Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Indian Idol

I indslaget nedenunder skriver Karen om hvordan vi forleden nat blev brat vækket af højstemte nepalesere der fejrede Prashants sejr i ’Indian Idol’ konkurrencen. Det er et TV-show skåret efter sammen formel som det meget populære ’American Idol’, og på den måde i famile med ’popstars’, ’stjerne for en aften’ osv. Det særlige ved Prashant er at han er af delvist nepalesisk oprindelse. Han kommer fra Darjeeling provinsen i Indien, der foruden omfattende te-produktion, også har et temmeligt omfattende nepalesisk-talende community. Det har der været i mange år, og kendere af indisk historie, kan måske huske at nepaleserne i Darjeeling greb til våben for at prøve at løsrive sig fra det forenede Indien i forbindelse med Indiens noget omtumlede selvstændighedsproces for godt 50 år siden.

Nepalesere har generelt et meget udtalt mindreværdskompleks i forhold til Indien, og derfor udviklede Prashants sejr sig til en decideret folkefest, og blev udlagt som en sejr for Nepalesisk kultur over Indien. Prashant har såmænd allerede også været i audiens hos premierministeren, og det til trods for at hverken Prashant eller hans forældre nogensinde har boet i Nepal og det er immervæk stadigvæk et fjollet TV-show vi taler om. Der er heller ikke nogen tvivl om at Prashants sejr i høj grad skyldes nepalesisk indflydelse. I ugen op til det afgørende finaleshow var der således pengeindsamlinger flere steder i landet for at skaffe penge nok til at nogle nepalesere kunne køre ned til den indiske grænse og sende en hulens masse sms’er. Afgørelsen blev nemlig truffet via SMS afstemning. Alt i alt blev der afgivet over 70 millioner sms-stemmer i alt!

Da vi blev vækket forleden nat troede vi jo først at det var voldelige uroligheder der var brudt løs, og blev efterfølgende meget glade da vi forstod sagens rette sammenhæng. Men det skulle siden vise sig at vi havde været lidt for hurtigt ude...

Det nedenstående er et nyhedsklip fra www.nepalnews.com.np, som er det vel nok mest troværdige engelsksprogede nyhedssite i Nepal. Det viser vel egentlig bare, at i denne del af verden kan der gå vold i selv de mest åndssvage ting.

Celebrations over Prashant winning ‘Indian Idol’ turns sour in Darjeeling as RJ's comment sparks mass outrage

As newly crowned ‘Indian idol’ Prashant Tamang is bracing up to enthrall thousands of his fans in Kathmandu today, the Darjeeling hills, from where he comes from, are afire with mass protest sparked off by a derogatory remark about ‘Gorkhas’ by a radio jockey of a Delhi based FM radio station.

General strikes have been called in several places like Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Sukna in the past three days in protest of the RJ describing Prashant as “Chowkidar se Indian Idol” (from watchman to Indian Idol).

Radio DJ Jonathan Brady’s, who is popularly known as Nitin, commented in a live broadcast on Red FM some days ago that “shopkeepers will now have to make their own security arrangements as Gorkhas have taken to singing.”

The Gorkha community (Indians of Nepalese origin) has reacted strongly to the remark by the RJ, protesting the stereotyping as racist and insulting.

This mass outrage led to violent clashes between mostly Nepali speaking fans of Prashant and non-Nepalese locals in Siliguri in West Bengal on Thursday in which more than a hundred people were injured, eight of them seriously, as police had to resort to baton charging and firing several rounds of tear gas to quell the angry mobs.

The clash started near Siliguri hospital when the silent procession Prashant’s fans had taken out after submitting a deputation to the Siliguri SDO on the derogatory remarks made by the RJ reportedly blocked the way of an ambulance entering the hospital with a patient. There was a quarrel and the protesters allegedly beat up those accompanying the patient. Bystanders and shopkeepers then sided with those in the ambulance and beat up some of the protestors. Then the situation went out of hand as Nepalese and Bengalis started attacking each other. The mob torched one government vehicle, ransacked shops, damaged rickshaws and cycles and set a car on fire, according to reports.

In the process at least 12 people including a few policemen were badly injured. The place resembled a battlefield and the army had to be called in to control the situation.

Meanwhile, a Gorkha delegation moved Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi and West Bengal Chief Minister Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, demanding stern action against the radio channel.

The West Bengal government has promised that legal action would be taken against the FM channel and the radio jockey for the damaging remark.

“We are taking measures to take action against the concerned FM channel,” West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was quoted as saying by a local paper.

nepalnews.com ag Sep29 07

2 Comments:

At 3:27 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Fantastisk indlæg. Virkeligt sjovt!

 
At 5:26 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Kære Birthe & Co.

En hilsen fra lab. og du ser jo ud til at nyde det.

Knus fra alle "labber".

 

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