Censorship perverts Mahatma’s principles

Recently, the Gujarat government banned a book written on Muhammad Ali Jinnah by invoking section 153/A-B of the constitution. This incident refreshed memories of Gandhiji in my mind. The British government arrested Gandhiji on charges of sedition for his article written in 1922; he was awarded imprisonment for six months. The incident was portrayed by Gujarati painter Ravishankar Rawal, who was present in the court during the trial. This painting is still lying at the Circuit House in Ahmedabad as a testimony to the incident.

Moreover, at the time when Mrs Indira Gandhi was the prime minister, she spread the message 'Indira is India' and sent many politicians to jail and also brought charges of sedition against them.

It is sad that these politicians forgot the meaning of freedom envisaged by Gandhiji. They misinterpreted freedom as transfer of political power from the whites to the blacks. This is why they started conspiring to eliminate freedom of expression.

Defining freedom in his book, (Young India, 1925)), Gandhiji had said, "It means undertaking unceasing endeavours to free oneself from government control; whether the government is foreign or of our own country. Moreover, true freedom is not achieved when political power is in the hands of the few, but when every citizen gets equal courage to protest against misuse of power."

In states where books are banned, don't you think 'freedom' means continuous endeavour to keep the people under control? And since we are talking about books and articles, we must talk about writers as well. In 1936, when Gandhiji was the president of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad, he asked men of letters, "For whom we are going to create literature? For Kasturbhai & Co,  Ambalalabhai or for Sir Chinubhai? They could patron as many writers as they wish and purchase many books because they have money. But what about the women? They are looking for an identity too."

The prominent personalities of the literary world do remember Gandhiji's comment on the language that could be understood by the Koshias (labour class). But are there any authors or publication houses willing to either create or publish literature for the poor in the villages. Even the institutes set up by Gandhiji are not promoting any such activities.
 Many literary laureates are still presenting women as mere puppets in spite of the fact that women of the Gandhian period came out on the streets making demands for their rights.

Gandhiji had realised the strength of women during the satyagrahas in South Africa, and this could be one of the reasons why women remained on the forefront during the freedom struggle, undaunted by the probabilities of going to jail. Gandhiji's inspiration coupled with such an electrifying atmosphere led the women to set up Jyotisangh in 1934.

At the time, women, except those who owned property, did not have the right to vote during the Ahmedabad municipality elections.

It was when the women associated with Jyotisangh rallied for the fundamental right that this marginalised section was brought to prominence.

Although Gandhiji championed the cause of women, he failed to do the same in the case of the dalits (schedule caste) and labour class.

For Gandhiji the term untouchable was a blot on Hinduism. But, on the other hand he accepted varna vyavastha (caste system) and said, "I do believe in varna vyavastha. The castes are based on traditional professions," (Navajivan 1931).

He did advocate abolition of untouchability and even appealed whole-heartedly to the upper caste Hindus to accept dalits. But he never really motivated the dalits to fight for their rights.   Unfortunately, the idea of untouchables persisted in Gujarat and is being practised even today, subtly in some places and blatantly in others.

To add to this, social issues are becoming more complicated, leading many to believe that the freedom achieved by Gandhiji by means of Ahimsa is a sham. The need of the hour is to fight for both political and social reforms.

(The writer is a social activist.)