Dec 19: Arundhati Roy
Among the English media consuming classes in India, few people evoke extreme emotions as Arundhati Roy does. Her initial claim to fame was as a writer though she is more in the news for using her excellent prose in airing her socio-political views - which are controversial to say the least. Her essay on the Mumbai bombings and the 'open letter' in response are instructive reading in understanding this.
I think the majority opinion would categorize her views as significantly left of centre. I would tend to agree with this classification though I don't know if she does.
I think the facts are as follows. She is virulently anti-US. She appears to be against free-market capitalism and seems to favour state-led development. She has campaigned against large infrastructure projects such as dams. She has repeatedly try to establish a 'context' to acts of islamist radicalism and seems to suggest that the victims of such acts have to shoulder some of the blame for provoking such radicalism in the first place.
She definitely seems to passionately believe in whatever she articulates and does her homework well and is frequently on the ground getting her hands dirty. I respect her right to air her views and applaud Outlook for frequently publishing her articles - in itself an indication of the free press in India. But I cannot help thinking that there are significant flaws in her logic that are buried in elegant prose. While there are several rebuttals to her more famous views, I will restrict myself to an issue she has alluded to in other essays:
Why, Ms Roy, do you hate call centers in India? Why can you not see that a service industry that is manually intensive and requires relatively basic skill sets is just what India needs to absorb millions of graduates - most not employable right away. It doesn't change Hari's culture if he calls himself Harry and puts on an accent for a few hours of each day. He is learning valuable skills such as customer service, professionalism, working in a team etc. which only a job can give. And Hari doesn't look at a call center as a job for life. He will work 3-4 years at most and move on to higher studies or another job - both of which wouldn't have been possible without the first job.
If you fail to see this and stick to hopelessly ideological views (that call centers debase Indian culture or something like that) and don't show even an iota of pragmatism, it is difficult to see how you can support for other far more justified causes - such as protecting displaced villagers in a dam project. You can't expect us to take your views on weighty matters like Kashmir and 9/11 and 11/26 seriously when you can't convince on this very basic issue. And spending precious text in your article on the Mumbai bombings complaining about the '9/11' analogy only serves to accentuate this.
