Section 66A: Nightmare for citizens who dare to dissent

The year 2014 saw history being created with BJP winning their largest ever mandate for the Lok Sabha. It was attributed to a star studded campaign led by Narendra Modi and his promise of Achhe Din. However, in the first few months of the government, there have been numerous so-called “U-turns” by the BJP in terms of the promises made by them. One such promise was to reconsider and amend the Section 66A, which was misused in several instances by the state governments and police to arrest people during UPA’s rule, and was vociferously criticised by the BJP who compared it to the strategies used during the Emergency.

But BJP’s recent stance in the Supreme Court over the Act has startled and disappointed the public. In a shocking response to a recent PIL filed against the act in the Supreme Court, Arun Jaitley defended the government’s stand on the Section 66A Act and said that the law is well-intentioned, but is prone to misuse and abuse, which is contradictory to what the BJP had said when the Congress was in power. He further added that the criticism of section 66A and other provisions of the IT Act that are being challenged, amount to privileging the interest of giant Internet companies over the rights of Indian citizens.

But there appears to be a hidden motive behind BJP’s reversal of stance. In the past few weeks, online websites have been bombarded with criticisms of BJP leaders making farcical religious statements. Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Yogi Adityanath, Tejaswini Gowda... the list is unending. Even someone like Sushma Swaraj made a contentious statement that Bhagvad Gita should be declared as the national scripture. And if prejudiced statements weren’t enough, RSS went a step further and forcibly converted 57 Muslim families to Hinduism in Agra. Moreover, Modi’s silence on these matters has only emboldened his party’s leaders.

Although the government has turned its back on many promises it made in the election campaign, it gives the impression that the reversal in BJP’s stance on Section 66A is meant to accommodate more Sadhvis and Yogis. Modi knows that Indians use social media to express their indignation and with the rapid penetration of Internet in the country, there is a strong possibility of outrage spiralling into street protests. Besides, with the BJP coming to power in various states, more Yogis and Sadhvis will emerge and indulge in hate-mongering rhetoric. Since they are representatives of Hindutva and extremely popular among certain sections of society, Modi will remain indifferent to their comments in the future as well. Meanwhile, the state governments and police will use the Act arbitrarily to suppress dissent. 

Recently, Modi expressed his intent to reverse the government’s stand and reconsider Section 66A to prevent its misuse — evident in the 2012 Kolkata incident, where a Jadavpur University professor was arrested and charged with Sec 66A for forwarding an email which had cartoons on the Bengal CM. However, it remains to be seen whether Modi has factored in the RSS, affiliate groups and the so called “godly men and women” when he decided to reverse his stance. His silence and refusal to make a statement over the RSS’ affiliate group’s role in forced conversions in Agra proves that he will remain tight-lipped when it comes to Hindu leaders and groups.

The author is the founding member and data editor of The Political Indian