Farsighted president, incorrigible netas and jolly sardars
President’s Words of Wisdom: In his inaugural address to the 77th session of the Indian History Congress in Thiruvananthapuram, President Pranab Mukherjee emphasised that the freedom to doubt, disagree and dispute intellectually must be protected as an essential pillar of democracy and that nothing should lie outside the realm of discussion and argument and such freedom is vital for progress in any field, especially in a craft like history.
He lamented that there has been an “unfortunate tendency in our country from time to time to take umbrage at the expression of any view perceived to be hostile to our social or cultural institutions, past or present and that critical appraisals of our heroes and national icons of the past have been met with hostility and sometimes even violence”. The President stressed that “patriotism should not result in blinkered approaches in interpreting history or a compromise with truth in order to justify an argument of choice”.
He called for an objective pursuit of history with an impartial mind of a judge and not the mind of an advocate, and urged that “we must keep our eyes open for unfamiliar ideas and be ready to consider a range of different inferences or assumptions. This necessarily bars intolerance of contrary opinions or judgments.” The President rightly remarked that our traditions have always celebrated the argumentative Indian, not the intolerant Indian. He urged historians to be faithful to the cause of reason and expressed the hope that they will continue to remain alert and vigilant.
Two themes clearly emerge from the President’s address. The first is that in any country, which professes to be a democracy, there should be “freedom for the thought we hate”, a doctrine felicitously articulated by the great American judge Oliver Wendell Holmes. The second theme is that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Our country is indeed fortunate in having an erudite, liberal and a farsighted person as its President.
Demonetisation Debate: In support of demonetisation, Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said that the decision would act as a ‘vaccine’ against scams as it was going to make the task of keeping unaccounted funds increasingly risky. On the other hand, a group of 50 Congress activists in Mumbai painted tattoos proclaiming, “our PM is corrupt”, to mark 50 days of demonetisation. Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam alleged that Rahul Gandhi had exposed the corruption of PM Narendra Modi and provided details and submitted proof to the I-T department. But one may ask, where is the earthquake which Rahul predicted?
Apparently, laws of libel do not deter politicians from making wild allegations of corruption against holders of constitutional office which they do with bravado and impunity mainly because of the tardy pace of our criminal justice system. BJP spokesperson Siddharth Nath Singh recently alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is not interested in fighting corruption but in shielding it.
He called her ‘the queen of corruption’. This is not a salutary development in any democracy especially in India, the largest democracy in the world. The Opposition has the right, indeed the duty to criticise and slam the government. But that can appropriately be done by a debate in the Parliament and not by stalling it. That is the crux of the matter which is overlooked when political expediency prevails.
New York Police Makes Sardars Happy: The New York Police Department has made Sardars happy. Police Commissioner James O’Neill announced that officers from the Sikh faith will be allowed to have beards that extend up to one-half inch from the face.
The officers may also wear blue turbans with a hat shield affixed to it, in place of the traditional police cap. This is a commendable move which reflects broad-mindedness and tolerance. However, I wonder who is going to monitor that beards extend only up to one-half inch and also whether there is any significance about wearing blue turbans. O’Neill said that there were 160 Sikh officers in the ranks and he was looking to expand those numbers. Go ahead, O’Neill. Sikh Officers Association welcomed the move and thanked O’Neill saying this was a proud moment for the Sikh community.
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