly, another cricketer Mohammad Kaif was attacked for doing Surya Namaskar (salutation to the sun), which is part of Yoga asanas.

India has always prided itself in providing a safe haven to all those who were facing religious persecution in their countries. Parses, Jews and people of other religious denomination, preferred to settle in India, as they found it a safe and secure place. Such attacks will only endanger our rich cultural and religious diversity, which has stood the test of time.

So, the question is why there is an increase in intolerance between people professing different faiths? We don’t have to go long for searching for an answer. By and large, our politicians have been largely responsible for driving a wedge between the communities with their irresponsible utterances. These politicians indulge in jingoism mainly as part of their vote bank politics and to pander to the minorities. These politicians have failed to realize them by their irresponsible behaviour they have only managed unwittingly managed to create differences between communities. So, every time a Muslim boy marries a Hindu girl, we become insecure, as we feel that it is part of a larger plan to convert people to Islam. In fact, such marriages will go a long way in integrating people in the society.

Saif, who was aware of such marriages being branded as part of “love Jihad,” had married Kareena under the Special Marriages Act. He did not force Kareena to embrace Islam. Shah Rukh and Amir are other shining examples. In the case of Salman, whose mother is a Hindu, he celebrates Ganesh Puja every year along with his family. Many Muslim clerics had objected to his installing Ganash idol in his house, and one cleric had also issued a fatwa against installing the idol at their home. His father Salem Khan, a famous Hindi script writer of yesteryears, said that he and his family would not be intimidated with such fatwa’s and that they would carry on with the tradition. Can anyone of us boast of being more secular than these people?

The time has come when we should show tolerance and magnanimity towards other religions, especially when it comes to interfaith marriages. The United States is a prime example of it where the interfaith marriages have only helped integrate people from various nationalities to the society. As for Saif and Kareena, it is their personal choice of what they would like to name their child. Who are we to question it? How does it matter if we name our children after Taimur, Ghengez or Gabbar or Sikandar, as the bard beautifully put it in Romeo and Juliet said “ What is in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

The writer is an Independent Columnist and Political Commentator