Immediately after the Shinde-Fadnavis government
announced its decision to withdraw the award given by the State Sahitya Sanskriti
Mandal to the marathi translated version of the book ‘Fractured Freedom’, there
was a huge uproar from the opposition. Of course, it was anticipated. And as
expected their protest also came high pitched. A section of the people who
otherwise talk highly about principles of freedom of expression, independence,
equality, fraternity, democracy, liberalism, etc have suddenly woken up and as
usual began criticising and expressing their disgust against the
Shinde-Fadnavis government, against the Bharatiya Janata Party and against the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
In fact, some have also applied and returned their
awards to the state government. They are asking if parallel Marathi Sahitya
Sammelan can also be held. These think tank, intellectuals, writers and
journalists have the knack of using the principles of freedom of expression,
democracy and others as per their ideological convenience. Now we all know that
ailments like blood pressure and diabetes are inherited. Similarly, these
writers and intellects have inherited the liberty to use freedom of expression
as per their convenience. And hence time and again, these people need to be
shown their true faces.
When orders to kill authors like Taslima Nasreen and
Salman Rushdie were issued, these people became mute spectators. In 1977, a
Marathi Sahitya Sammelan was held in Pune. P.B Bhave, the writer who advocated
ideologies of Swatantryaveer Savarkar was appointed to chair the sammelan. The
Marathi Sahitya Sammelan that was held on the ground of SP College was
disrupted by the activists of the Yuva Kranti Dal. To oppose Bhave’s Hindutva
stance, this chaos was planted during the sammelan.
At that time, the entire Marathi intellectual and
literary world was stunned by this socialist-style suppression of freedom of
expression. But not a single intellectual felt the need to insist that the
ideological battle must be fought with ideologies only. Bangladeshi writer
Taslima Nasreen’s novel Lajja led to an uproar from Islamic groups. The book
was banned as it was accused for being anti-Muslim. Taslima had received
threats and fatwas were issued against her by their religious preachers.
Finally, she had to leave Bangladesh and take refuge here in India. At that
time, these preachers of freedom of expression in India blatantly refused to
back Taslima. On October 29, 2020, Taslima had tweeted “Boycott Islam”. Saket
Gokhale, a left winger and the
Congress had claimed that Taslima’s tweet was to incite
religious hatred and hence they filed a case against her. Taslima had also tweeted
that there is a need to reform this religion. The intellectuals and the
literary community had raised an uproar against this as well. The left think
tank has always shown the audacity to strangle freedom of expression.
In the book ‘Fractured Freedom’, Naxalite and Maoist
ideologies have been openly supported. One must remember that it was the
Naxalite ideology only that had rejected the Indian Constitution; had taken law
into their hands and had killed hundreds of police personnel. Not a single member
of the left wing or preachers of socialist ideologies had dared to utter a word
about the police personnel who were martyred in the violence of the Naxalites.
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar gave the country a way to solve
all the problems in a peaceful manner through the democratic and legal system
established by the constitution. But the Naxalists and the Maoists challenged
it and tried to implement a parallel system based on violence. Such Naxalist
and Maoist movements have always been supported by these intellects and writers
who are believers of the left wing and communist ideologies.
On one hand these left-wing intellects will be a part of
the parliamentary democracy created by the constitution, they will contest
elections and become members of Parliament and the state legislatures, they
will hold positions of power at the Centre and in the state, they will try and
become the chief minister of a particular state and at the same time they will
also support the Maoists who takes arms and ammunition and challenge the
constitution. And these left wingers have always struck a perfect balance in
maintaining their ‘rules for thee and not for me’ ideology.
If the book ‘Fractured Freedom’ is awarded, it will be
applauding the Naxalite ideology that has always challenged the constitution.
On realising this, the Shinde-Fadnavis government decided to withdraw the award
bestowed upon this book. The award selection committee of the State Sahitya
Sanskriti Mandal announced the award to this book without discussing it with
the state government. And hence the state government has the right to withdraw
the award.
The intellects protesting the decision of Shinde-Fadnavis government to withdraw the award, are creating a ruckus over the freedom of expression. In fact, awarding a book that glorifies ideology of violence that is unconstitutional, was the biggest mistake. And hence the state government reconsidered its decision to award the book and rectified the mistake of the award selection committee. How can expecting, that ideologies supporting such bloody movements should not happen through any literary work, be called unreasonable? But these intellects have always apprehended the meaning of democracy and freedom of expression as per their convenience and showcased their double standards. On this occasion their true self was revealed.
Keshav Upadhye, Chief Spokesperson
No comments:
Post a Comment