Man, our politicians are touchy!

Move over jihadis, it’s the season of political intolerance whereby any film, book or artwork which pokes fun or is not in sync with our leaders thinking, cause and outlook is not only banned, vandalized, but, worse, every view is considered an act of sedition. And the writer, film maker or official is given a mouthful and barred. Man, our netas are touchy!

Over the last month one is witness to at least three counts. One the sudden resignation of the Central Board of Film Certification chief Leela Samson due to “coercion and interfering with her decisions on several films” by the NDA government’s I&B Ministry. The last straw being taken to task for passing Amir Khan’s “anti-God” PK and objecting to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's (BJP supporter) portrayal of himself as god in his film MSG: The Messenger of God. It resulted in Saffron Sangh’s Bajrang Dal’s vandalizing film theatres showing PK.

The RSS’ desires curbing of internet freedom, demands dozens of international websites to remove “offensive” albeit anti-Hindu content and wants “Bharatiya” dress and moral codes adhered to in schools, colleges, cinemas and TV depicting Hindu values.

The Congress is threatening publishers to withdraw Spanish author’s dramatised biography of Sonia Gandhi ‘The Red Sari’ as it recounts how Sonia seriously considered returning to Italy with her children during the Emergency, as the party wants to play down her being an Italian who ruled over a billion Indians.

Notably, this has once again raised the ante on Article 19(1) (a) which grants a citizen the right to freedom of expression, and raising a moot point: Is India heading towards an era of political intolerance and Hindutva values thrust down our throats? ‘It’s my way or highway’ attitude? Is the polity afraid of the clash of ideas in our public life? Is it mere coincidence or a sign of an increasingly knee-jerk, reactionary country where one is forced to go public about a frown, removal from job or punishment?

Many films, books even cartoons have been banned, innumerable artists have faced taboo and forced out in a country which prides itself for being the birthplace of so many apostles of peace and non-violence – Gandhi, Buddha and Mahavir. If one doesn’t like a film, just collect a crowd and burn the theaters where it is shown. If you don’t like a novelist’s book, get the government to ban it or issue a fatwa against the author.

Instances are plenty. Remember an innocuous cartoonist Assem Trivedi was arrested for sedition by Mamata in Kolkata. Before him another of his tribe famed Shankar cartoons of Ambedkar in NCERT school books were posthumously removed. Tamil Nadu banned noted actor-director Kamal Hasan’s 100 crore magna opus Viswaroopam which dealt with the issue of terrorism on the fallacy that it would hurt the sentiments of ‘unknown’ Muslim groups and create a law and order problem. Notwithstanding if India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, called sedition laws “objectionable and obnoxious”.

And the Rajasthan Government registered an FIR under the SC/ST Atrocities Act against famed sociologist Ashis Nandy for his controversial remarks: “It is a fact that most of the corrupt come from OBCs and SCs and now increasingly the STs” at the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2013. Livid Dalit icons BSP’s Mayawati and LJP's Ram Vilas Paswan forced Nandy to approach the Supreme Court which stayed his arrest.

In this milieu can we trust our leaders? Certainly, we do not need self-appointed guardians to tell us what we can read, seeing a film, what we can wear, what we can eat or drink. We should be free to worship the way we want, to believe what we want, whom and how we should love. Else, at this rate the day is not far when India could soon resemble Saudi Arabia or N Korea which have dispensed with producing movies altogether and punish those who lampoon leaders.

Where does India go from here? Our netas need to see how public figures across the globe are more tolerant about what’s written or depicted about them. Specially, their reactions to last week’s terrorist attack on Paris’s satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo wherein France rose in one voice, “We are not afraid, Charlie Hebdo carry on”.
A classic example of political freedom is former Italian millionaire-playboy-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who was mercilessly satirized in the print and online fora globally. The US and UK too are take lot of liberties vis-à-vis their rulers.

By: Poonam I Kaushish