Protect healthy dissent

The last thing we need is a police state

Indian government’s initial knee-jerk reaction to Arundhati Roy’s bold statement on Kashmir gives the impression that the world’s largest democracy is inching towards a police state. The political decision not to go ahead with colonial `sedition’ charges against Roy seems to stem from realization that it will only bring international limelight on Kashmir, which the authorities don’t want.

Also, slapping such charges on a person of international repute is sure to bring a lot of disrepute to India. Is India stupid enough to arrest her for speaking out her mind? India doesn’t want to be seen as an Iran or Myanmar, known autocratic nations notorious for stifling independent voices.

While Indian media joined the righties, baying for Roy's blood, a newspaper from England needed to tell us it was under the same colonial and outdated law of sedition that the British government put none other than Gandhiji behind the bars for six years. As this Guardian editorial rightly points out, the attempts go against India’s tradition of “open debate and healthy dissent”. This is what makes India different, a beautiful place to live, in spite of all the shortcomings.

Efforts to muffle dissenting voices don’t bode well for the country. It’s easy to brand anyone anti-national when they speak in a different tone, against what the authorities want us to believe and utter. What right do we have then to talk about jailed Lui Xiaobo, the Chinese campaigner for democracy? What is the difference between India and an autocratic Iran, which has been putting those dissenting bloggers behind bars since 2004?

“Rather than chase after a novelist for speaking at a seminar, the Delhi government would be better off investigating the 100-plus people who are believed to have died in violence in Kashmir since June,” says the editorial.

For the rightwing BJP, Roy’s comments were whiff of solace, for it gave them perfect fodder to deflect attention from RSS’ association with terrorism and the indictment of its leader Indresh Kumar. The controversy over Roy came at a time when it is increasingly becoming clear that the patriotic saffron party is the wholesale trader of bomb-making and the killing of innocents.

Predictably, the whole issue sparked a media vaudeville, because it involves the 'anti-national' Arundhati Roy. The OB vans of prominent TV channels were ready at Roy’s residence even before BJP’s women cadres reached there to protest against her Sunday. Roy’s doubt is genuine: “What is the nature of the agreement between these sections of the media and mobs and criminals in search of spectacle?”

Even the government decided not to proceed against Roy on sedition charges. But the right-wing BJP and the media don’t want to spare her. Before chasing Roy, the government should now order an enquiry on the likely collusion between the mob who assembled before Roy's house and these TV channels.