A huge failure on Vir Das, Kangana Ranaut and freedom of expression

There is also another India where an equally large number of people (to be fair, in India, any group is big by definition) on stand-up comic Vir Das ‘insulting’ their motherland in front of an international audience Express resentment, appreciate what goes on. Indians abroad have to act like the Hindu ideologue Vivekananda, who spoke while enthralling his audience at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. (The group that admires Vivekananda forgets that the philosopher actually called for religious tolerance and an end to bigotry, a message similar to that of Das). That Second India then loudly applauds actor Kangana Ranaut for telling the bitter truth about India’s freedom struggle because, in her view, the relevant turning point in Indian history was 2014, which was seen as Year Zero.

Those two Indias can hardly stand each other. The East yearns for a liberal, inclusive, secular India that is committed to democratic ideals and prides itself on its culture of non-violent struggle, unity in diversity, and which believes India is staring into the abyss today. The latter is tired of what has been described as ‘pseudo-secularism’, which has placed India in a dark valley; It is convinced that India is finally on the climb as it wraps itself in fanatical nationalism, and considers those who disagree with the world view of ‘anti-national’, offering a bizarre caricature of fascist movements around the world. They both coexist in India, want stern action against the other. As citizens of the republic of hurt feelings, neither side understands the value of freedom of expression.

Surely we are like that. Art, movies, books, forms of music, songs, jokes, cartoons, advertisements and messages sent on social media have all created fury. Canvases have been cut, movie theaters are attacked, books have been banned or burned, a stand-up comedian has been arrested only on the presumption that he is not allowed to come on stage, exchange cartoons, etc. -May say something offensive even before providing or liking them online. The U.S. has led prosecution, commercials have been shut down after outbursts of outrage, and in some horrific instances, writers have been murdered. The country swears by freedom of expression, but it cannot guarantee freedom of speech after all. say something that offends anyone, and the state, whose job it is to protect human rights, will ask the speaker to remain silent; It will not tell the person who claims the crime to do something else, or to read or watch something that hurts him less.

A mature society would laugh at Ranaut’s hilarious statements when she was being interviewed by a TV personality who describes herself as a journalist. His performance perhaps proved the adage that the meek will inherit the earth. In the week that he received the civilian award from the President of India, Ranaut spoke very seriously, showing that the country has developed a tolerance for bad information. And yet, some aggrieved Indians filed police complaints against him, giving widespread, undesirable posture to the expression of profound ignorance.

But the second India was not being denied to share in the fun. Old misogynistic remarks made by Das not only to show how bad boy he is, two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers filed a complaint against Das for insulting the country. They usually take their cues from their leaders: In February, when popular singer Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg criticized India’s agricultural laws, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar apparently criticized them, rather than ignore them. It felt right to do This is not just the suffering of the ruling BJP; Congress leaders and workers, in various incarnations and versions of the All India Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, as well as left-wing political parties, have shown little tolerance for their leaders or views criticizing their views.

Feeling hurt is a quality that unites most Indians and the list of what cannot be said gets longer by the day. Writing about the 1975–77 Emergency, columnist Behram Contractor, who wrote under the pseudonym Bijibi, said that there were only two safe topics left that were worth writing about: mangoes and cricket.

Given the criticism that Indian cricketers Mohammed Shami and Virat Kohli have received after India’s poor performance in the recent T20 World Cup, cricket is also no longer safe. Undoubtedly. After all, in his famous non-political interview of 2019, actor Akshay Kumar asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi if he liked mangoes, and whether he had them cut, or preferred them uncut. Such is the level of permissible discourse in a country where a comedian is scolded for telling something truthful and an artist is revered for confusing fiction with fact.

Salil Tripathi is a writer based in New York. Read Salil’s previous mint columns at www.livemint.com/saliltripathi