It is a measure of how far India has moved away from the liberal principles underlying its constitution that sedition charges have been slapped on an actor-turned-politician for saying something good about Pakistani people.
All hell broke loose for 33-year-old Ramya for challenging Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar’s contention that “going to Pakistan is like going to hell.” The Kannada actor who recently visited Islamabad to attend the SAARC summit for young parliamentarians, was all praise for Pakistani hospitality to foreigners, especially Indians.
A private petition was filed against the actor at the judicial magistrate’s court in Somwarpet in the southern state of Karnataka last Monday, urging the court to register a case against her under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with sedition. She has been accused of “insulting India” and “provoking the people of India” by “appreciating a traditional enemy.” More was to come. Her car was attacked y protesters in Mangaluru also in Karnataka on Thursday. They hurled eggs at her cavalcade despite heavy police presence. Activists of Yuva Bharat, a pro-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) organization in Mysuru, launched a postcard campaign urging Ramya to “shift to Pakistan.” Local TV channels aired scenes of demonstrations in which certain right-wing groups loudly and hysterically alternated between burning her pictures and stomping on them. One frame had a number of grown men flipping slippers at her poster.
But Ramya is not the only victim of the sedition law. It has been used against Amnesty International India, after Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the parent organization of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), complained that anti-India slogans were raised at an Amnesty meeting in Bengaluru. Eight other persons including writer Arundhati Roy too face sedition charges.
The law as it stands attracts a penalty of life imprisonment. In colonial times, this law was used to silence dissident Indians but today it is used freely to silence legitimate dissent. Criticizing a political leader, a particular ideology or even expressing praise for a foreign nation can attract provisions of the law.
India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, described the law, namely section 124-A, as “highly objectionable and obnoxious” and told Parliament, “The sooner we get rid of it the better.” But India’s most misused law still holds a pride of place in the country’s law books The Narendra Modi government which has scrapped 1,159 obsolete laws, too has left it untouched. The only difference is that in the past the law was used sparingly. Now any act of dissent and difference can land a person in trouble though India’s apex court has limited the application of Section 124A to acts involving incitement to violence.
The law is being misused by those who are against diversity and tolerance to intimidate or silence their opponents. Such has been the extent of misuse that some people wonder whether calling for the scraping of the sedition law may itself be considered seditious now.
The hearing in the complaint against Ramya has been put off to Oct. 19. Most probably, it would not stand judicial scrutiny. But the real issue is the attempt to silence those who hold critical views or views the ruling party finds uncomfortable. This should be seen in the context of some other disturbing developments in India after Modi took over — things like attempts to impose the ruling party’s narrow views on nationalism on others and vigilantes taking law into their hands against those who they suspect consume or sell beef or show disrespect toward cow, which Hindus consider holy. Narendra Modi may play statesman on global stage but his followers or party men sing a different tune at home.
If Ramya is guilty of treason, what about those who have visited Pakistan including current and former prime ministers? The larger question is how can Modi make peace with Pakistan while his own defense minister calls that country a virtual hell.
