My column in today’s DNA

In the recent past, the issue of free speech and expression has come to the fore in India. Censorship has been creeping up slowly but surely. It seems that institutions and groups are ganging up to gag the individual. Everything is contentious – from M.F. Hussain’s paintings that hurts Hindus, to cartoon in a textbook that offends Dalits; from depictions of Prophet Mohammed that aggrieves Muslims; to a film that bothers Christians; to status updates that provokes the Shiv Sena. Amidst all this public competitive outrage, the Government has been surreptitiously taking down posts and content from the internet, blocking individuals that it deems as ‘causing offence’. The only thing that everyone seems to agree they have the right to be offended and disrupt life for all others.

 

The latest to fall victim to this is the rationalist Sanal Edamaruku, who has offended some Catholic groups by proving that a weeping Jesus Christ, in a Mumbai church,  was not a miracle but a leaky pipe. Rather than being grateful, some groups took offence and filed a case against him under section 295(A) of the IPC that charges him with “Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs”. If found guilty, Mr.Edamaruku will face a sentence of up to 3 years in prison. He is currently in Finland, afraid of returning to India.

 

Whenever there are issues of free speech and free expression there is a tendency to look at the United States of America and the freedoms accorded to its citizens under the 1^st Amendment to the Constitution.  They can burn their flag in protest; make jokes about religious heads; have ‘art’ that is offensive; call into question holy cows; it is almost as though nothing is sacred apart from the right of the individual to express freely, and not face either mob violence, or government strictures. Their first amendment is a part of their Bill of Rights that prevents the State from interfering in the many freedoms of its citizens.

 

But, just because the State guarantees you liberties does not mean that those liberties are guaranteed. It has taken citizens across decades to stand up and fight against others encroaching on their rights. Freedoms have neither been automatic, nor easy. They have been hard fought. The limits of freedom have been continuously pushed back since they adopted their Constitution. It has been ordinary people, lawyers and judges that have consistently upheld the rights of the individual.

The Fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution of India make us, at least on paper, one of the freest nations in the world. Yet we constantly find our freedoms under attack. And there are there very simple reasons for this. The first is that a majority of the people do not think that there is anything wrong in basic self-censorship; that offensive things ought not to be said; that people – dead or alive – should not be excessively criticised; that religion cannot not be questioned; and those who do so – are trouble makers who are just asking for it.  The second reason is that many see themselves not as individuals with rights, but as part of a group or a community that has the right to curtail certain freedoms.  And lastly, there is no one central organisation – such as the American Civil Liberties Union – that looks at rights purely from the point of view of the individual.

So how does one protect rights? Dr.Ambedkar had the answer “rights are protected not by law but by the social and moral conscience of society. If [the] social conscience is such that it is prepared to recognize the rights which law chooses to enact, rights will be safe and secure. But if the fundamental rights are opposed by the community, no Law, no Parliament, no judiciary can guarantee them in the real sense of the word.” …he further adds “The formal framework of Democracy is of no value, and would indeed be a misfit if there was no social democracy. The politicals never realized that democracy was not a form of government. It was essentially a form of Society”. Indian society is still deeply feudal, patriarchal and unequal.

 

Democracy is more than voting once in five years. It has to be part of everyday life and every day choices. Maybe the starting point of becoming more democratic is educating citizens on their rights. These aren’t at the discretion of the powerful, but theirs by right. It is only when this is internalised and understood that the tyranny of groups will be halted.