Where is my freedom of speech and expression?

1997 – I was an 11 year old, studying in 7^th standard in my school. It was my Civics period. My Civics teacher was taking a class on the Indian Constitution. She taught us that our Constitution provided us with 6 fundamental rights, one among them being ‘Right to freedom’. Under this particular right, we were provided with 7 fundamental freedoms – the first one being ‘freedom of speech and expression’. She also read out the preamble to our constitution – "We the people of India....resolved...to secure to all its citizens ....LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;...". I cannot forget the pride in the teacher’s voice and the gleam on her face when she was taking this class – she mentioned India had the largest democracy of the world, and people possessed a lot of freedom. Such luxuries were not a reality in communist countries or in the pre-independence India.

1998/99 – The Polyester Prince – Biography of Dhirubhai Ambani banned from circulation in India. The book exposes the holy nexus between the protagonist and the Indian Government. It shows how Dhirubhai managed to control and subjugate the press, bring down a Central Government and bribed Politicians to obtain legislations in his favour. Ban in India is believed to be due to proximity of Mukesh Ambani to the present Government.

2005 – Gujarat – The movie ‘Parzania’ is banned in the state of Gujarat – a tight slap on the face of our freedom of speech and justice. The movie is based on Dara Mody and family, whose son (Azhar Mody) is missing since the massacre during the 2002 communal riots. And there were several such families in reality.

2008 – Desh Dhrohi – The Bhojpuri film was banned from being screened in the Mumbai theatres. The movie was due for release immediately after the MNS menace in Mumbai. The film depicts the antagonistic/ unwelcoming attitudes towards North Indians in Maharashtra (Mumbai).

2009 – The worst of all – Jaswant Singh’s book ‘Jinnah: India- Partition- Independence’ has triggered such a hue and cry, to the extent of such a senior politician like Jaswant Singh being expelled from the party. Worse, the book has been banned throughout Gujarat.

These are incidents, just to name a few; and there would be many more for sure.

A few thoughts about the last mentioned episode – the BJP has expelled Jaswant Singh from the party, a member who has been involved with the party right from its inception.

All Jaswant did was write a book – a collection of facts, which he has researched on – which needs clear reading, appreciating and debating, for none of us were really present at the time of India’s independence, or Jinnah’s/ Nehru’s/ Patel’s/ Gandhiji’s time. All that we know are what we have read in ths history textbooks. This leads us to another issue which has been raised many a times – the Govt. tampering with the NCERT textbooks. The new NCERT history textbooks defame Bhagat Singh as a terrorist, and have made a fleeting 4 line mention of Chatrapathi Shivaji – pushing him to insignificance. With this ever-changing history of ours, I wonder how much of what I read in my history books were actually true.

Back to the issue of BJP – As it is the party has exposed a lot of weakness within itself, and this episode only worsens the image of the same. It has made a fool of itself, exposed its intolerance and emphasized its fanaticism. Jaswant’s statements in an interview – “…In 30 years time organisations, people change. I think the signal aspect of change that has come, which I have shared with my colleagues, including the RSS,--that what has changed in the nature of the BJP is the taste of power. Up till the extent of struggle for power, the BJP was an organisation of flame--like purity. Power tarnished it…” further denigrates the image of the party. I wonder if the UPA is partying witnessing these.

A word about our elections – a multi party system that we possess in our country, a concept of simple majority, a coalition system of Government, with rampant corruption and booth trafficking – I wonder if our right and duty to vote has any impact on the state. For a long time our governance has been dominated by the Congress party, with the BJP showing some challenge in the last decade. But now, or at least as of now, there is not even an outside chance for a third front, leave alone the fourth one. With this weakening of BJP – I wonder if our democracy’s watchwords – for, by and of the people Government will ever be true; for where is the choice the people have.

A quote from Jaswant Singh, during his interview to CNN IBN’s Rajdeep Sardesai sums it up perfectly – “…Have come to a situation in the country where thinking, research, reading, writing, discussing, debating, disagreeing on issues, on written material is taboo. It would be a very sad India; it would be a very dark India…