Intolerance of Dissent: the Descent of Decency

The big news yesterday was Jaswant Singh's unceremonious ouster from his political party, the BJP, of which he has been a loyal member for 30 years, and in more recent times has been an integral part of its senior leadership. Apparently it was about a book he wrote (though no one called it out as such, and this might have well been the last straw in a series of acts of dissension on his part). The book, which was launched earlier this week, is about Mohammed Ali Jinnah who, according to the hard right-wing in India, was responsible for the partitioning of India. And apparently he was honest and sincere in his analysis of Jinnah, in the book -- several members of India's intellectual elite seem to think so (I haven't read the book, but am inclined to believe them). And so the BJP high command wasted no time, didn't even bother to wait to come back home from their off-site ideological brainstorming meetings, and gave him the Dear John message over a phone call. What a way to go!

To make matters worse, Narendra Modi banned the book in Gujarat, presumably because it did not show Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in a very generous light. ("The book aims to tarnish the image of the architect of the country's unification and son of Gujarat. The state government has decided to ban the book in public interest" according to a press release issued by the state government -- source: ToI). Can this book be classified as porn? No. Was this book aimed at inciting people to commit acts of treason or violence or otherwise break the law? No. Then how different might banning the book make us, from Ahmadinijad's Iran or Kim Jong-Il's North Korea or the Taliban? Liquor is also banned in Gujarat, presumably because they don't trust its citizens to drink responsibly.

I guess Modi fears that citizens of Gujarat (a state over which he has absolute control, or so he'd like to think) will read Jaswant Singh's book and start admiring Jinnah and stop admiring Sardar Patel. If Modi had control over India, he might have banned the book across the whole nation, and if he had control over the whole world (what an orgasmic fantasy for hardcore megalomaniacs) he would expunge the book and make like it never even existed. I respect the citizens of Gujarat for their intelligence and their spirit of entrepreneurship (yet to understand how they tolerate Modi), but, man! am I glad I live in a state where I have the right to enjoy my single malts and to read a book on Jinnah by Jaswant Singh. And I hope and pray, really hard, that people like Modi and others of his ilk don't take control of this country.

At this time, it looks like the BJP is far from coming back to power at a national level, but one can never be too certain -- stranger things have happened. Which leads me to think about what I would do if this country were taken over by people who ban books and paintings (remember M F Hussain?) and other forms of intellectual and artistic expression. When they should actually be banning organized gangs of hooligans who molest women (remember the Mangalore pub incident?) and attack churches (Orissa, Karnataka and elsewhere). In a recent post at my 'main' blog, about a week before Independence Day, I wrote about how a leadership model based on fear might excommunicate dissenters -- an uncanny premonition perhaps, that this would happen to a man of Jaswant Singh's stature barely a week after Independence Day. Not that I am a big fan of his, but I am huge fan of freedom. As long as it comes with responsibility. Unfortunately, it seems the BJP considered Jaswant Singh's actions to be irresponsible, though several key BJP personalities went on air last night on various TV news channels, to admit that the book was 'intellectually honest'. But they hastened to add that it was not aligned with the party's ideology, and that he should have know better. Well, yes, he should have known better. He made a mistake alright -- in spite of 30 years of hanging with this crowd, he did not see the extent of their ideological fascism and their intolerance to dissent or diversity.

And so the BJP, in their wisdom and in their own spirit of freedom and democracy (zealously defended by their spokesperson in TV interviews last night), thought that they ought to be righting a wrong. But, sadly, have ended up wronging a right. A fundamental right. In the context of my last post here below, this represents yet another reason why I think that there just isn't enough sincerity in the voices that sing 'Sare Jahaan Se Achcha' these days.

Meanwhile, the controversy, which has erupted in all leading dailies today, will immensely increase demand for the book and its publishers will laugh all the way to the bank. Leaving a shocked and broken Jaswant Singh wondering what he did wrong.

Posted via email from HyperActiveX's (Pre)Posterous Posts