Azadi slogan and the spectre of sedition

Tahir Mahmood

Former Chairman, National Minorities Commission

The Urdu word azadi which played a key role in our 90-year-long war of independence from 1857 to 1947 has, of late, become a bad word. During that age, it used to be a dreaded word for our foreign rulers. Now, it is despised for being used by the young generation of Indians and female citizens who are unhappy with some governmental policies of the day. Recently, the head of a state government has warned that those chanting it will be charged with sedition punishable under the Indian Penal Code.

The Urdu word azadi is an equivalent of the English expressions ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’ which are repeatedly used in the Constitution of India. Like these English words, azadi too cannot be taken to always mean independence from foreign rule or cession of a particular territory from a country. We had obtained ‘freedom’ from British rule in 1947, but the word as used in the Constitution does not have even the remotest connection with that specific meaning of the word. The same is true also of the word azadi which can be, and is, used in different contexts and to convey different meanings.

In our Constitution, the expressions ‘liberty’ and ‘freedom’ are interchangeable. The Preamble to the Constitution speaks of the ‘solemn resolution’ of the people of India to secure ‘to all its citizens’ — next to social, economic and political justice — liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship.

The first two of these ‘liberties’ are called ‘freedom of speech and expression’ in Article 19 (1) of the Constitution with which the section titled ‘Right to Freedom’ opens in the chapter on people’s fundamental rights. The other five ‘freedoms’ Article 19 ensures to all citizens are freedom to assemble peacefully and without arms, to form associations, unions or cooperative societies, to move freely throughout the territory of India, to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India, and to practise any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade or business. For each of these freedoms, the official Urdu translation of the Constitution uses the expression azadi.

The remaining three ‘liberties’ spoken of in the Preamble- liberty of belief, faith and worship — are expounded in Articles 25 to 28 bracketed in the chapter on fundamental rights under the section titled ‘Right to Freedom of Religion’.

Sectional headings of the first two of these Articles are ‘Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion’ and ‘Freedom to manage religious affairs’, respectively. Article 27 is titled ‘Freedom as to payment of taxes for promotion of any particular religion’ and Article 28 as ‘Freedom as to attendance at religious instruction or worship in educational institutions’.

For all these constitutional ‘freedoms’ too, the Urdu versions of the Constitution authenticated by the state authorities uses the expression azadi.

Are all these constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of citizens, enshrined in two separate sections in the chapter of the Constitution on peoples’ fundamental rights, being actually and fully enjoyed in the country by ‘all its citizens’ as the Preamble to the Constitution puts it?

Answering this question in the affirmative will be a sign of virtual myopia. Denial of these rights all around is, so to say, the order of the day. Dissent with any policy or action of the rulers of the day, however prima facie objectionable from the constitutional point of view it may be, is seen as sedition or treason.

Absolutely unrestricted freedom of speech and expression is a privilege conceded only to loud-mouthed politicians of various parties whose vituperations are only selectively censored, and for prejudiced sections of the media who are having a field day.

How about the constitutional ‘Right to Freedom of Religion’ enshrined in Articles 25 to 28, coupled with the mandate of Articles 15-16 for non-discrimination on religious grounds? Is the State complying with this mandate absolutely faithfully? Is not the scope for religious freedom, unconditionally equal under the Constitution for all citizens, getting restricted due to majoritarian religiosity in the society assuming dangerous proportions? Is not what the Constitution calls “Freedom as to payment of taxes for promotion of any particular religion” being frequently ignored? Is not the constitutional assurance for freedom from compulsory religious activities in educational institutions being conspicuously overlooked?

Denying all this will amount to turning the face away from undeniable ground realities.

It is nobody’s case that this degeneration of constitutional values and contraction of what the Constitution calls ‘freedoms’ of citizens has started in recent years.

The Constitution had been defaced and defiled much earlier in the political history of post-Independence India. The process had begun soon after the end of the Nehru-Shastri era. In the years that followed, some concerned national leaders did try from time to time to repair the damage done, and only the ungrateful can sidestep their noble efforts.

Democracy is, however, a game of numbers and periodical changing of guards is an essential feature of democracy. All new custodians of State authority do have their own ideologies and policies which they, more often than not, keep above any determination to strictly enforce the Constitution in letter and spirit.

Self-condemnation is no virtue, but remaining blind to the shrinking space for the citizens’ constitutionally guaranteed ‘freedoms’ mentioned above is bound to alert all right-thinking citizens.

What the youth, comprising mainly enlightened university students and respectable lady citizens belonging to all communities, is invoking by raising the slogan of azadi are the liberties and freedoms assured, equally to all citizens, by the Preamble of the Constitution and elaborated in Article 19 and 25 to 28 listed above.

How on earth can this be seen as sedition or treason? Those who think so are either ignorant of the numerous meanings and connotations of the innocuous word azadi coming from the rich Urdu language, or suffering from linguistic prejudices, which in our country is not a rarity.