Column

From film theatres to publications, every space for public debate is being attacked by hooligans just because someone disagrees with an idea .

We are used to being attacked for expressing our views. So the violent attack on Loksatta editor Kumar Ketkar’s residence this week was alarming, but not astonishing. For vandalism, the chosen weapon of the morally weak and ideologically decrepit, increasingly rules our public space.

From film theatres to art galleries, publications to libraries, every space for public debate is being attacked by hooligans just because someone disagrees with an idea, an argument or an image. Very often, these vandals belong to a political party and are protected by the powers-that-be. Thus, simple criminality turns into a complex political game of power that erodes our democratic rights. When badly cornered, we shout ‘Freedom of expression!’ which may keep the government at bay, but not goons.

Of all these freedoms of expression, we are most vocal about press freedom, our pride and joy since before Independence. We have defeated every effort to muzzle the press by even the mightiest politician. Our free press sustains our democracy, just as our democracy sustains our free press. So when that freedom is threatened, we are alarmed.

And the attack on Ketkar’s residence could assume those proportions unless the state deals firmly with it.

Ketkar was attacked because members of the pro-NCP Shiv Sangram Party disliked his editorial criticising the idea of spending crores on Shivaji’s statue instead of addressing everyday problems, including starvation. This goondagardi is just criminal vandalism, like robbery or mugging, not to be glorified by acknowledging the goons’ moral indignation. There are legit ways of lodging protest and unless they use them, we should treat them all as no different from thieves and pickpockets. This lowly vandalism will only turn into an attack on freedom if the attackers — including Shiv Sangram leader Vinayak Methe — are not brought to justice.

Chillingly, this week we have had two such efforts to curb press freedom in Gujarat. Narendra Modi’s government brought a criminal case against distinguished sociologist Ashis Nandy for a newspaper article critical of sectarianism in Gujarat. And the Ahmedabad police slapped sedition charges on resident editor Bharat Desai and a reporter of The Times of India, Ahmedabad, for publishing news reports about police commissioner OP Mathur’s dubious connections.

The attempt to silence Nandy, one of India’s most eminent thinkers, speaks of a government scared witless of intellectual discourse. Expecting a sociologist to not analyse society is somewhat absurd, though maybe not for Modi. Just as absurd is the charge against TOI for committing what may be libel, at the most. But why go for plain defamation when you have the terrifying though ridiculous charge of sedition? By reaching for the dusty laws by which the colonial masters once shackled the freedoms of Indians, the Gujarat government has shown its true colours, yet again.

But we have had attacks before. Like the arson, looting and murder by goons of M Karunanidhi’s son MK Azhagiri, at Kalanidhi Maran’s Sun TV and Dinakaran offices in Madurai last year. Unfortunately, we saw it more as a family feud than as a murderous attack on media freedom. Last year, we had a startling attack when the Delhi High Court sentenced four Mid Day journalists to prison for printing news reports and a cartoon about YK Sabharwal, former chief justice of the Supreme Court.

As long as it has legal sanction, any kind of intimidation curbs media freedom. And when abuse of power has become routine, the need to protect media’s freedom is greater than ever.
The writer is Editor, The Little Magazine.
Email: sen@littlemag.com