74th Independence Day | Is room for reasoned debate shrinking?

School students perform during the full dress rehearsal for Independence Day parade, at Mini Stadium in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir on August 13. (Image: PTI)

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear: George Orwell

As another Independence Day nears, the shrinking space for freedom of expression in India is a cause for great concern. Over the years the leeway even for reasoned debate has been eroded to such an extent that today one can debate on sensitive topics only by putting oneself at physical risk. Just about anything can be deemed “sensitive”.

When Article 19 (1) of our Constitution was being drafted by the founding fathers of our nation, they did say that all citizens will have the right to freedom of speech and expression, but then they made it clear that such freedom was not absolute, and was subject to restrictions by the State. The problem arose when they outlined these restrictions without defining them in detail, which meant that the State could find virtually anything objectionable.

For example, violation of decency and morality was one basis on which freedom of speech and expression could be restricted. However, what was indecent and immoral was left to be decided on a discretionary basis. So too for several other restrictions. This has led to States interpreting the law in the manner they deemed fit, leading to a virtual assault on the freedom of speech and expression.

The explosion of social media has led to several situations where inflammatory and objectionable material, which would have never found its way to print, is freely circulated to audiences of hundreds of thousands. The State is certainly justified in taking action when such material is prejudicial to maintenance of law and order, but often such posts have not elicited action. Instead, government after government has been cracking down and arresting those who put up social media posts abusing chief ministers or other government or political functionaries.

In the last two years we have seen such arrests in most states, but notably Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Kerala, Tripura, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Why the Chief Ministers can't sue these people for defamation is beyond comprehension. After all, these are personal posts against an individual who happens to occupy a public office. They may be slanderous, libellous or defamatory, but how are they a threat to the State? Yet such posts are often met with arrests.

During the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime, a man in Puducherry who posted ‘objectionable’ material against Karti Chidambaram, son of former Finance and Home Minister P Chidambaram, was arrested despite the fact that at the time of the incident Karti Chidambaram was not holding any public office. Thus, the message is clear. You write critical posts about those in power at your own peril. Everyone from the social media user to the journalist and cartoonist is at risk.

India's rank in the World Press Freedom Index has fallen to a sorry 142 out of 180 countries. RSF, the organisation that publishes this ranking, says in its latest report that the “pressure on the media to toe the Hindu nationalist government’s line has increased. The co-ordinated hate campaigns waged on social networks against journalists who dare to speak or write about subjects that annoy Hindutva followers are alarming. Criminal prosecutions are meanwhile often used to gag journalists critical of the authorities, with some prosecutors invoking Section 124a of the penal code, under which “sedition” is punishable by life imprisonment.”

Even cinema, a traditional medium of expressing angst against the system is lying low for fear of not knowing who would get offended by what and the consequences of such actions.

To be fair this is an issue where almost every political party must share the blame. Whether it is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or the Congress, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) or the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or the Trinamool Congress Party (TMC), every party has stifled uncomfortable voices leading to the erosion of a valuable freedom guaranteed by the Constitution.

The Emergency may be an oft quoted example, but over the years there has been a gradual and creeping assault on the freedom of speech and expression. In many ways this has been far more dangerous. The U-turn taken before the Supreme Court by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on Section 66A of the IT Act shows how all parties wish to retain the power to throttle discordant voices and control public perception. One difference between the earlier days and the present is that those who carry out the assaults on freedom now hunt in packs. Backed by armies of online trolls and paid agents, the creation of a dangerous narrative is a lot quicker.

Freedom of speech and expression is one the core principles at the heart of a true democracy. A genuinely nationalist narrative must ensure that all opinions are heard, however uncomfortable they may be. As Patrick Henry, one of the founding fathers of the United States, said, “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government — lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.” In India that time of domination has long arrived. It is time for every Indian to introspect.

Sumanth Raman is a Chennai-based television anchor and political analyst. Views are personal.