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India - A declared democracy within an undeclared emergency.

(cartoon credits : Sajith Kumar )

People who have lived their prime through the 1970s perhaps wouldn't need much new knowledge on what and how the emergency period was. The darkest era of democracy as someone once said and I quoted in a previous article. The similarities between the Indira government and the Modi government was pointed out in various ways and by various authors around the globe. The question of are we in a state of emergency today is indeed something that would make one hesitant to say no. Thanks to outrages among the citizens for their basic rights. If that sentence smelt like there was a tad pinch of annoyance in it, you weren't wrong. But this is not my point of view, it's the government's.

Ever since 2014 to the present, the graph of conviction in sedition cases have gone uphil in a quicker pace, compared to those convicted in murders, rapes, human trafficking and much more. Maybe the pandemic graph is the only one that could be put on a race with that. From 8th November 2016 to 16th February 2021, we have had atleast 3 huge protests against the government that has grabbed global attention. India slipped down in world democracy index, press freedom index, safety for women ranking, economy etc. But what kept rising was the unemployment rate, internet shut downs, riots, vigilantism, sedition charges and ofcourse, the deaths of thousands gasping for breath.

But the question asked was whether India is in a state of emergency? And do these facts provide an answer to that? No. These facts only provide the foundation stone for an emergency situation like before. The foundation consists of dissent, free speech and the right to live with dignity. Emergency is simply the demolition of that foundation. Or perhaps it's not. I welcome a dissent to that opinion of mine. Dissent is the most beautiful thing in a democracy. Because dissent, makes us all human in nature. It tells one that it is okay to not like something. It tells one that it is okay to talk about things you don't like. But who decides what differentiates one's likeness and one's hatred is another question that needs to be answered. 

To answer that question, we need to get to another question. How independent are we? Are we really away from the British Raj? To those in the echoes of 'yes' perhaps hasn't come down to the facts yet. Our law books still contains close to 3/4th of it's provisions those were made by the British. Even though we have repealed many of them, the thoughts planted by them into an average Indian's mind has moved down the lineage.

The sedition law was made in favour of the queen and later, the same was added to the Indian law system during the colonial era of the nation. It was made to silence the "woke" citizens of the land. Citizens who wanted to speak for the independence of this great nation. They were silenced, suppressed and slammed with sedition charges. Even as time passed sedition laws remains to be a part of the Indian penal code as section 124-A. The very same law that was brought to the land for the suppression of the nation's voices for freedom, was still held onto even after gaining the freedom. Funny thing is, the very British who brought the law into India, repealed it in their country during 2009 whereas we still hold on to it. 

Today sedition law in India is one of the most charged laws on activists of all fields as long as they have made a gesture or word that criticized the government. From Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to a 21 year old activists, the law has been used to silence the voice and not the noise. 

How independent are we? When we still hold on to the laws given to us by the British which were used to suppress us. What difference does it make when the motive remained the same but only the person has changed? How are we not in an emergency if there is no humour sense but definitely humour censored. How are we free to speak when we have to pay a price for it? 

"If he was never charged with sedition, if he never went to prison, if he never had to fight for it, he would have never been known to us as Mahatma."


Comments

  1. Harsha Das17 February 2021 at 23:25

    Well annoted of the glass cage of freedom. U can talk, see, sense but never really feel 🤗

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sreerag Shylan18 February 2021 at 08:39

    Thank you :)

    ReplyDelete

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