Political
Diary
New Delhi, 16
February 2021
New Grammar of Sedition
IDEAS MORE
DANGEROUS THAN GUNS
By Poonam
I Kaushish
“Off with her head,
arguments later”, ordered the Queen in Alice in Wonderland. A term synonymous
in modern India which has come a long way from ‘Urban Naxals and Love Jihad’ to
new connotations of lexicons we are familiar being added to our vocabulary.
Toolkit which meant a
document created to explain any issue and how to address it, today has sinister
nuances of supporting the ongoing farmers’ protests against the controversial
farm laws by uploading details about their protest to
incite mass movements etc. “Andolan
jeevis” nee professional protesters seen at every agitation and FDI an
acronym for Foreign Destructive Ideology instead of foreign direct investment.
Resulting in a 22 year old student and climate activist Disha Ravi becoming a
threat to the nation. Sic.
Her crime? Being a
key conspirator in a ‘toolkit’s’ formulation and dissemination which was used by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg in
support of farmers protest. The toolkit’s purpose was to unleash a “digital
strike-through hashtags #StandWithFarmers and tweetstorms 23 January onwards, physical action on 26
January and joining farmers march into Delhi and back to borders”.
She reportedly also
collaborated with pro-Khalistani Poetic Justice Foundation to spread
disaffection socially, culturally and economically
against India, started a Whats App group to draft the toolkit and is one
of the founders of Fridays For Future India, part of an international
organization.
She is not alone. The
Delhi Police is on the lookout for two of her accomplices, lawyer-activist
Nikita Jacob and Shantanuin. Earlier stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui, now on
bail was arrested for posting a video for allegedly making “filthy and indecent
jokes” about Hindu Gods and Goddesses and Home Minister Amit Shah along-with
journalist Sidhique Kappan on his way to UP’s Hathras to cover the gangrape of a Dalit teen.
Not to
forget a little known digital news portal New Click being raided by the
Enforcement Directorate for getting foreign funding to spread fake news and
Twitter being hauled up by the Government for not taking down accounts which
“spread fake news, hatred and violence”. A Congress MP and journalists have been charged with
sedition for their tweets.
Aghast politicians,
activists and academics are claiming India was becoming the theatre of absurd demanding Ravi’s release. The State is
using sedition as an iron hand to curb free speech in an overreaction to
people's opinion. Countered the Government,
“vested interest groups are trying to enforce their agenda on farmers’ protests
and derail them. We want to save the country from their ideology and protect
India’s nationalism from multiple attacks.
Questionably
do these cases merit a case of sedition? Is our democracy so fragile that a 22
year old student can shake it? Is the Indian State standing on shaky
foundations? Are our Constitutional institutions so brittle that they can
crumble under the weight of tweets? Is a tool kit to support farmers protest
more dangerous than the Chinese intrusion in Ladakh? Have we lost the ability
to accept criticism and increasingly becoming a knee-jerk, reactionary country?
Bordering on a narcissist phobia? Is the Government suffering from paranoia?
Clearly,
the speed with which our tolerance is falling to breakable levels is worrying. Certainly,
one can argue their actions were in bad taste, but in no way do they warrant
arrest under sedition. The law Section 124A of the IPC 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.”? By doing so does it not
make a mockery of the concept of a “nation” built on the values of democracy?
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. Last year 70 cases of sedition were filed to curb free speech
and crack down on critical opinions by charging the “perpetrators” of spreading
fake news.” 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, India is in
the grip of self-styled chauvinism wherein critics, intellectuals or hoi polloi
are soft targets with imprudent reactions taking over debates and calibrated
decisions. Life is lived in the slim strip
called the official and every tweet, satire or defiance treated as a monster.
Big deal if this makes public discourse impoverished and toothless.
As blinkered,
dogma-ridden debates rage on it marks a dangerous political trend of
intolerance vis-à-vis freedom of
expression and personal choices. If this trend goes unchecked society will get
dangerously dogmatic and fragmented. Think. As India marches ahead enroute to being Atmanirbhar our leaders need to realize
in a mammoth one billion plus country there would be a billion views and one cannot
curtail people’s fundamental rights. At the same time we need to desist
from acerbic and speeches which spew hatred and narrow-mindedness.
What next? 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 realize criticism is a
sign of a thriving and robust democracy. Take a lesson from how leaders
world-wide are more tolerant about what’s written or depicted about them. Two
classic examples of political freedom are former US President Trump who
continues to be 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.
At some point we need
to realize that India was conceived as a democratic rather than majoritarian
country wherein all citizens have certain basic rights. When it comes to democracy, liberty of thought and expression is a
cardinal value that is of paramount significance under our Constitutional
scheme. Our democracy will not sustain if we can’t guarantee freedom of speech
and expression. What gives? ----- INFA,
(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)
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