By Toki Blah
Indians today are quite a perplexed lot. A doubt keeps nagging in our minds. We go to bed in the sincere belief that we are citizens of a free democratic country. We wake up next morning wondering if it was a dream. We belong to a country that steers itself through an article of faith called the Constitution of India. It is a manuscript where Fundamental Rights (not just common, ordinary Rights) of its citizens are enshrined. One of these is the Fundamental Right to freedom of speech and expression. Freedom here is not equated with licence and therefore this right is understandably curtailed by restrictions relating to the sovereignty, integrity and security of the state; by concepts of social security such as maintenance of decency, morality, public order etc. All the same it is a Right guaranteed by law.
The Right to Freedom of Speech and expression is also complementary to other Fundamental Rights such as Equality before Law and Non discrimination of citizens on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Despite these Constitutional guarantees we are a confused lot because of late, a class of Indians have started bestowing upon themselves extraordinary and imaginary privileges that are in complete dissonance with the provisions of our Constitution. We are perplexed. We are puzzled. Has there been a clandestine amendment of the Constitution that the ordinary citizen is unaware of? A justifiable question; adequate cause for confusion considering the sudden change of conventionally thick impervious political skins into super sensitive organs incapable of bearing the slightest pressure.
There is a feeling that somewhere along the line the Indian spirit of forbearance has been breached and in the process, we as Indians, have lost one of our most valuable and cherished national assets? I am talking about the ability to laugh at ourselves. I always carried the impression that Indians possessed a healthy sense of humour. Laxman, Shanker and Khushwant Singh are names that come instinctively to mind when we think of impish minds that make us smile and chuckle even at times of stress and worry. The cartoons of the Statesman, The Hindu and the Indian Express ( even thylleij khlem shieng of our local variety) on all aspects of Indian life, are as good if not better than those of so called liberal papers of the West. This ability to laugh at one’s self; the knack to see the funny side of things; the faculty to see ourselves as imperfect mortals , surprisingly, springs from a human virtue – the virtue of Humility. Unfortunately of late, this ability to see oneself as an ordinary human being, warts and all, has become a scarce commodity especially with people elected to run this country. There is an increasing trend to use self important make-up brands such as Ego, Arrogance and Self Righteousness to boost the political image. The ability to think no end of one’s self has apparently come of age resulting in the distasteful appearance of puny, insecure and opinionated political leaders who stand out more as Court Jesters than icons of hope.
Being humble ( to have no airs about oneself) enables one to see the funny side of arrogance, pomposity, vanity and conceit – superfluous traits that lamentably some people believe, add to their personality and status in life. Clowns exploit this human weakness to make people laugh. Self importance is a mannerism that everyone regards as ridiculous and comical. Humanity has always found the pretentious personality as the epitome of ridicule. Most of us are therefore bewildered and totally foxed by the insistence by some of our elected representatives and the political parties they belong to that they have somehow been conferred with the ‘Divine Right to be above criticism’. Will ‘No laughing’ soon accompany the existing ‘no smoking’ ‘no overtaking’ sinages that dot the countryside? A disturbing notion to sleep on! Can therefore any one question our Democratic Right to be puzzled and apprehensive about the politician’s concept on Liberty, Fraternity and Equality?
A question needs to be asked. ‘Have we, as a nation lost it?’ Lost the healthy ability to laugh at ourselves I mean. Look at Parliament. The uproar and ado over a cartoon made 60 years ago. I mean if the wretched thing remained benign for 6 long decades, what reason do we have to conclude that it will suddenly go viral now? Seriously, where’s the problem? No doubt the controversy has pedagogical, historical, caste and political factors and this write-up has no intention of analysing these aspects. Our focus on the other hand is that we have yet to come across any evidence where Nehru, Ambedkar or any of those stalwarts of yore gave two hoots about what people said about them. Indira Gandhi was the butt of countless cartoons and jokes. She took them in her stride and moved on. These were icons of Indian Polity but humble enough to acknowledge that they were humans with all the shortcomings of a human being and therefore fair game to be laughed at and also to laugh at themselves. Of concern is that of a growing breed of young politicians who take life too seriously and who apparently believe that To smile is to err Politically. Glum face is the synonym of political seriousness. Then when they get ditched by some crafty old fox like Mulayam Singh Yadav they attempt to simply smile it off. Trouble is not being used at stretching the lips, their smile simply comes off as a ghastly grimace! The morale of the story is Learn to laugh.
But why speak of other Indians and other states of India when the same grotesque phenomenon is so glaringly evident in our own home state. The political establishment of Meghalaya, cutting across party lines, is growing increasingly intolerant of any form of criticism. A curious paradigm shift to say the least, since Meghalaya politics of old had always actively sought and welcomed public criticism as a reliable mechanism for course correction. Sadly that no longer applies. Today Meghalaya is known not only for its deficiency in Governance but more for its growing intolerance towards any public outcry against such deficiency. The belief today is that an elected representative can do no wrong. So irrespective of ability and performance, ego has to be protected and woe betide those who dare to question this perverted logic. Breach of Privilege has been moved against those who dare question the ability and competence of our MLAs. The same restriction was manipulated against police personnel who dared to uphold the sanctity of the Law over an inflated MLA ego. FIRs have been lodged against those who dared to doubt the integrity of the Government and its minister on issues related to unscientific mining. Has the democratic concept of Equality before Law undergone a change? Different laws for different categories of citizens is actively being advocated by elected representatives of Meghalaya and this does not bode well for the Democratic values we all swear by.
One can always blithely state that ‘Yesterday is History and Tomorrow is a Mystery’ but strange as it may sound, History does carry a lot of lessons for the future. Hitler and his Nazis; Joseph Stalin of Communist Russia; Idi Amin; Sadam Hussein; Mohamed Gadaffi et al, are vivid illustrations of what can happen to a nation or a society that unquestioningly accepts political intolerance as a prop to democracy. Critics are harassed; arrested; beaten up and finally sent to the gulag or the concentration camp if not shot. In the name of political stability, children are encouraged to spy on their own parents. Yes it all started with political intolerance and aversion to being criticised, lampooned or ridiculed. Yes it all started when the law enforcement agencies of the state are indiscriminately used to curb and gag the voice of dissent and disagreement. Sadly it all springs from a body polity that is unsure of what it is suppose to do. Seen from this perspective, political intolerance in Meghalaya is likely to increase. It will increase because we will get more elected representatives who have simply bought their way into the state assembly. They will be there not to make laws nor to legislate, but simply to use power to make more money for themselves. Such people will feel insecure and threatened if reminded of their mandate to serve the people. The elections of 2013 may bring a change of faces but nothing else. Its definitely not a good thing to look forward to, but are we the electorate prepared to not make it happen? That’s the question and the expected answer makes it all that more perplexing.