Freedom Of Speech

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

The Indian Constitution guarantees freedom of expression. In all democracies of the world this freedom is respected except in the communist countries. You are free to express an opinion or take a call on any situation. But is this absolute? Ezra Pound’s free expression landed him in the jail. Another great American mind, Noam Chomsky gained national acknowledgement of his genius for his rational intensity and uninhibited expression on the ideological process of indoctrination of America in Vietnam and the Middle East. But in India freedom of expression is like a river in spate, it hurts, inundates and dries up on its own. The law or the constitution has no control over any form of expression. When M.F Hussain's paintings were vandalized no one dared to speak. Ultimately the man left India, took citizenship elsewhere and died unlamented and unsung. China today claims all territories contiguous to their land as theirs. If anyone opposes on principles and facts China challenges to the battlefield, as if military power is the ultimate arbitrator of all issues.

What disturbs the rational mind is the impunity with which opinions are expressed about persons, religions and political rivals. Last  month in Rameswaram the memorial of APJ Abdul Kalam was inaugurated. The next day some’ great visionaries’ found fault with the presence of the Bhagbat Gita near the statue of Kalam. The charge was BJP is communalising an icon who is above all religions. The Bhagbat Gita is a great poem, not necessarily a Hindu Scripture. Germans, Americans and many nations read the Gita and research on it. It is a view of life and reality and definitely one of the best literary works of the world. Why should doubts be expressed in polarising terms on such an innocuous issue?

Intolerance has crossed all constitutional limits in India. Jawaharlal Nehru University can celebrate the ‘martyrdom ‘ of Burhan Wani, a Hijbul terrorist and also of Afzal Guru a terrorist who masterminded an attack on India’s most sacred temple- The Parliament, slogans like – Afzal we are ashamed that your killers are still alive- can be shouted in a choric fashion and no eyebrows will be raised. But when the Kargil Victory Day is celebrated in Hyderabad Central University the temporary memorial could be demolished post midnight in a clandestine manner. The Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir can shout if Article 35-A is abrogated there will not be anyone in Jammu and Kashmir to lend a shoulder to the tricolour. Politically loaded statements can be made  without  disturbing the rational balance of the Indian mind.

Yes lynching is condemnable in the name of the holy cow or in the name of ideology  but how many people condemn the lynching of RSS workers in Kerala? Rational judgement and constitutional propriety should not be taken recourse to selectively. But this is what happens in India. The free thinkers like Dhabolkar are killed. No one is prepared for a public debate. If Kamal Hassan finds fault with the Mahabharata defeat him with logic and a sound reading of the text. But no, people will threaten him. Similarly Madhur Bhandarkar has made a film on the 1975 emergency in India. He was hounded by congress workers- why? Watch the film and criticize on his wrong reading of History- if any- and comment on the flaws in other artistic or technical areas. Madhur Bhandarkar also has the same right of self –expression as any other creative person.

We notice two trends in India today. A cultural aggression and a defeatist attitudinal dynamics attacking with nervousness all citadels of life.These come to clashes and create only noise pollution. The rationalist intellectuals now should interfere and call a spade a spade. People must be made to understand that there is a limit to freedom of expression. If that Rubicon is crossed the constitutional values will be in jeopardy.