Image Credit: Amit Modak
What was all the talk about repealing of the Article 66A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 and people in cyberspace celebrating the historic verdict?
The draconian law enabled people sending offensive messages in cyberspace to be sent to jail with a maximum possible punishment of three years apart from monetary fines. However, the biggest drawback was, ‘offensive’ was undefined and a highly subjective term. Often personal opinions, cartoons and objections, mostly against political or socially influential outfits were forced to be kept shut. The aam aadmi and satirists among others too were forced to spend time behind bars for an ‘offensive’ post or tweet.
Fortunately, the act was quashed following a Supreme Court verdict on March 24, 2015 and people appealing for freedom of speech on the internet revelled in its success. But, the celebration wasn’t to last forever. Within two weeks of the judgement, a privilege motion against socialist Shobhaa De for her expressing her opinions on Twitter.
Her tweet was a response to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who had demanded prime time slot for Marathi movies in multiplexes.
Devendra ‘Diktatwala’ Fadnavis is at it again!!!From beef to movies. This is not the Maharashtra we all love! Nako!Nako! Yeh sab roko!
— Shobhaa De (@DeShobhaa) April 7, 2015
“I love Marathi movies. Let me decide when and where to watch them, Devendra Fadnavis. This is nothing but Dadagiri,” De wrote on Twitter.
I love Marathi movies. Let me decide when and where to watch them, Devendra Fadnavis. This is nothing but Dadagiri.
— Shobhaa De (@DeShobhaa) April 7, 2015
“No more pop corn at multiplexes in Mumbai? Dahi misal and vada pav only. To go better with the Marathi movies at prime time,” she further added.
No more pop corn at multiplexes in Mumbai? Dahi misal and vada pav only. To go better with the Marathi movies at prime time .
— Shobhaa De (@DeShobhaa) April 7, 2015
Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik passed the motion against her and demanded an apology for offending Marathi sentiments. The point here is no longer about the ban. The recent trend of banning has made the public at large write, voice and at worst, laugh out of frustration. From films to food, everything is getting banned. Choices are being restricted. In this case, an opinion was controlled and threatened.
While the intention of the chief minister is to promote regional movies – which is acceptable – but it is bound to have contrary opinions; of support and of disagreement. In a democracy, the public which votes the government to power have every right to disagree. The constitution, by design, allows every Indian citizen the freedom of expression.
Objecting to the chief minister’s view was a matter of personal opinion. And in case of this, for all the political newsmakers, it was an opinion by a Maharashtrian on Marathi films. When the talk of hurting Marathi sentiments come into the picture, shouldn’t De’s roots be considered? Isn’t she Marathi enough for her sentiments to be taken into account?
Additionally, it was voiced in the most harmless manner possible – a few non-derogatory words typed out adhering to the 140-character limit on Twitter. There were no flinging of chairs, throwing of papers and other violent reactions people in India have gotten used to seeing in the parliament or legislative assembly, where politicians often resort to unparliamentary methods or languages to disagree with each other’s views.
Yuva Sena’s chief Aadity Thackeray too resorted to a respectable form of protest when he felt TRAI should not to end the net neutrality. Can’t his party member too follow suit and be more open to debates and discussions rather than taking extreme measures? (Also Read: Open Letter to TRAI by Aaditya Thackeray; lets them know #IndiaWantsNetNeutrality)
According a Times of India report, if De is served with a notice, she will have to explain her views before the assembly. If the Maharashtra assembly finds her views objectionable, she could even face a jail term.
Let us have a look at instances wherein privilege motion wasn’t passed against politicians for speaking out their EXPERT opinions:
1) “Bade bade shehro me choti choti baatein hoti rehti hai.” – RR Patil on the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai.
2) If he (Sudhakar Khade) wanted to become a MLA, he should have at least committed rape after the election.” – RR Patil on a roll!
3) “Ladke to ladke hai, ho jaata hai.”- Mulayam Singh’s statement on a rape case in Uttar Pradesh.
4) “I believe that Salman Khurshid would never do a scam of Rs 71 lakh. That’s because Rs 71 lakh is a very small amount. Had it been Rs 71 crore, I would take it seriously.” – Beni Prasad Sharma.
5) “Earlier if men and women would hold hands, they would get caught by parents and reprimanded but now everything is so open. It’s like an open market with open options.” Mamata Banerjee on increasing rape cases in the country.
6) “When the urban middle class can buy a bottle of mineral water for Rs 15 and icecream for Rs 20, why do they make so much noise about price rise?” – P Chidambaram on the coal mining scam.
7) “Boys and girls should be married by 16.” – Om Prakash Chautala.
8) “Homosexuality is unnatural and a disease.” – Ghulam Nabi Azad.
9) “Earlier the Bofors was a talking point. People forgot about it. Now it is coal. This too will be forgotten.” – Sushil Kumar Shinde on coal scandal.
10) “We will stop 99 per cent of the attacks. But one per cent of attacks might get through and that is what I am saying.”- Rahul Gandhi after Mumbai attacks.
11) “People of Uttar Pradesh are beggars in Maharashtra and Punjab.” – Rahul Gandhi at it again!
12) “If there is electricity in every village, people will watch TV till late night and then fall asleep. They won’t get a chance to produce children. When there is no electricity, there is nothing else to do but produce babies.” – Ghulam Nabi Azad said when he was the health minister.
And here comes a case wherein a privilege motion has been passed against Shobhaa De. What for? For giving her point of view on the matter, for exercising her freedom of expression – her birthright as an Indian citizen? (Also Read: AAP backs Shobha De on multiplex tweet row)
The question is, for how long will the freedom of expression be tampered with? For how long will the voices be silenced? For how long will our rights be denied? Everytime the basics have been suppressed, there has been a revolution. For greater good no one wants violence, but are these politicians stretching their luck a tad too far? In last year’s general elections, Indian National Congress suffered for all their gaffes. Political outfits can’t continue to play around with the basic rights of citizens.
In, Ache Din Aayenge, we believe.
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