Hitler Didi should remain

A Jewish group known as Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has objected to the title of a serial Hitler Didi on Zee TV. Some in India support them and say the channel should drop the title and find something else.

It seems there are two standards; one for Jews, one for others. When some people do something like books, cartoons, films, TV serials and paintings, that offends Christians, Hindus and Muslims these people speak freedom of speech and expression. They advocate tolerance and say freedom of speech and expression is meaningless if something that offends someone is excluded. When something offends Jews it must be banned. There is no discussion. There is no talk of freedom of speech and expression, tolerance and the right to offend.

When I first heard Mahmoud Ahmadinejad say in some European countries people can be put in jail for denying Holocaust I thought it was a joke. Later I came to know it was a fact and at least one author was jailed for his book on Holocaust. A journalist who covered White House since 1960 lost her accreditation because she said Jews in Israel and Palestine are outsiders and they should go back to where they came from like America, Russia, Poland and England.

In India somebody or the other finds something or the other offensive and there are many restrictions and Books, magazines, films and TV serials. If Indian film and TV serial makers have to change something because in a foreign country some people find something offensive then that is further restriction on creativity. If the Jews had their way The Passion of the Christ would not have been shown in theatres. There was one restaurant in Nagpur named after Hitler and the Jews put pressure on him to change the name. No self-styled liberal or votary of free speech came in his defence.

If Hitler was evil so were his enemies. What about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? What about incendiary bombs on Dresden? Winston Churchill and Harry Truman are not better than Adolf Hitler. More people died under Joseph Stalin than under Adolf Hitler. What about Israel’s evil towards Palestinians?

It is not for someone in America to dictate what should not be a TV serial title in India. What are the Jews doing today in Israel and Palestine? USA speaks of people’s rights in Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Libya, Bahrain and Yemen. It does not speak of the rights of Palestinians. It has threatened to veto UN membership for Palestine. When UNESCO admitted Palestine, USA, Canada and Israel cut off funding to UNESCO. They should be expelled from UNESCO.

Hitler may have been a fascist dictator and mass murderer but he was not the only one. There have been many like him before and after him. Hitler was a friend of India. He helped Subhash Chandra Bose fight the British. Rudolf Hess came to Britain with a message of peace and Churchill put him in jail. World War II weakened UK and facilitated India’s independence. For some Hitler may be a villain of incomparable evil but for some he is a hero. India has many admirers of Hitler.

Zee TV should ignore ADL and keep the title Hitler Didi.