Roy-ter Speak

Quite frankly, I'm amused and a tad beleaguered at the recent press coverage and political outcry over Arundhati's Roy's remarks on Kashmir. 'Seditious' and 'anti Indian' howled the media and the political class. How smugly self-serving and convenient indeed!

While, Roy may have overstated her case in suggesting that India is an occupying power that imposes its rule on Kashmir through torture, brutality and rape, she can't be labelled a traitor by any far measure. Her concern in connection with the state resorting to violence to kill violence, at the cost of violating fundamental rights and basic human dignity in the valley, is valid and, holds good in India as it would in any other democracy across th globe. Roy may have chosen strong words, in keeping with her characteristic style, but worrying about her remarks having serious consequences on the socio-political fabric of Indian society, is taking it too far.

A regional right wing political party head, known to have moulded his career in politics based on incitingly fiery speeches, even today continues to unabashedly provoke his partymen to not just take the law into their hands, but more often than not define the law for the land and forcibly play it out too. His speeches, partisan for the most part, are hard hitting, below the belt and slanderously libellous against individuals and religious minorities to say the least.  Indoctrinated by an ideology whose time has long since past, the party head has constantly encouraged the politics of caste and religious genocide, only to gain political mileage and votes.

All this is very 'Indian' by no means seditious I suppose, since at no point in time then or now have I once heard the media or political class even blinker about curtailing the right to this individual's right to freedom of speech. Strange no? If a curtailment, as is being mandated against Roy by these very folks, was ever warranted, it would first have to be mandated against this man. There is strong justification and documented evidence for it too. But no! Nothing of the sort has ever happened this far and the man continues to roar as and when it pleases him. It happens all the time, where politics is concerned, especially that of caste. So why now then, when there is absolutely no reason to believe that Roy's statements will have any such larger consequences, or fuel public outrage are these folks crying hoarse about curtailing the right to an individual's freedom of speech? Beats me, really. A case of different strokes for different folks, I'm guessing or, pure double standards, if you please.

To quote Vir Sanghvi, from his though provoking Op-Ed, in the Hindustan Times, last Sunday: while the principal of freedom of expression of speech can be curtailed on grounds of sedition, the principal of freedom of expresssion is far more important than any individual. Such curtailment should only be restricted to those times when there is real threat to the unity and integrity of the country. Point to be noted Tiger.