“Where the Clear stream of reason has not lost its way- into the dreary desert sand of dead habit”... “My Father! Let my country Awake”, wrote Gurudeb Rabindranath Tagore. Alas! It has been 65 years since our Independence and we still haven’t woken up. Recent arrest of Cartoonist Aseem Trivedi on Sedition charges seems no different from Sedition charges imposed by British on various nationalist journalists and news papers. In the Cat and Mouse game between the British and Amrit Bazar Patrika, where in the British passed Vernacular Press Act, 1878- with view to stopping the circulation of vernacular language papers; it only backfired on them, when the Patrika came out overnight as an English News paper! The arrest would only make Mr. Trivedi and his cartoon more famous- with his cartoons ending up to be more searched on the internet!
Be it the “3 wolves” cartoon or the “Gang Rape”/ “National toilet” cartoons– any normal observer would only look at them as “Cartoons against Corruption” and not demeaning the symbols of our country. With the government targeting most of the IAC protesters, the arrest is no surprise, per se. But what is troubling is the fact that we live in a country which is run by a corrupt government and unfortunately, there is no credible alternative to this government either.
In the movie, “Spiderman”, Uncle Ben says- “With great power comes great responsibility”. That is true for both the internet users and the government. Unfortunately, neither have the moral or ethical consciousness to self-regulate and critically evaluate their actions. Power, in the mischievous hand, could prove ruinous- and history is full of insights into this. It was the crippling, suffocating and demeaning lives that we Indians suffered under an alien rule- that had helped our Founding Fathers to enshrine our Fundamental Rights and ensure us, the citizens our “Right to freedom of speech and expression” under Art 19 (1) (a) along with reasonable restrictions in Art 19 (2). This bring me to the article in- The Hindu, today, which has quoted Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai, who says, “...I find it amusing, but also very dangerous that you can get away with hate speech in this country, but parody and political satire leads to immediate arrest. Why don’t they go after those who incite violence?” Isn’t that something?
Power Vacuum in this country began with the demise of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. With the mushrooming of corrupt leaders and poverty of tolerance to criticism, the present political sphere of India sure gives a grim picture about the future of this country.
But the ray of hope lies in the fact that more people have found their voices. More people now, are aware of the plight they are in and know their Rights and Duties. Time is ripe for carving out a new and better India. All we need is- a Pandit Nehru.
Be it the “3 wolves” cartoon or the “Gang Rape”/ “National toilet” cartoons– any normal observer would only look at them as “Cartoons against Corruption” and not demeaning the symbols of our country. With the government targeting most of the IAC protesters, the arrest is no surprise, per se. But what is troubling is the fact that we live in a country which is run by a corrupt government and unfortunately, there is no credible alternative to this government either.
In the movie, “Spiderman”, Uncle Ben says- “With great power comes great responsibility”. That is true for both the internet users and the government. Unfortunately, neither have the moral or ethical consciousness to self-regulate and critically evaluate their actions. Power, in the mischievous hand, could prove ruinous- and history is full of insights into this. It was the crippling, suffocating and demeaning lives that we Indians suffered under an alien rule- that had helped our Founding Fathers to enshrine our Fundamental Rights and ensure us, the citizens our “Right to freedom of speech and expression” under Art 19 (1) (a) along with reasonable restrictions in Art 19 (2). This bring me to the article in- The Hindu, today, which has quoted Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai, who says, “...I find it amusing, but also very dangerous that you can get away with hate speech in this country, but parody and political satire leads to immediate arrest. Why don’t they go after those who incite violence?” Isn’t that something?
Power Vacuum in this country began with the demise of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. With the mushrooming of corrupt leaders and poverty of tolerance to criticism, the present political sphere of India sure gives a grim picture about the future of this country.
But the ray of hope lies in the fact that more people have found their voices. More people now, are aware of the plight they are in and know their Rights and Duties. Time is ripe for carving out a new and better India. All we need is- a Pandit Nehru. 
3 comments:
The last cartoon says it all.
To arrest a cartoonist for nothing but mere expression of what has been happening shows us how corrupt the politics of this country has become!
It really is the time for the "Common Man"- US, to rise!
loved the last one, but we still have a long way to go , we are not mute spectators but that is not helping either ..
I head of a few things happening where some leaders have got some people arrested for silly things .. SAD where this happens , the voice of truth is being subdued with use of force ..
Bikram's
Jawaharlal Nehru was a great Leader and a great Statesman; Now in our
country there are no ' leaders'; we have only petty, "professional" , self-serving politicians ...
MAWLEY.
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