Selective freedom of expression
Balbir Punj
First Published : 18 Nov 2010 12:22:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 19 Nov 2010 01:34:06 AM IST
Civility in public discourse is one of the prerequisites for a vibrant democracy. It is in this light that both the RSS and the BJP distanced themselves from former RSS chief K S Sudarshan’s remarks on Sonia Gandhi. Sangh leader M G Vaidya has gone to the extent of asking the Congress to file a defamation suit against the octogenarian RSS leader. But can maintaining decorum in public discourse be a one-way street? And what has been the Congress record in this respect so far? The party, along with communists, has been in forefront in pasting labels, making slanderous allegations and in carrying out smear campaigns against its political opponents.
Take Sudarshan’s charge of Sonia Gandhi being a CIA agent. During Indira Gandhi’s regime, especially when the communists were her allies in the ’70s, a climate of CIA agents under every bed and in every political corner was fostered. This went to such absurd extent that a mosquito research project supported by American institutions was scuttled after reports circulated that the CIA was planning to exterminate the population of India.
Leading Congressmen went hammer and tongs against America with this story and little attempt was made from the government to nip the theory in the bud. Soon Indira Gandhi’s storm troopers were on the street linking Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan and the entire Opposition leadership to CIA. This flame was fanned by reports of CIA agents being located at every turn and CIA money funding the growing anti-dictatorship campaign. It helped the Congress to damn the Opposition and then clamp Emergency and put them all behind the bars.
During the 19 months of Emergency, JP was pilloried as a CIA agent. In 1980, when Congress returned to power, the witchhunt against JP and several Gandhian institutions was resumed and an inquiry commission was set up to nail every Gandhian activist, including JP who was dead by then. The so-called Kudal Commission report became the political Bible of the Congress and it recommended persecution of Gandhian institutions for years to come.
If calling patriotic Indians CIA agents is not bad enough, now, jihadi nomenclature is being invoked by the Congress to tar the Sangh Parivar. Rahul Gandhi publicly equated the RSS to the SIMI. Another powerful general secretary Digvijay Singh made an equally outlandish statement saying there was no difference between the LeT and the RSS. Many may differ with the RSS’ ideology but few or none will dispute the robust nationalism of its members and its leaders.
Linking Sonia Gandhi to the unfortunate assassination of either Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi is unacceptable. The Congress has for the last over 60 years sought to reassert its false propaganda about the RSS being responsible for Gandhiji’s assassination. That is despite the highest court in the land absolving it of any such action or intent. Gandhiji’s assassination had been seen by hundreds of the people who came to his prayer meeting that fateful day. The man responsible had himself justified his action.
The initial ban on the RSS was lifted thereby silently admitting that the government was wrong in imposing it. The conspiracy behind this had been unearthed and the small group that conspired to do it had been rightly punished for its unacceptable act. The investigators not only could not produce any evidence linking it to the RSS but also unearthed all the participants in the conspiracy, none of them from the RSS. Yet, the Congress has propagated this alleged link for over half a century now.
On the other hand when the security agencies unearth suicide bombing or other type of terrorist action by a group at Azamgarh in UP, and arrest some of the lead conspirators, top Congressmen make a beeline to the area and express sympathy for the arrested, as if terror is a condonable offence, if the perpetrators are from a particular community. To cap it all, the thread of irresponsible statements in political parlance come from the Union home minister who coins the usage ‘saffron’ terrorism.
Even though there was widespread condemnation of his irresponsible attempt to tar the entire RSS with such linkage, he has not till date withdrawn his remarks. Some Congress leaders were even offering sympathies publicly to the associates of the terrorists shot in the Batla House encounter in Delhi. Not satisfied with this sympathy they went to the extent of blaming the police officers who dared to trace these terrorists and later the ones whose timely action helped catch Kasab in the 26/11 attacks. No Congress leader of stature has condemned this demonstrated sympathy for terrorists by the partymen and the condemnation of police officers who lost their lives in saving the country.
There has been a spate of violent protest by Congressmen outside RSS offices all over the country in the wake of Sudarshan’s remarks. This sort of outrage is rare for Congressmen who generally ignore even the most blasphemous comments against Bharatmata or other national icons.
None of the Congress leaders chose to protest against the anti-India rantings by Arundhati Roy on the Kashmir issue. M F Husain, who had insulted Hindu gods and goddesses by painting them nude, was defended on the plea that he was using his right of freedom of expression. How come Sudarshan does not enjoy the freedom which is available to the likes of Roy or Husain?
So, it would be no surprise if the dragon seeds that the Congress has sown against its political opponents some time return to harass it. The responsibility to keep the political soil free from such false accusations is a joint responsibility of the political class. It is more so of the Congress for it is the largest political formation in the country and has been in power for most part of the last 60 years. For a change, why not the present Congress chief apologise for the false propaganda that was unleashed on, if not the RSS, at least on JP and Gandhian institutions by previous Congress regimes.
punjbk@gmail.com
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