While there has been much talk about the ‘culture of growing intolerance’ in our society, few of us have had time and inclination to think about the subject in a nuanced manner with a modicum of objectivity and a cool mind.
What is alarming is that those in power—to whichever party they belong to—have no patience with any critic, dissenter or a person with a different opinion.
Our constitution guarantees us the fundamental right of freedom of expression but what we are told loudly and repeatedly is that no right is unrestricted and can be curtailed in national interest.
We are also being lectured day in and day out: why should the citizens be waving the Constitution or reading out its preamble aloud at protest meetings?
Why should they not refresh their memory about constitutional provisions that prescribe duties of the citizen?
No one can deny that every right carries with it a corresponding duty and that every right can be restricted in national interest and public good after following the due process of law.
This has been the decided and settled position in law ever since the Supreme Court has admitted that its judgement in the ADM Jabalpur vs Shukla case during dark days of the emergency was deeply flawed.
Repentance at leisure and years later cannot heal deep wounds. What should not be forgotten either is that the chapter on the Duties of the Citizen was also inserted in the constitution during this dark period.
These unpleasant memories are stirred at the moment as We The People of India seem to have learnt nothing from tragic and traumatising events in our past.
The most recent example is to extend the detention of former chief ministers of the State of Jammu & Kashmir, Dr Farooq Abdullah and his son and successor Omar Abdullah, and Mehbooba Mufti under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA).
With more than a pinch of black humour and sarcasm, we are being reminded that the patriarch of the National Conference, Sheikh Abdullah, himself enacted this law.
This is hardly an argument, which justifies patently unfair means to secure desirable ends. There are many cases when the sins of the parents come to visit and haunt children.
But let us not digress. Most distressing has been the response of the High Court of J&K when a petitioner approached it seeking relief for the detainees.
The judge observed that detention without a warrant or any proof is legal under the provisions of PSA. For a period of three-six months an appeal by the detainees lies to the advisory/review board only.
The judge has added that the threat perception under PSA is a matter of ‘subjective satisfaction of the administrative authorities’ and their decision is not open to ‘objective judicial review’.
If this opinion goes unchallenged, the portents for future are very grave.
Before proceeding further, the writer of these lines wishes to make it absolutely clear that he holds no brief for the persons detained.
On the contrary, he believes that the mess in the erstwhile state of J&K is a result of corrupt dynastic rule of a few families like theirs and opportunistic political alliances forged by them with whoever was in the power at the Centre.
If the militancy spread across the Valley resulting in genocide like persecutions of the Kashmiri Pandits, these political leaders cannot escape their culpability.
At the same time it needs to be emphatically stated the guilty they may be but as long as the courts have not pronounced the judgement they as accused are entitled to their fundamental rights.
What is even more dangerous is that the same PSA (or an equally draconian law like the National Security Act) can be misused by a partisan executive against any citizen who is not prepared to fall meekly in line.
Recently, an eight-year-old girl in Karnataka was hauled up for interrogation along with her hapless mother and teacher for the alleged crime of having participated in a seditious play staged in her school.
A disturbing news item informs us that the Ministry of Home Affairs in its annual conclave of Directors General of Police has advised them to keep a sharp eye on universities and students to look out for troublemakers threatening the integrity of the nation.
It seems we have entered an Orwellian World where the Big Brother must watch what anyone else is doing.
It is only the rulers who know what is best for the people and the nation. A cartoon or a joke, a retweet or a forwarded message can land any one of us in deep trouble.
Even if we escape lynching by the bloodhounds that have been unleashed we may end up in jail (‘comfortable house arrest or a depressing dungeon’). When the rulers are thin-skinned those who are ruled must shed their thick skin as soon as possible.
Pushpesh Pant Former professor,
Jawaharlal Nehru University
pushpeshpant@gmail.com