The Critical Issue. We’re not on the same page

For many years at the World Book Fair in Delhi, we at the Zubaan stall would look out for a visitor on wheelchair. He’d come surrounded by family — his wife, also his daughter — and a clutch of his students, loyal, admiring, affectionate.

We would wait for him — he would almost always come on the second last day — and his wide, bright smile that lit up everything around him. Then he’d make a selection of books, two sets of each title he had not so far bought — one for himself, the other for his students.

For the time that he was there, Dr GN Saibaba livened up the stall, making it the focus of everyone around. Other visitors would watch him pick up books on gender or, more specifically women, while discussing the merits of each. Very often, he would find a book by an author he knew. He’d smile as he dipped into the pages, clearly recognising arguments. And then he’d pull out the money, pay and take leave. He’d return the following year, having read all the books and would spend some time discussing them. We could not have asked for a better reader.

And then, some years ago, he stopped visiting us. He’d been arrested, labelled a terrorist, jailed, perhaps tortured. At the book fair, we knew we could not look out for him any more. Everyone around asked after him — where was he, that gentle reader?

Almost four weeks ago, five people were similarly arrested on suspicion of being terrorists; a few months prior to these recent arrests, another six had been apprehended. Among them are lawyers, academics, journalists and activists. For the five arrested on August 29, the day began with a sinister knock on the door, something that people had grown to expect during the Emergency.

Many things about these arrests are strange: From what we know, an FIR filed in a thana in Maharashtra doesn’t name any of these people. Nor were they even present at the incident where they are accused of having incited people to violence. Then there’s talk about a plot to kill the Prime Minister. I find this incredible. In a strange kind of a way, it seemed to me that by putting out this story, the police were almost insulting themselves.

Consider how long it has taken the police to crack the Gauri Lankesh case. Behind the death of a journalist who said things considered inconvenient by some, lay an intricate and finely woven web of intrigue that hid the mastermind behind obfuscating layers. If such an intricate web had been woven to kill a journalist, a plot to assassinate a Prime Minister cannot surely be the stuff of emails.

Mercifully the courts have stepped in — at least for the time being — and have stood by the right of people to dissent in a democracy. But for how long must we rely on the courts? And then there is another question — it’s true that a person’s views may be different from those of the ruling dispensation. In a democracy, it is precisely these differences of opinion and belief that enrich social debate. People express different views; sometimes they even act on them. But as long as the expression and action are within the frame that all of us have set ourselves as a country and a society, surely multiple views can coexist?

As many reports have pointed out, none of these activists espouses violence; they all stand by the Constitution. They’ve not picked up guns, their weapons are words or lawful battles in the courts. Their sympathies are with the underdog, with those who are discriminated against. Should this be dubbed a crime?

It’s a poor society that can’t make ample space for dissent and argument.

One of the clichés that is often trotted out about India when awestruck tourists and visitors ask about the country is this: If you say one thing and hold it to be true, there will be something totally opposite right next to it and that, too, will be true. In terms of people, it’s often said if you put more than one Indian in a room, they will fight and say completely different things, and will believe they are right.

These battles and these discussions are the stuff of our lives. But in the India of the future, it looks as if there will be only one stream of thought and everyone thinking differently will have to be got rid of.

Is this really the country we want?

Urvashi Butalia

Urvashi Butalia is an editor, publisher and director of Zubaan; Email: blink@thehindu.co.in

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