We have one more instance of the freedom of expression getting stifled by a democratically (oppressively democratic or democratically oppressive, we don’t know!) elected state government. Former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh’s new book Jinnah - India, Partition, Independence has been banned by the Gujarat government. The reason - the book denigrates the image of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India’s first Home Minister, who hails from Gujarat and is held in high esteem by most people in India.
Well, why is the Narendra Modi administration so much worried about the image of Sardar Patel now, a good 59 years after his death? Any historic document, any treatise written on his role in building up the nation would tell us that Patel is a national icon, a great hero of Indian independence. And also, history has it that most of the Congress leaders of the time, including Mahatma Gandhi, were party to the decision to bifurcate India as they thought it was the best possible option to avert a wide-scale Hindu-Muslim civil war, let alone Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru.
It’s a fact that Jaswant’s book attacks Patel and Nehru quite fiercely in the name of partition. He writes: “...Jinnah did not win Pakistan, as the Congress leaders – Nehru and Patel finally conceded Pakistan to Jinnah, with the British acting as an ever helpful midwife.” On a different note, what would have been the plight of the country now if the geographical area now known as Pakistan was still part of the Indian republic?
Jaswant seems to hold that partition was a big injustice done to the body politic of India and people like Nehru and Patel presided over such a decision taken by the Indian National Congress, betraying the trust of an entire nation and its people. But still, he has the right to uphold and publicise his views on any individual, or any aspect of the history as long as they don’t hurt the sentiments of any particular faith or religion.
Now, is there anyone who is above criticism in this country, anyone living or dead? Gandhi? Nehru? Or, Netaji Bose? None of the above. But yes, there are people like MS Golwalkar, Veer Savarkar and, of course, Sardar Patel, who should never be criticised, we realise. (Patel has been ‘elevated’ to this league only now, in fact.)
The message is quite obvious. The self-styled Hindu nationalist elements are becoming increasingly intolerant to criticism as time passes. Just take into consideration the history of Europe and other western countries. George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan wouldn’t have been possible until at least late Eighteenth Century given the violent and oppressive history of the Catholic Church. The same fate would have met The Da Vinci Code, a daring critique on the age-old practices of the Church, as well had Dan Brown been alive two centuries back and he had chosen to write it then.
We wake up to a bitter realisation here. India, and the forces who claim to uphold its great tradition, are travelling back on time when it comes to allowing freedom of speech and expression in the society.
Maybe, Modi is bidding to regain some lost ground by being specifically nationalistic, being very much aware of his waning clout among the masses. After all, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is heading from crisis to crisis every passing day. (It has already proved itself to be a temporary phenomenon in Indian politics.) Also, the BJP has lost a seminal leader (without mass appeal though) with the expulsion of Jaswant Singh. And, when his party stands only to lose in the latest Jinnah controversy, Modi looks desperate to gain at least something from the whole episode.
But, democracy is all about peaceful co-existence of varying views and concepts. It’s supposed to be an institution where everyone has equal rights to speak up and be part of the social discourse freely and fearlessly. Only a fascist administration can suppress and forbid criticism and opposition.
