Indian Express, Sunday, December 02, 2007
Pamela Philipose
It is only in India that we take the right to freedom of expression seriously. So seriously, in fact, that we freely exercise our free right to freely interpret our right to freedom of expression. Phew, hope I got that right. Of course, my freedom of expression may not be your freedom of expression, but I will defend to death my freedom to express my version of freedom of expression and your right to agree with my version of freedom of expression. The recent kerfuffle over Taslima Nasreen unleashed four distinct versions of our freedom of expression. There could, of course, be many more, considering there are 1.1 billion of us. But I will confine myself to these four . . .
The Sangh Parivar Freedom: This is a very subtle and super-refined philosophy of freedom of expression. So please pay attention or you may miss an important nuance.
There are many activities this important community committed to freedom of expression believes should not find expression. Valentine cards, denim jeans, and ‘Ba, ba, black sheep’ may figure in the list. So it unleashes its most excitable cadres, suitably equipped with crowbars, to storm shops and schools in defence of freedom of expression.
However, when it comes to Salman Rushdie, they are the first to come out on the streets in defence of his right to express. This commitment is truly praiseworthy. However, Rushdie being right, should not be taken to mean that M.F. Husain is also right. Sometimes Husain’s canvases need to be slashed or inked out in pursuit of their freedom of expression. Now, generally, the Sangh Parivar is not welcoming of Bangladeshis. In fact, they believe they should not be recognised as life forms but herded together and sent home. However, given its largeness of heart and vision, it is prepared to allow one Bangladeshi, Taslima Nasreen, not just right of residence but full citizenship, with hospitality thrown in, courtesy Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Fortunately, Taslima is not a student at the Baroda University of Fine Arts, or Modi may have had to send in this police to beat her up and jail her for expressing her right to express herself.
Mullah Freedom: This may seem something of a misnomer but that is because you don't understand what real freedom of expression is all about. Real freedom is letting anyone issue a fatwa against one and every thing. Mullahs are big on gender. They passionately believe that every woman should freely express her freedom of expression. But she should do this but within the chardiwari , or four walls of the home. Arrey, it's a whole universe out there, so why should they complain? Who is there to stop a woman from expressing herself by making a really good mutton biryani or shammi kebab? Now mullahs don't have much of a view on M.F. Husain, at least not when we last checked.
West Bengal Freedom (sponsored by the state government): I dare anybody to deny that the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government is not committed to culture. Fine films that testify every day to freedom of expression are regularly screened at Nandan — with the chief minister himself often in attendance, sparing time from onerous labours at Writers Building, like directing cadre action in Nandigram. However, the state government sometimes feels the need to go the extra mile to protect freedom of expression. It does this by occasionally banning Taslima Nasreen’s books or sending its police to protect her freedom by pushing her into a taxi and handing her a ticket to Timbuktoo. In an eloquent token of their commitment to freedom of expression, the state government even paid for Taslima’s transportation, without demanding TA/DA forms to be filled.
Freedom, Govt of India style: The Manmohan Singh government is committed to protect the Constitution, and does this by sitting on a fence while keeping an ear to the ground. It will defend the constitutional right to freedom of expression of every citizen with all the power at its command. Provided it does not jeopardise the Congress’s Hindu vote or the Congress’s Muslim vote, or indeed the Congress’s Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, Bahaai, Dravida, OBC, SC/ST, Upper Caste, Medium Caste, Other Backward Caste, or SC/ST vote.
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