Yesterday, after seeing the news, I was shocked to learn that an article (about Burqas) allegedly written by Taslima Nasreen in a Kannada newspaper got thousands of Muslims agitated who demonstrated their anger by vandalising public property in Shimogha. Three people were killed in the violence and the police firing that followed. It brings us to two things:
Why is Indian Government not having a proper stand on freedom of expression? If certain ways of writings / speech may hurt the religious sentiments of people (whichever religion they belong) then it is best if it is avoided, especially in a highly sensitive society like ours. On one hand the Govt of Karnataka is issuing an apology saying that it will not allow publishing of articles that would hurt the sentiments of Muslims. On the other hand the Indian Govt considers Mr M.F. Husain as a national pride. Mr Husain, who, in the name of art and freedom of expression ended up hurting the religious sentiments of millions of Indians. When Qatar is offering him citizenship, Indian Govt wants him to turn it down. This seems quite biased. It makes more sense to have one of the two – complete freedom of expression or a clear law restricting statements in any form of media that would hurt the religious sentiments of any community. For obvious reasons, I would support the latter.
Secondly, vandalising of public property. Regardless of caste, creed or religion, there is a section of society which seeks to express their unhappiness on certain issues through damaging public properties. It is not a solution. X is angry with Y but Z gets affected. This is what happens in mob violence and subsequent results. This can be dealt with strict actions against those responsible which would serve as a warning for others.An alternative would be to ensure that everyone has some basic education, work or a good standard of living which would actually prevent them creating such issues for fear of disrupting their own comfortable lifestyle. In this case I would prefer former because though latter is the correct solution it would take decades to bring about such a change.
Why is Indian Government not having a proper stand on freedom of expression? If certain ways of writings / speech may hurt the religious sentiments of people (whichever religion they belong) then it is best if it is avoided, especially in a highly sensitive society like ours. On one hand the Govt of Karnataka is issuing an apology saying that it will not allow publishing of articles that would hurt the sentiments of Muslims. On the other hand the Indian Govt considers Mr M.F. Husain as a national pride. Mr Husain, who, in the name of art and freedom of expression ended up hurting the religious sentiments of millions of Indians. When Qatar is offering him citizenship, Indian Govt wants him to turn it down. This seems quite biased. It makes more sense to have one of the two – complete freedom of expression or a clear law restricting statements in any form of media that would hurt the religious sentiments of any community. For obvious reasons, I would support the latter.
Secondly, vandalising of public property. Regardless of caste, creed or religion, there is a section of society which seeks to express their unhappiness on certain issues through damaging public properties. It is not a solution. X is angry with Y but Z gets affected. This is what happens in mob violence and subsequent results. This can be dealt with strict actions against those responsible which would serve as a warning for others.An alternative would be to ensure that everyone has some basic education, work or a good standard of living which would actually prevent them creating such issues for fear of disrupting their own comfortable lifestyle. In this case I would prefer former because though latter is the correct solution it would take decades to bring about such a change.
very true! was traveling back to Chennai along with friends from chidambaram in a car... hit a big traffic jam before cuddalore in the state highway... bumper to bumper traffic for miles together... know what's the reason... a political party's workers (r should i say goondas) blocked the traffic in highway.. the reason was somebody had tore their leader's poster.. yeah u heard it right traffic was stopped for 2 hours coz a poster was tore.. real shame on law n order
ReplyDeletewhat a waste of time and resources due to these hyper emotional brainless clowns! real sorry state of affairs here...
ReplyDelete