Dear members of THE BCAS family,
As I sit down to write my last communication with you as the President of the Society, I have only one feeling – a feeling of utmost satisfaction. I have thoroughly enjoyed the privilege of communicating with you. Your response, feedback and critique have motivated me to air my views freely and frankly. On my part, it was a conscious decision to not reproduce ‘society news’ and more importantly, not to try and sound like an expert on a host of topics, most of which I know precious little about. Instead, I have used this medium of communication by sharing with you my thoughts in, what I would like to believe, a responsible manner. I thank the Publisher, Mr. Narayan Varma and the Editor, Mr. Anil Sathe for giving me a freehand.
You may wonder why I need to thank someone for the ‘freedom of expression’ accorded to me. Isn’t this my fundamental right? What’s the necessity to be thankful for something I was born with? But certain events of the recent times have left me wondering if this freedom of speech and expression could really be taken for granted.
For lack of any other index or benchmark, consider this – as per the 2013 World Press Freedom Index, India ranks a miserable 140th, out of the 179 countries on the list. Going by the number of books banned in India (example: The Satanic Verses), the number of art galleries vandalised (example: M F Husain’s paintings), the number of scholars condemned (example: Ashis Nandy) and the number of films censored (example: Ram Leela), it seems to me that the freedom of expression is not as much a right but a rare and precious privilege. In today’s times, when even the posts, likes and sharing on Facebook has met with dire consequences (example: Pune incidents), responsibility in using this privilege is the need of the hour.
I have often been plagued by questions on this fundamental right. What about you? Have these incidents irked you? What views have you formed from this? Is freedom of expression an absolute right? What does the law on this say? Is it a right that must be used at all times? Must one exercise every right just because it exists? Should one be tolerant to another’s views? My views have evolved over time and the evolution still continues.
We all know that Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India, 1949 guarantees the freedom of speech and expression. But how many of us know that there are exceptions to this freedom? Anything that affects the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order or decency and morality or relates to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence, is prohibited. While most of these are unambiguous enough, there are a few grey areas, viz., public order, decency and morality.
The standards of decency and morality vary from time to time, place-to-place and person-to-person. At times, the greatest of issues go unnoticed while in other cases, the slightest provocation is enough to create a law and order crisis. I will admit, I am sometimes tempted to shout out to get heard, if only to vent frustration. Giving up my fundamental right of freedom of speech looks like a big thing then. But then, I wonder about the possible consequences. By speaking my mind, am I spreading hatred, creating animosity, causing harm to life and property and general mayhem? If so, then must I exercise restraint?
What wouldn’t we give for people to be tolerant and respectful of our right to say what we feel! But for that to be possible, we must first educate ourselves. If we want the right to speak, then we must also fulfill our duty to hear views which are divergent from ours. If we don’t agree with an ideology, let us learn to fight back with reason and not power. Let’s learn to attack the ideology and not the person. Alas, this isn’t the situation presently. Till the society matures, we will have to use our judgement and discretion on what we say out loud.
If I were to do a cost-benefit analysis of exercising my freedom of expression, here’s what I will ask: What do I achieve by speaking my mind? If my saying something wouldn’t impact the situation, will it affect anyone else? Will that effect be positive or negative? If it wouldn’t affect anyone else, will it help me in any way? If the good coming out, using my freedom of expression outweighs the bad, nothing in the world could, or should, stop me from saying what I feel. But if not, then I need to step back. As they say in Gujarati “Na bole nav gunn”.
Like me, all of us would be coming across such situations daily. What we forward or like on Twitter, WhatsApp and Facebook, all in the name of humor, has so much potential to cause discord. We ridicule communities by labeling them dumb, stingy and what not. We involve religious leaders/figures in our jokes. We forward half truths, unconfirmed ‘news’ and help spread fear and falsehood. What’s the good that is achieved?
Before I start sounding too preachy, let me however highlight that this phenomenon is not peculiar to just our country. Almost all democracies face this dilemma. Boycotts, fatwas and excommunications are rampant all around. Let us work towards creating an environment where all are free to speak their minds. Let’s educate ourselves so that we can identify and distinguish a mischief monger from amongst us and either let law take its course or ignore him completely as a non-serious person. Let’s abhor violence or taking law in our hands.
Over the last year, I have tried to air my views. I have tried to cover a wide range of topics, all with the intent of promoting a debate and hearing views different from mine. Fortunately, I have the satisfaction of succeeding in that. Your responses to my communiqué have been overwhelming. To those who encouraged me, thank you. To those who disagreed, I respect your views. As Voltaire said, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” And If I have ,despite having no intention to do so, hurt anyone’s sentiments or sensibilities, I offer my apologies.
I thank you all and hand over this space to the incoming President, Nitin Shingala. I am sure you will give him as much love and affection as I received from you. Communicating with you has become a habit and I will miss you all.
Here’s wishing everyone happiness and love.
With Warm Regards
