Dissent not treason

A veteran actor who has spent a lifetime representing the best of India faced its worst with just one critical comment. Here was Naseeruddin Shah expressing his worry about the safety of his children in today’s India, expressing his angst at the rising intolerance. Then he referred to how the Bulandshahr incident had shown that ‘the death of a cow has more significance than that of a police officer’. He has since been called a traitor and worse by trolls and some BJP and Shiv Sena leaders. Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey said he had ‘become like a Pakistani agent he had once acted as’ in a movie. The actor had to stay away from Ajmer Literary Festival, which he was scheduled to inaugurate.

Intolerance is on the rise, and the absence of any attempt to stop it is only helping it spread. Anything that is seen to be challenging the majoritarian narrative is pounced upon in an ugly manner. With each fresh incident, the discourse only seems to sink lower. In the past few years, outspoken rationalists such as MM Kalburgi, Govind Pansare, Narendra Dabholkar, and Gauri Lankesh have been murdered. While those who use social media and WhatsApp for inciting violence seem to go scot-free, those who express views critical of the ruling dispensation find themselves behind bars.

India has a proud tradition of multiculturalism and of allowing freedom of expression. Various streams of thought have not only coexisted, they also cross-fertilised ideas to bring about greater awareness and knowledge. Freedom of thought and expression is fundamental to the nation’s ethos and those who try to curtail it pay the cost; even a powerful leader like Indira Gandhi was humbled in the aftermath of Emergency. The BJP has shown tremendous ability to control its cadre in other matters, and it is up to the leadership of the party that holds the reins of power at the Centre to intervene where necessary. Not understanding the difference between dissent and treason will cost the country dear.