In the Time of the Assassins
It cannot be said that the activists dedicated to turning countries like Bangladesh into Islamic theocracies kept their intent a secret. In the latest incarnation of the Wahhabi-inspired mission, not too long ago ISL (Islamic State of the Levant) announced appointment of their leadership for the Indian subcontinent, including Bangladesh. What is a bit surprising how fast they have progressed and how expertly they have manipulated even the top leaders of the country and seduced the civil society in facilitating implementation of key stages in their goal to make it a part of the caliphate. The agents of extremism have become adroit in exploiting existing vulnerabilities and creating pressures; they are prepared to strike whenever an opportunity presents itself. The insistence by the Prime Minister that there is no ISL in her zamindary was truly pathetic: about the same time an US agency, tracking extremists around the world was downloading from an ISL outlet on the net pictures of the jihadists they were proudly displaying, announcing their arrived at the gate of heaven from that restaurant in Dhaka after butchering their victims like animals to be butchered at the festival after Ramadan. Prime Minister's bragging must have drawn a big laugh at the ISL's head-tent: what could be a better target than one that does not seem to have any connection with reality, and also one of the sickest to boot?
Of salaam-alaikum,nomoshkar, and the veil
It is also fully within her right not to use Nomoshkar, and use only salam-alaikum while addressing her television audience. The constitution of the country guarantees such rights as a matter of personal choice.
Now let us remove the assumption we started with and come back to the real world where some 90 percent of the population is Muslim. The non-Muslim 10 percent is fairly well represented as TV newscasters just as the Muslims were in the previous scenario. The difference is that they now say salam-alaikum, instead of Nomoshkar, although they never use that quintessentially Muslim greeting outside their TV studio, just as their Muslim colleagues never say Nomoshkar outside theirs. To see them say salam-alaikum to introduce the news is truly odd. It is strange that no voice is ever heard about the oddity.
In parallel with the scenario described earlier, the Hindu broadcaster is within her right as a member of society not to say salam-alaikum, but begin her news broadcast with a greeting which is genuinely her own, a Nomoshkar of humility and grace. That too is a matter of personal freedom guaranteed by the constitution of the country.
If you accept the above argument, then television channels of the country have been practising something grossly unfair and which is at odds with the principles of secularism and pluralism on which the country was founded. They need to allow their non-Muslim broadcasters to say Nomoshkar to their audience, while their Muslim colleagues continue to say salam-alaikum.
Still on the matter of television news broadcasting: Among the half-a dozen television channels that I am connected to, I see on one particular channel non-Muslim telecasters wearing a light veil to partly cover their heads, Muslim-style, during Ramadan. None of the telecasters, Muslim or Hindu, at the other channels wear any veil. One wonders why this particular channel requires their newscasters, Muslim or Hindu, to cover their heads. This, again, is a clear infringement of the freedom of personal choice, as Hindu women are not required by their social custom to cover their heads. I am told the founder of the channel started his TV enterprise with the declared objective of propagating Islam. I think he should be pulled up and told that there are other ways of propagating his faith, ones that do not infringe upon personal freedom.