Growing Intolerance to Freedom of Expression and civil liberties

Need judicial reforms and a debate on the issues of sedition and governance


By Vidya Bhushan Rawat


As year 2010 is approaching to an end, the outrageous verdict pronounced by a Raipur court to Dr Binayak Sen is a reminder of how judicial system is working in India particularly the lower judiciary. It has not only shocked the nation but also proved that in this country any talk of senses would be dealt by the government and its authorities in the similar way. It is more shameful when we find the same charges being leveled against Arundhati Roy for alleged ‘anti-national’ remarks on Kashmir. It is sadly a poor reflection on how things are manipulated in India by authorities.. Definitely, it shocked the middle class upper caste Hindus also who think how such charge can be leveled against him. So far treason and sedition charges are always domain of the ‘Muslims’ but now we are turning more ‘secular’ for the same.

But my issue is not with what Binayak Sen and Arundhati Roy write or who they meet which actually is part of the life of all of us who claim to work for people. As human rights activist we are supposed to meet and visit people who feel they are threatened and wrongly abused by the state and its authorities. All this is part of democratic process as the aim is to bring people to negotiating table and force the state to be more responsible. State has all the power and that power need to be used with utmost care and more responsibility and accountability. State can not act in a streetfight acting on tit for tat slogan.

We all know that in the past 20 years, India has further degenerated in to the core values of state’s responsibility. The directive principles of our constitution guided us to make a responsible state towards the Dalits and Adivasis. As the assertion of Dalits and Adviasis grew, the state started abdicating its responsibility in a very shrewd way. The two important issues that are part and parcel of our struggle are Land Redistribution and participation in power structure through reservation in the government jobs. Since 1990s, they became target of the ruling elite. Hence on the one hand, the subsequent government in post 1990s opted for opening up of Indian market and thus killing our farmers on the one hand and allowing privatization of more and more companies thus reducing the job quota to a virtual nil in the government sector. This was the silent poison introduce by the government. The ruling elite were not satisfied with this only. The marginalization and isolation of Muslims was complete. Though this country has a history of communal disturbances yet Babari demolition shook the very basic foundation of our nationhood yet nothing happened to those who were behind the killings of people and incited hatred against the ‘second largest community’ in India Contrary to what we felt that these communalist forces would be thrashed and sent to jail, we saw Lal Krishna Advani became deputy prime minister of the country for his Ayodhya Kand. Narendra Modi became chief minister after massacring thousands of Muslims in Gujarat and Kalyan Singh who took oath to defend the Babari Mosque was sentenced to one day imprisonment for a clear act of sedition which actually created an unprecedented divide in the country. We did not a find single sentence for those who allegedly were responsible for massacring thousands of Sikhs in Delhi’s 1984 riots. After 1993 riots Bal Thackrey’s Shiv Sena came to power in Maharastra. Why not a fast track court for our politicians? Can there be any case against Lal Krishna Advani, Narendra Modi, Uma Bharati and Kalyan Singh under sedition. No, they have raised the consciousness of this country for Ram Mandir, the ‘most important’ issue the country, hence they got awarded with power in the country. Actually, questioning the mainstream politics has become very much like a blasphemy law in India and that could send you to jail. This has to be challenged at all level.

If these things were not enough to break the bone of the people of India, the power brokers forced the government to grab the fertile land of the country. Millions of hectares of land was handed over in a throw away prices to the industrialists who suck our blood from morning till evening. The authorities were hell bent to grab all these for the ‘development’ of our country. In each spheres of our life we find rampant corruption which is killing us. Our politicians, bureaucrats, journalists, along with corporate have looted our resources and displaced people from their own places without providing an alternatives. No debate is taking place in parliament on the issues of national concern. If one party opposes certain initiative, they are doing the same in their state. The Hindutva people knew it very well that a cocktail of ‘capital’ and ‘brahmanism’ is best suited to protect their interests in India and hence they have Brahmanised the Indian polity resulting almost no opposition for government policies on corporate. That is why any mention of ‘Hindu terrorist evoke such sharp reactions in Indian media. They do not have same when we refer to Islamic terrorists or Muslim terrorists. The media already become part of the power gangs and judiciary out of domain for the poor, there is no way out for the poorest of the poor. The issues of tribal are in direct conflict with the issue of development. It is not that they do not want it but then the question is whether any one of us ever thought what they want. The democratic deficit in tribal land turned their anger against the state. Hundreds of them have been arrested and put into the jails for no faults of them. Their voices rarely got representation in the mainstream for the sake of ‘community representation’. It is difficult to understand that even the political parties claiming to work for them rarely raised those issues in Parliament and state assemblies.

Land grabbing helped all those contractors come in close contacts of the power elite. Each event in this country has relation with land grabbing and corruption. It is therefore important why right from Common Wealth Games to building of dams, parks, hotels, resorts, SEZs, High ways are the out come of a big disease called brahmanical capitalism at the moment being developed under the supervision of power elites. There is no debate for it as most of them have their hand strained in the blood of the people. That the issue of corruption will never become an issue as it does not influence people who have grown up in worshipping our political class. The only thing is that it has decentralized. Earlier it has brahmanical hegemony but now slowly the Dalit-Bahujans are also having their take in it though their percentage seems to be very low. But at the end of the day, the impact of this is on the poorest of the poor whether it is taken by any one. You can only be good if you dance to the tone of corporate. Hence a Nitish Kumar will turn sour if he does not allot land to some Tatas or Ambanis on throw away prices like Naveen Patnayak.

When the voices of opposition are nowhere then who has to play the role of it. Hundreds of local struggles have emerged up against the state policies which are uprooting people from their land. Whether it is Chhattishgarh state which is currently being ruled by a non tribal and that is the biggest irony of the state,. Similarly, other states have been governed by those who did not remain behind to keep the Dalits and tribal out of their developmental plans. States such as Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Tamilnadu, Gujarat, Maharastra and Uttarakhand, have provided their fertile land and water resources are at the cost of their people to these greedy corporations, many of whom are being run by our ‘esteemed’ politicians, are facing the protest of the people who are resisting every bit of this illegal take over of their land cultivated and nurtured by their ancestors. For ‘national’ media these are ‘regional’ news but the unrest is high though not formidable as people have to look for their next day meal too. It is not my contention that people do not need development but as a human rights defender, I must add that if State has failed to improve the condition of the people then its sovereignty has no right to take the lives of the people. Where is the state when tribal are dying of hunger or their women are being raped by our police and forces? Will they not turn the people against its might? Why is Kashmir boiling? Why is the North East still unable to reconcile to us? It is not that they do not want to be with us but how have we treated them. Can a Kashmiri Muslim get a room on rent in our cities? What do the girls of the North East face truants in Delhi and other parts of the country? What are we as a state? A State of racist nature, which look down upon those who it feel different than us. Yes, as a nation we still worship the white skin and look down upon the black.

Therefore, it is logical for humanists, human rights activists, and social action groups to play the role of the opposition. The issues of Human Rights of the Dalits were taken to international agenda not by the political parties but by the Dalit rights activists who spoke there and presented despite the powerful opposition from the shameless government of India which denied existence of caste based prejudices in India citing the laws and acts in Indian constitution. It is important for the health of democracy that political parties raise the issues concerning the masses but over the last 20 years politics has just become the game of non political actors and that is a dangerous phenomenon. Political parties might have empowered some of them but it is the social movements which have changed the lives of the people. And since many of the writers, activists, struggles for people’s right over resources are challenging government’s action particularly on the issue of sovereignty they are easily targeted as ‘being anti national’ or supporting secessionists or in more popular discourse, supporting the Maoists. For a nation to survive as a healthy democracy, it is important that we have an open debate on issues concerning our people. A debate on Kashmir can not be judged on Barkha Dutt’s upper caste show on NDTV. It needs to be organized in Kashmir and let those champions of Hindutva be there and speak among the masses. The issue of Advasis, need to be discussed with their people and not with one or two members showcased in the TV studios of Delhi to justify that ‘we have space for ‘their’ voices. Let the journalist report going to nook and corners of the country and not become part and parcel of our ‘intelligence’ network. The greatest danger to our democracy is the growing disappearance of demarcation line between a reporter and an intelligence person, between a PR person and an editor. They all have merged together so much that it is important to know who is the person and what is he writing.

The self styled mainstream media has rarely spoken for people who are rotting in our jails. They speak for Dr Binayak Sen as they feel he was one among them. It is a class-caste consciousness which has shocked them that if such a thing could happen to him, it might happen to them. But the fact is media has completely lost interest in people’s issues. Binayak Sen is not important. Important is the issue of charges against him and the way police framed him. Important is to question our sedition laws and the issue of my right to criticize the state. He was critical of Salawa Judum which the state felt was providing justice to the tribal who were not Naxalites. Even the Supreme Court had held that state can not give private citizens right to kill each other and Salwa Judum was that. Hence, questioning state polices today is being considered as challenge to our sovereignty. Therefore, I am also happy that this verdict will expose the Indian judicial system, its courts, its trial methods and how they function. It is indeed a case for judicial reforms in India.

Therefore, it is not necessary for me to dwell on the argument of Dr Binayak Sen or Arundhati Roy which may suffer from flaws and we all have those flaws as we become too sensitive to the issues close to our heart and that is what true about those who fight for people’s right. We may differ on our perceptions but as writers, authors, human rights activists always believe in their perceptions and beliefs and that makes them different than others. We are not political leaders who speak for the ‘people’. We speak our voices and our feeling. As a human rights defender, I write many things which many may not like, of course, many others like them too yet, it is important that this freedom remain unchallenged. For, because of such people, the forces of state and its sponsored campaigns and laws are challenged.

Is not it a hypocrisy that when a Chinese dissenter got Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year, Indian government send its representative to attend the ceremony despite China’s effort to dissuade India from doing so. It was a great gesture in support of a human rights defender for democracy in that country who has been allegedly framed for treason in that country. Its shameful that Binayak Sen’s case is becoming a very similar one where the state is hell bent to prove that he worked against the state.. Binayak Sen might not have done so many things but in their dirty tricks the government officials will only make him bigger and larger than life. The world will only cry foul on conviction of the local court which looks like a kangaroo trial. For long there have been demands for a National judicial Commission and implementation of quota for SC-ST-OBCs, in the judiciary so that the judges themselves understand their issues with utmost care before passing a judgment. The courts have actually become biggest obstacles in progressive laws. Most of the judges have biases against Dalit-Adivasis and their issues related to them. The issue of quota is being made redundant through judicial interventions. Similarly, land reforms failed in India as in most of the cases the high and mighty went to court against land ceiling laws. The brahmanical minds created various side ways to destroy all the reforms and acts.

Binayak Sen has a formidable background as a doctor as well as a civil rights activist and hence his case became internationalized otherwise ordinary mortals like us would never ever think of civil libertarians and news papers supporting this freedom. Hence, we must support his release and ask for a thorough scrutiny of the conditions in Indian jails and reform in the judiciary. Binayak Sen is definitely bound to get justice but in the din of hello being created around, we must not forget thousands of innocents being put in the jail for being Jehadis, Naxalites and what not. Any one raise the issue for his right is charged with challenging the state and this mindset has to be challenged. It is time to start a complete debate on these issues which have emerged out of Binayak Sen’s conviction.

Civil Liberties Under the threat

Is India fast turning into a police state?

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

As India grows to become global power, the penetration of civil society, media and other instruments of state become stronger and visible. While it might not be to the likings of those in power when they see protest against forcible acquisition of land in the name of ‘development’. Portraying India as a democracy is easier as we have everything which makes us a successful democracy in the world. We have the ‘best’ constitution. We have president who ‘epitomizes’ ideal Indian woman, chief justice of India from the most marginalized community. The chief minister of India’s most populous and perhaps most criminal state of Uttar-Pradesh is a ‘Dalit woman’. We have so many from the marginalized communities that it looks as if we are a mature democracy.

But the brutal fact is that we are still a democracy which works on symbols. So when symbols are questioned, our maturity as a democracy comes to an end. Therefore, each of these symbols whether they belong to the most marginalized communities or women, feel irritated once they are questioned. The governments of the day feel that these babus in their secretariat provide them the true information. Every act of the state which is questioned is considered as blasphemy.

Over 30 years ago, Indira Gandhi became larger than life. Any criticism of Indira became a challenge to the nation and the critiques were put behind the bar. But that was very small thing. Today, the states are becoming highly inflammable and intolerant to any criticism of their functioning. They want a media which could report on their press releases. They want civil society to do the work designed and defined for the construction contractors hence you find more NGOs in the domain of contractors. Very few have got the guts to speak up against this tyranny.

One need not to go into political ideologies or international connections of civil society groups here but the basic of why the state and its authorities are getting tizzy over criticism need serious analysis. When Binayak Sen was arrested in Chhatisgarh, the same argument was given that he had linked with Naxalites. A state which has surrendered and can not protect its citizens is blaming a human rights activist who has been sincerely doing his work, is termed as a ‘sympathizers’ as if sympathy with a group become anti national. One does not know what does it mean but definitely all those who once upon of a time wrote that Maoists were terrorists in Nepal, will have to shut their mouth and sit with them as people’s power have brought them. Binayak Sen is still languishing in Jail despite appeal for his release by international community. His continuous confinement shows how mature are we as a democracy.

Just a few days back, about 18 farmers contested election as mark of protest in Polepally, Mehboob Nagar, Andhra Pradesh where Andhra Pradesh government is developing an SEZ. The land acquired made a majority of the people of the area completely landless and penniless. The state’s forced acquisition did not give people time to think. Political parties play blame game and yet when they come to power, behave in a very similar way. Hence when the farmers contested in the polls as independent candidates, they all calculated and yet were not allowed to protest. If the chief minister comes to the town, all the contestants were illegally detained and let off in far away places.

Illegal detention is part of our police culture. It is to stop you speaking in open. It is state’s intimidation with out killing you. It is basically killing us all the time. Movements are divided, rifts are created among them, laws are interpreted in such a way that no one would believe in democracy. Why should any one believe in it if after 20-30 years of struggle and faith in the highest law of the land, people do not get justice? The case point is Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar, where over 150 Dalit landless workers were involved in their struggle for livelihood. About 1167 acres of land was illegally possessed by a company named as M/s Escorts Farms Ltd. Despite Allahabad High Court verdict which was later upheld by Supreme Court, the state government refused to implement the order. Even the Lokayukta of Uttarakhand found that the officials of the government have violated the law and done contempt of the court, but nothing moves. A fresh petition was filed by Social Development Foundation in the Supreme Court of India with Justice K.G.Balakrishanan and Justice Ravindran issued notices to Uttarakhand government against the same. Not every one can go to the court. By the time, people reach Supreme Court, their patience is gone, and a number of them do not even remain alive to see the dooms day. Hence in democracy people are using other techniques for their redressal like social audits, public hearing, people’s tribunals and many innovative ideas. Unfortunately, the government officials have become too intolerant to these ideas as they have become instruments for public shows and media relation exercise. The officials, habitual of hiding facts know that under tremendous pressure of civil society, they won the issues like Right to Information which is being used by people to redress their issues. In fact, it has become an obstacle in the freedom of the officials. Now, issues like Social Audits of the government programmes have also made people aware of their rights. Those who enjoy ignorance of people at the cost of their livelihood are now feeling challenged and confronted and therefore various acts of intimidations.

Therefore, questioning government and authorities may cost you life as happened in the case of Lalit Mehta, a social activist of the right to food campaign in Jharkhand, who was shot dead when as he unearthed massive scandal in the NREGS. Shockingly rather than arresting the culprit, the government reports implicate noted economist Jean Dreze, the inspiration behind right to food campaign. It shows how the governments of the day function and how ignorant its officials are about the persons leading such movements. It is not their fault but the culture we have developed in the government which they are the law unto themselves.

The point is that these cases will go on and on. We will highlight them and ultimately put the erring officials to scrutiny but what happens to the people. Many of the people in these cases are old and by the time justice comes they are no more. In the Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar case many lost their children. Cases were filed against them for ‘disturbing’ peace. Similar thing happened in Polepally as just a day back, a young woman drank poison as her family was in a difficult situation after the land was forcibly taken over by the government. Now, over the years apart from mobilization as form of protest, organizing alternative strategies such as blogs, silent protests, fast and public hearing are fast becoming instruments of civil society. As corporatised media is controlled and give news according to their own interest, we have to find, who will be interested in our stories. But if you are not politically correct and are not into any fixation into ‘this’ or ‘that’ political formation, then even the best known ‘secular’ paper like ‘the Hindu’ can ditch you. And we know how faithfully it reported the events of Nandigram.

The ‘democratic’ Marxists are most undemocratic. Apart from fudging the data, playing with numbers to prove them with ‘impeccable’ credentials, they have been romanticized by aid agencies, people working for land rights and those working on secularism in India. Yes, outside Bengal, they fight for people’s right over resources, they are organising public hearing and being part of it. They are role models even for their ‘worst’ critiques like ‘world bank’. ‘Frontline’ gave them hundred percent marks for ‘elimination’ of manual scavenging and wonderfully handling the Nandigram crisis. When public hearings are considered as part of people’s protests and their faith in democratic values, in Bengal, the police order have put question mark over such things. That human rights organization, MASUM, which is working against torture and custodial deaths, organized a Public Hearing against the victims of police atrocities in Kolkata on June 9th and June 10th. It is strange that the state government felt offended with the activities of a civil society organization where a former Chief Justice of a state high court and a former chairperson of National Commission for Women, participated as observers. Have public hearing or people’s tribunal become parallel government? Perhaps the governments of the day want to believe that. Unfortunately, they do not understand that people’s tribunal helps the victims to understand the legal dynamics of their cases. People’s tribunals are like watch dogs of the government action so that they can be improved. Like any civil society these are lawful activities with legal luminaries and government authorities participating in it.

In a civilized society, governments of the day need to be on the toes. No government, however, old or big might be is above the rule of the law. Government’s authorities are responsible to people. Their activities need to be questioned. The state human rights commissions are becoming redundant. Even the activities of NHRC are limited. And even with in those parameters, the governments are not interested in forming these commissions. The case point is Haryana where a woman who was raped by the constables of Haryana police committed suicide in front of the DGP office after failing to get FIR against the erring policemen who instead of surrendering tried to implicate her husband. Haryana which is notorious for honored killing and caste based crimes, does not feel it necessary to have its own State Human Rights Commission.

The assaults on human rights defenders will grow in the coming days. They would be asked to toe the government line. Like the embedded press, perhaps, the government is looking for embedded human rights activism. They find it difficult since their own institutions which they constituted are not functioning according to their fancies. It is time, Indian officials and police adhere to international norms and practices. Any act of intimidations to human rights activists will only damage the forces of rule of law in the country. As long as there will be assault on people’s right whether they are fundamental rights or rights over resources, people will fight for justice and for that they will not only need strong national laws but support and collaboration from international laws and civil society. Human Rights movement world over are supporting people’s cause and need full support. We must decry and oppose to any attempt to intimidate people to express their opinion and exercise their right to organize a public hearing which is part of any civilized democratic system to highlight the plight of the victims. If that is taken away from us, there will be no difference between a democracy and a military junta or a martial law regime anywhere in the world. Wake up India, otherwise, it would be too late.