I have been thinking of writing this piece for some time now, but for some or the other reason, couldn’t sit down to put my thoughts to paper. I finally made sure to take out time today to write this, lest the thoughts in my mind become fuzzy and lose their sharpness. The sources of inspiration behind this piece of writing are certain miscellaneous incidents that have occurred recently and some observations which I have been making.
The first incident is the much talked about meek submission of a famous publication house to an intolerant Indian’s irrational demand of recalling a published work of a writer. This decision taken by the publication house hit on the freedom of speech and expression of the writer, her freedom to express her opinions freely in a democratic society, her right to be heard and her right to intellectual freedom, as also the right of each and every individual to choose what to read and to form their own opinions. Some might argue that the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression has certain caveats attached to it and is not an absolute right. But what constitutes public morality and decency and who decides on what might or might not be a threat to public order? In the Indian context, our judiciary has been made responsible for interpreting the provisions of the Constitution and hence, deciding on these questions. More often than not, it has done a commendable job in performing this function. It has not only kept alive the letter but also the spirit of the Constitution and has tried its best to align the intent of the Constituent Assembly, behind the making of our Constitution, with the changing dynamics of our society. The moot point, then, in this whole incident, remains as to why the concerned publication house had to buckle under pressure and agree for this unacceptable out-of-court settlement instead of letting law take its own course? May be it did not consider the time, energy and efforts required to be spent in fighting this battle worth it, and consequently, took the easy way. But this disappointing decision on the part of the publication house has put a huge question mark on the nature of Indian democracy and its ability to guarantee the rights and fulfill the promises that it has made to its citizens.
The second incident which I would like to highlight is the infamous “pepper spray incident” that will go down in the history of Indian democracy as one of the most inexplicably shameful display of intolerant behavior. To add insult to injury, the perpetrator of the act was one of the guardians of Indian democracy and governance, popularly elected by the people of India. Let us dwell a little deeper into the reasons that compelled him to behave in such a manner, and we will find the oft-repeated story of everyone catering to their own self-interest, least bothered about the benefit of the people, or the development of the nation, which they are assigned with and responsible for. The autocratic manner in which the creation of a new state (the demand for which had been pending for some decades now) in the election year has been brought about cannot fool the electorate. It only symbolizes the gross misuse of the Constitutional provisions to fulfill narrow self-interest cloaked in a sudden desire to fulfill the long-pending aspirations of a certain section of people. But if the action was wrong, the reaction was even more so, and two wrongs never make a right. The elected representatives of the nation are bestowed with right and honor of being a part of the Legislature of the nation and sit in the Parliament to make laws on behalf of the people. Along with every right is attached a duty. The Parliament of the nation is the face of the nation to the entire world. Its members have certain expectations to live up to and a code of conduct that needs to be followed to maintain the dignity of the institution. By displaying this hooliganism, time and again, the sanctity of the institution has again and again suffered huge erosion. Not to mention that the protests were not driven by public interest in mind, but again, narrow self-interest of a businessman parliamentarian, set to lose a huge chunk of his business. Such shameful incidents mirror the intolerance levels that we, as a society, have reached.
The third episode which set me thinking was the almost one-and-a-half month of daily soap opera that the country got to witness in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, featuring the Chief Minister (now erstwhile) of the territory in the main lead, and a capable supporting cast. The chaos that has been created only goes to show what happens when the thought is right but there is a complete absence of right action. However sacrosanct the ends might be, the means to achieve them cannot be blatantly disregarded in such ruthless a manner. Again, naiveté, driven by intolerance, was at a clear display here. The desire for instantaneous gratification and reward can bring to naught even the most well-meaning of intentions, which is amply clear from this episode.
Finally, I would like to talk about some day-to-day observations which I have made in course of time. The exponentially rising levels of intolerance in our society can be experienced in the course of our daily routine and interactions. One glaring example to which I have dedicated an entire article, but which I would like to mention again, is the experience of driving/commuting on roads. It is not a surprise that the largest numbers of deaths are caused by road accidents. What should have been an inconsequential daily routine becomes a challenging daily nightmare, with the amount of “Road (Non) Sense” that one has to deal with. Another amusing example of intolerance, that we witness daily, is the manner in which panel discussions and interviews are conducted on the 24/7 news channels. The interviewers have neither the patience nor the inclination to listen to the answers to the questions put up by them. The discussions more often than not end up taking the shape of comedy and action dramas.
In this fast changing and extremely competitive society, there is no place for laggards. Survival of the fittest was never truer than it is now. But I would request you to spare a few minutes from your busy schedule and reflect….Are these the values that you would like your children to imbibe and the kind of society you would want them to grow up in?
No comments:
Post a Comment