Political
Diary
New Delhi, 17 November 2020
Growing
Intolerance
HONEY,
WE ARE TOUCHY!
By Poonam I Kaushish
“Placing
individual ideologies before national good is wrong,” asserted Prime Minister
Modi last week. He is dead one. “National interest takes precedence over one’s ideology”,
he added. Unquestioningly. Equally, democracy is a conflict of interests
masquerading as a contest of principles. An adage which nails our leaders angst
when it comes to their reactions on ‘anti--national’ speeches depending on
which side of the liberal-bigoted divide they are. Leaving one wondering why we are so touchy!
Think, over the last
two months alone over six cases have been filed under Section 124A of the
Indian Penal Code (IPC) nee sedition. A Kerala
journalist was accused of sedition and
arrested on the way to UP’S Hathras to report gangrape of a Dalit teen
on the fallacious ground of being part of an
‘international’ conspiracy to defame the
Yogi Government.
Ditto
in Gujarat whereby the CID nailed a journalist for
writing an article suggesting Chief Minister Rupani might be replaced over his
failure to handle the pandemic in the State. He was let-off after tendering an
unconditional apology. The Jharkhand Government slapped a sedition case against
State BJP Chief and Rajya Sabha MP Deepak Prakash for trying to destabilise the
JMM-Congress regime by tweeting they would form the Government.
The Delhi Police booked ex-JNU Muslim
scholar Umar Khalid and other Left-wing activists for “meticulously planning”
the February riots to disrupt US President Donald Trump’s State visit and bring
a bad name to the BJP Sarkar on the
bases of books on riots, some pamphlets and a few WhatsApp chats. Sic.
Earlier,
seven sedition cases were filed notably, against Left-wing and Muslim activists
for rising slogans against CAA-NRC “Pakistan Zindabad…We have to take Azadi
by force. Remember, 15 crore hain lekin
100 crore pe bhari hain" … we have to cut Assam off India. Alongside
insulting posts against Modi “he licked the boots of the British” and “believes
in Goebbels.”
The Manipur Police arrested a well-known political activist
Erendro for his Facebook comment showing erstwhile king and newly-elected Rajya
Sabha MP Sanajaoba Leishemba bowing and greeting Amit Shah accompanied by a
comment minai macha meaning ‘son of a servant’. Another against urban
Naxal activists, scholars and artists in the Bhima Koregaon case for plotting
to assassinate Modi.
Certainly,
one can argue the speeches and actions were in bad taste, but in no way do they
warrant arrest under sedition. The law is explicit: Any signs, visible
representations, or words, spoken or written, that can cause “hatred or
contempt, or excite or attempt to excite disaffection” towards the Government.
It is only slapped in cases of a severe, intense, desperate crime where one
takes up arms to threaten the legitimacy of a regime.
Questionably, how
does criticizing the Government or a belief be considered anti-national or tantamount
to spreading “hatred”? By doing so does it not make a mockery of the concept of
a “nation” built on the values of democracy? Are we so paranoid or intolerant
that any outpouring is viewed as a threat to the nation, the Constitution or
the Government? Is the polity afraid of a clash of ideas in our public life?
Should this become litmus of one’s patriotism?’
Is the Government,
Centre or State crushing free expression, suppressing dissent? Have we lost the
ability to accept criticism? Bordering on a narcissist phobia? Is it mere
coincidence or a sign of an increasingly knee-jerk, reactionary country where
one is forced to go public about a frown, removal from job or punishment?
Obversely, does
criticism of Government or leader connotate putting a person behind bars? Is
this the Government’s way of teaching us a lesson in rashtra prem and desh bhakti?
Do we want to produce robots who only act at the command of what their leaders
and chela thinkers, benefactors and
wealth creators’ desire?
Shockingly, the National Crime Records
Bureau shows a 165% jump in sedition cases filed last year, 93 against 70 cases in
2018, 47 in 2017 and 35 in 2016. In 2019, 1,226 cases were filed under the Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act a 33% increase from 2016. Which underscores the ugly side of power out of control!
Worse, some States like Assam and Jharkhand are emerging as sedition
hotspots with 37 sedition cases each, accounting for 32% of all sedition cases
between 2014-2018. Yet when it comes to conviction, the rate is abysmally low.
Last year 10% cases were closed primarily, because of insufficient evidence or
because the accused was untraceable. Chargesheets were filed in only 17% cases and
the conviction rate was a mere 3.3%, only four of 43 cases where trial was completed
in five years.
In fact, the NIA is struggling to find evidence
against those currently under arrest.
However, a low
conviction rate of sedition offences is no reason to rejoice given the
frequency of arbitrary arrests and pre-trial detentions. For even if a person is
acquitted, the process itself is a punishment as he invariably spends long
periods in prison and is lynched on social
media. Moreover, judges are reluctant to give bail unless they have
“reasonable grounds to believe” that the accused is not guilty.
Clearly, the speed
with which our tolerance is falling to fragile levels is scary. Said former
Supreme Court judge Madan Lokur, “The State is
using sedition as an iron hand to curb free speech in an overreaction to
people's opinion. Suddenly you have a lot of cases
charging people with sedition. A common citizen who says something is charged.
Already 70 cases of sedition have been seen this year. Another method by
which the State is curbing free speech is to crack down on critical opinions by
charging them of spreading fake news.”
What next? In a mammoth one billion plus country there would be a
billion views and one cannot curtail people’s fundamental rights. So do we pander to rabble
rousers or muzzle their voices. Notably, no licence should be given to anyone
to spread hatred or the perilous implications of their insidious out-pourings. They
need to realise a nation is primarily a fusion of minds and hearts and
secondarily a geographical entity.
Alongside, our netas need to see how leaders world-wide
are more tolerant about what’s written or depicted about them. Two classic
examples of political freedom are US President Trump who is mercilessly
satirized globally and former Italian millionaire-playboy-PM Berlusconi. In UK and
France people take a lot of liberties vis-à-vis
their rulers.
Remember, democracy is not just a system of
Government, it is a way in which evolved and civilised societies organise
themselves; within which people live and interact with one another; based on
the values of liberty, equality and fraternity. And criticism is a sign of a
thriving and robust democracy. At the same time we need to desist from acerbic
and speeches which spew hatred and narrow-mindedness.
At some point we need to realize that coercion
has a thousand fathers, while liberty is an orphan. As George Orwell said, if
liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do
not want to hear. The message has to go out clearly that no person, group or
organization can threaten hatred or violence, and if they do, they lose their
democratic right to be heard. India could do without netas who distorts politics and in turn destroys democracy and
laughter. ----- INFA.
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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