Open Forum
New Delhi, 7 September
2022
Indian Democracy
JOY TURNS TO DESPAIR AT 75?
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
“What should be a moment of celebration and joy has become
a moment of deep despair and reflection,” is an assessment by US-based free
speech watchdog, PEN America. This after it reached out to authors from India
and the Indian diaspora to write short texts expressing what they feltabout
India’s 75 years of independence.
The short statements of 100-odd authors collectively titled
‘India at 75’ were sought over a period of time and uploaded on its website.
The introduction reads: ‘Some voices are optimistic, some prayerful, some
anguished and enraged. Some suggest defeat, others venture hope, still others
are defiant. The authors hold a spectrum of political views, and may be in
disagreement about much else, but they are united in their concern for the
state of Indian democracy.’The authors, include Kiran Desai, Jhumpa Lahiri, Pratap
Bhanu Mehta, Geetanjali Shree and Ganesh Devy.
India at independence, noted the watchdog,offered a beacon
of hope, but it “retained many colonial-era laws that restricted freedoms and,
over the years, added more such laws, undermining its democracy. An internal
Emergency in 1975 curtailed civil liberties and jailed dissidents….” However,
the “elections in 2014 has transformed India into a country where hate speech
is expressed and disseminated loudly; where Muslims are discriminated against
and lynched, their homes and mosques bulldozed, their livelihoods destroyed;
where Christians are beaten and churches attacked, where political prisoners
are held in jail without trial. Dissenting journalists and authors are denied
permission to leave the country”.
In PEN America’s Freedom to Write Index 2021, India is the
only nominally democratic country included in its count of ‘the top 10 jailers
of writers and public intellectuals world-wide.’ In recent years, the country has
seen an acceleration of threats against free speech, academic freedom and
digital rights and an uptick in online trolling and harassment. Similarly, in a
letter to President Droupadi Murmu the signatories, including J.M. Coetzee and
Orhan Pamuk, expressed “grave concerns about the rapidly worsening situation
for human rights in India, specifically freedom of speech and creative expression,
on the eve of India’s 75th anniversary of independence.”
This certainly doesn’t bode well for any democratic
society. Not just political but social and economic problems of great magnitude
plague the Indian society. While economic problems may be attributed to the
high population growth compared to resources available to cater to their
development, it is equally true that the right strategy as envisaged by Mahatma
Gandhi, has not been adhered to. But of greater concern are socio-political
problems of religion, caste and class with an authoritarian government
dictating terms without considering the lives and livelihoods of the
masses.
One may mention here that even the Additional Session Judge
of a Delhi court, while granting bail to Alt News co-founder, Mohammed Zubair,
stated that Indian political parties were open to criticism, adding that mere
criticism did not justify the invocation of penal sections 153A (promoting
enmity between different groups) and 295A (outraging religious feelings).
“Hindu religion is one of the oldest religions and most tolerant. The followers
of Hindu religion are also tolerant. Hindu religion is so tolerant that its
followers proudly name their institution/organisation/facilities in the name of
their Holy God or Goddess”, the judge observed. But unfortunately, toleration
is steadily becoming extinct.
The present form of religion being preached and popularised
is making religion intolerant and sectarian. Sadly, it is being accepted
because real education has not reached the masses who have very little
knowledge about what Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda preached. The need for
using religion to unite people and communities is not being followed.
At the same time, social analysts are questioning whether India
is facing an informal type of emergency? The increasing misuse of draconian
laws like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the National
Security Act (NSA), or the Public safety act (PSA) has empowered governments to
unilaterally declare somebody a terrorist or ‘urban Naxal’, arrest him
arbitrarily and incarcerate him for extended periods without trial. Agencies
like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and IT department have become adept at
investigating those who speak up. Missing the basics that criticising the
government in power should not be taboo for dissent is healthy for a vibrant
democracy.
What Jesuits like Stan Swamy preached was not to be
converted to the fundamentalism of development, a world that destroys the
margins. He represented a hope for the tribals and the oppressed communities
but it wasn’ seen as such. One may mention here that Naxalite leaders like Kanu
Sanyal or Jangal Santhal talked of justice, suffering, without evoking revolution
and they suffered quietly in jail without a murmur. Both Marxists and
missionaries understood caring was a cosmopolitanism that went beyond Marx and
Christianity.
Dissenters and the dissenting imaginations may be more
committed to their institutions and help the process of highlighting democracy.
But the authoritarian attitude of the government has led to social service
becoming suspect. Dissent needs to be understood in the wider context of
knowledge and democracy as a difference that sustains.
Two modes of dissent are believed to have suffered from
this onslaught -- the concerns for environment and for human rights. Both these
issues have converged around the tribe as a way of life and thought. The fate
of the tribe, the loosening of forest laws, all gets swept under the table of ‘’Urban
Naxal’. It’s time that dissenters stand up united along with academics and
ordinary citizens to uphold the rights of the tribes and backward communities
for a decent life.
Academics and civil society groups are sidelined and are
also threatened by various State machineries. And, troll armies are there to
provide the back-up to destroy a person’s reputation even before he or she is
declared innocent. The only fool proof remedy is judicial protection. However, justice
is delayed and the ruling dispensation has little interest to boost up the
judicial infrastructure.
It is believed that within a few years, roughly 20 percent
of all humans on this troubled planet will be looking to find shelter in this
country. As ethnicities and genetic groups increasingly mix with one another,
our species is moving towards multiplying micro-diversities rather than any
over-arching homogeneity.
The authoritarian character of the government needs to
change and a judicious transformation of the political order is critical at
this juncture. People are promised eradication of casteism and communalism but
the real picture appears to be the reverse, due to ignorance, lack of education
and awareness. A progressive society cannot afford to follow a fundamentalist
path.
As an author wrote: it is time that we must ask – which
idea of India provides succour and safety to the widest variety of people? Which
idea is most accommodating of difference, whether ethnic, racial, religious, of
secular orientation, of different practices of living? Which idea will
ensure the fairest distribution of increasingly scarce resources? The
rulers must pay heed and provide answers. ---INFA
(Copyright, India News
& Feature Alliance)
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