Once again Lahore is getting ready to enter into its most festive, cultural and colorful month. February will kick off with the Muslim festival of Bari Eid, and then Lahore will celebrate Basant, Jashn-e-Baharan, Horse and Cattle show, and Mela Chiraghan. It seems however that Basant has suddenly over night become controversial for those in the city who are the self styled guardians of this country’s morality and ideology. That most of them or their forefathers were dead set against the creation of this country only half a century ago seems to matter little. Hordes of self proclaimed soldiers of Islam were recently seen burning kites in Lahore.
The past time of party pooping isn’t just restricted to our bearded clerics. Priests, Rabbis, holy men and witch doctors all suffer from the same ailment. What is special about Pakistan is that its holy men and witch doctors take it upon themselves to set the parameters of patriotism and national ideology. All of a sudden we are supposed to forget our culture, because in their estimate it is not Islamic. Every now and then we hear of protests by Jamaat-e-Islami and other self styled soldiers of Islam against the names of such national treasures as Diyal Singh College and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. Why? Why should we change the name of these institutions which have served Lahore well for many decades? Kudos to the administration of Ganga Ram Hospital for commissioning a life size painting of the great philanthropist who was the real force behind the hospital that has served millions from all over Punjab. Sir Ganga Ram (1851-1927) was a civil engineer and leading philanthropist of his times. Is honoring his achievement, however ‘infidel’ it maybe, so un-Islamic and threatening to the moral fiber of the nation? Pakistanis in general and Lahoris in particular have maintained some degree of magnanimity by acknowledging the achievement of the non-Muslim antecedents of the country and the city.
Two sikh heroes of Lahore and Pakistan continue to be forgotten by us. Bhagat Singh, the young independence hero and Marxist revolutionary, was tried and sentenced here in Lahore. Last year a number of movies on Bhagat Singh’s life were released across the border. As with our textbooks, Indian movies also have conveniently ignored the fact that by far the most eloquent defender of Bhagat Singh and his cause was Mohammed Ali Jinnah who had delivered his famous ‘The man who goes on hunger strike has a soul’ speech with a thunder inside the environs of the Legislative assembly of India. That is too inconvenient a fact for both sides to include in their narratives. After all Jinnah had delivered this speech when according to both sides he had already converted to the cause of Muslim separatism. Such is the simplistic nature of the mythology taught to kids on both sides of the border.
The second hero is Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Lahore and Punjab didn’t see a more able administrator. Under his reign this region flourished as a hub of cultural activity and trade. Like Tipu Sultan in Mysore, Ranjit Singh was a visionary who ruled his people fairly and impartially. At his death in 1837 at the age of fifty nine, he was the ruler of a large and prosperous state. He bestowed Punjab with an army that was capable of taking on the British thanks to his modernization. He was a great patron of arts and culture, and was hailed as the sher-e-Punjab. While some excesses might have committed, his rule was one of tolerance and respect of all creeds including Islam. Yet he is caricatured today as a one eyed Islam-hating monster. That some of his leading lieutenants were pathan muslims of solid Islamic values remains unexplained. Let us give credit where it is due. Maharaja Ranjit Singh was a hero of this city and province and we should be proud of him.
Let us not doubt the loyalty of Lahoris to Pakistan. Lahore is the fountainhead of the Pakistan Movement. It was here that the Lahore resolution was passed. Muslim men and women from this city were behind no one in the struggle for the national right of self determination. But I am sure their commitment to Pakistan had nothing to do with the bigotry that the latter day ideologues of the country try to pass as national ethos. Basant, cultural festivals and Hindu names are not prejudicial to Pakistan’s territorial and ‘ideological’ integrity, but I assure you bigotry and intolerance are. As Pakistanis we should not allow the intellectual discourse on Pakistani ‘ideology’ to be hijacked by intolerant fanatics who had nothing to do with the making of this nation-state. As Lahoris we should resist any attempts at changing the pluralistic liberal ethos of our city.
