Hindu extremists target Charlie Chaplin

Hindu nationalists in India are aiming at another target - Charlie Chaplin.

Mumbai, Mar 18: After high-profile protests against women in pubs and an anti-Valentine`s Day campaign, Hindu nationalists in India are taking aim at another target - the unlikely figure of Charlie Chaplin.

Members of a right-wing party in the southern state of Karnataka have opposed the erection of a 67-feet (20-metre) statue of the legendary comedian for a film shoot. They say it is disrespectful to put up the likeness of the British star near a temple in Udupi, 250 miles (400 kilometres) from Bangalore, arguing that Chaplin was a Christian and made no contribution to India. But the move has provoked a strong backlash from fans of Chaplin, who although born into the Church of England was thought to be agnostic for most of his life. Local Kannada-language filmmakers and cultural figures have also waded in, countering that the statue has nothing to do with religion and that banning it would set a precedent against artistic freedom. Appeals to the state government have been made and an online petition set up urging people to save Chaplin from "these great dictators" -- a reference to his 1940 satire on Nazi leader Adolf Hitler "The Great Dictator." "Let`s not communalise art and artists," wrote one of the 100-plus signatories, Radha M Nagraj. "Any attempt to Talibanise our land will not be tolerated." Another, called Subid, added that Chaplin was "beyond languages, borders and religions." Actor-director Hemant Hegde, who is behind the film, described the activists` opposition as a "rude shock" and said he feared intolerance of non-Hindus was on the increase. "Many literary, theatre and film personalities have been shocked over this incident," Hegde`s assistant, identified only as Nanda, was quoted as saying. "They want to mark their protests against such growing intolerant tendencies." India`s minister for women and child development, Renuka Chowduri, warned in February that Karnataka was in the grip of "Talibanisation," suggesting that some Hindu groups were behaving like Afghanistan`s hardline former rulers. In January, activists from the radical Sri Ram Sena (Lord Ram`s Army) attacked women in a fashionable Mangalore bar, accusing them of "debauched behaviour" for drinking and smoking. They followed up with a warning that any couples courting on Valentine`s Day risked being frog-marched to the nearest temple and forced to marry. Hundreds of women in cities across India -- concerned at curbs to their new-found freedoms -- responded by sending the Sri Ram Sena boxes of pink "chaddis" or underwear as a Valentine`s Day gift. The Chaplin row has prompted more than a dozen people to offer private land to erect the statue, according to reports. But local lawmaker K Lakshminarayana, from the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was unrepentant. "If the locals are against such a statue, I am also against it," he said. IANS