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The recent events in Gujarat are tattering to an Indian’s heart. It’s not just the Tehelka tapes that have come out in the open; the banning of TV news channels in Gujarat, disgusting comments by the Press and politicians are all a consequence of it which further saddens me.
Mirza in an wonderful read pens down the responses,
BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said “This sting has rendered Tehelka as the investigative wing of the Congress”. BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy said “Definitely the sting operation and its content are suspect, because we are aware for sometime that there are detractors against Modi in Gujarat and there is the Congress party, which has lost all ground in the state.” They talk about everything but not about the inhuman brutality. Vir Sanghvi wrote very aptly regarding this in 2002 “I was not surprised when the political establishment scrambled to look for conspiracies: the CIA was behind it, the ISI sponsored Tehelka…My point then, as now, was simple enough: let us first deal with the revelations and then worry about Tarun’s so-called backers.”
Today Chandan Mitra, the editor of the 143 year old newspaper Pioneer and a BJP supported Rajya Sabha MP, invoked the third and the fifth point; Modi has won various elections and why do you take out dead issues now. This is the editor of one of the oldest national newspapers of India! In which moral system and when was justice decided by the street? If someone wins elections does it exonerate them? Mr. Mitra, is the state of journalism going down to this level in India? And since when did we start forgetting about injustices on the pretext of moving ahead? Should we have said the same to the Sikhs who were hounded in 1984? Should we have said the same to the utterly vulnerable Jews who were brutalized and killed in millions by the Nazis? That it will be all decided in the court of law and forget about it in the social aspect.
When I myself went to Ahmedabad last december, I was shocked to learn about and see the ghettoization of the Muslims; rich and the poor in the officially put ‘world class city’. But the other issue was, whoever I met (hindus only), were sort of equating Modi to Gabriel as a messenger of god.
And what about free speech? The governments decision to ban all the TV channels that showed the news clip is now a rider to the free speech clause in the Constitution. Hah! gone are the days when Article 19 1(a) was the ultimate sword for the press. If my readers are interested, I’d request you to read Express Newspapers v. Union of India; an amazing case that exposed the link between Gov action and free speech in 1985 and the Delhi riots. (A related article here)
We seem to live in a world of our own. Assuming time and again that Governmental action is free from violence, where as it is so evident in such situations. Those who know that law or are learning it, refuse to budge a little and understand it in terms of its impact on the society. The incidents show a fallacy in the law. That rights in India are only meant to be in thick Constitutional law books and when it comes to situations like Gujarat and media exposes, they seem to vanish into thin air.
There are means that cannot be excused. And I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice. I don’t want just any greatness for it, particularly a greatness born of blood and falsehood. I want to keep it alive by keeping justice alive.
That was Albert Camu, from Resistance, Rebellion and Death on the French conduct in Algeria. The Indian Express in an editorial writes,
What a sting operation in 2007 says has been in the public sphere since 2002. We have always known that the state in Gujarat allowed the gruesome violence to play out, when it didn’t actively collude in the killings. But there is more to this moment than just that. It frames the special resonance of Gujarat 2002 in the nation’s consciousness. In a country where outbreaks of communal violence have been much too frequent — the anti-Sikh violence in Delhi 1984 ranks among the most shameful — the post-Godhra carnage will not allow us to move on. The evidence of state culpability and the absence of reparation is far too insistent. It calls for some form of accountability to be enforced, before any possibility of closure.
There should be an end to this. My heart goes out to all the victims of such actions.
Live Strong!
3 comments
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October 30, 2007 at 1:58 am
harini calamur
There are two parts to free speech —- speech that the Government curtails or tries – which we all resist or try to…. this is the obvious face of censorship.
And then there is the other…. us (as in the general public) having collective amnesia over things…. or putting it down to things that happened a long time ago, or being in a state of denial……or justifying it as cause and effect
examples : caste system happened in the past, 1984 was a long time ago, why are they raking it up now, why are they bringing up Gujarat before the elections,.
And then the issue gets swept under the carpet… until the next expose…
IT has been 4 days since the story broke…. and the media has moved on to other stories. and the silence on the issue is deafening….
December 15, 2007 at 9:19 am
At Cheruti
>There are two parts to free speech —- speech that
>the Government curtails or tries – which we all resist
>or try to…. this is the obvious face of censorship.
This is a misunderstanding of the concepts of “free speech” and “censorship.”
Free speech refers to the right of an individual to give voice to his opinion. It includes the right to remain silent if one so chooses. There is no compulsion to incessantly keep jabbering about everything.
Censorship is silencing of free speech by *Government authority* i.e. under the threat of force i.e. violating a gag order will bring physical reprisal e.g. violence, jailing, monetary fines.
If a private party such as you or me chooses not to speak about an issue for any reason it is our prerogative and not censorship or a violation of free speech.
November 8, 2013 at 11:50 am
Piece gazowe co
Nice debate, it must be truth.