From satire to sedition:Indian democracy

The arrest of Aseem Trivedi recently on charges of sedition for having drawn satirical cartoons, including one that depicts the parliament building as a lavatory buzzing with flies, was seen as an attempt to stifle the freedom of speech and expression, a fundamental right under the Indian constitution.

The episode catapulted the hitherto unknown 25-year-old to the position of a national hero, with his cartoons echoing popular resentment against a scandal-plagued government. Social media was abuzz with his pictures and twitterati  made #AseemTrivedi one of the most searched items on the micro-blogging website.

Trivedi’s arrest showed an alarming trend in Indian democracy — that of smothering opinions and ideas not in line with the credo of the political class.

From the prime minister’s office which attacked International media for being critical of Manmohan Singh to the imprisonment of a West Bengal professor for poking fun at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, politicians seem to have forgotten to take criticism in their stride. Instead, they choose to counter-attack it.

‘Block, ban and censor’ seems to be the new motto for politicians; be it the decision to remove a cartoon from the school curriculum or block more than 300 web pages and a number of Twitter accounts, including several spoof accounts impersonating the prime minister.

The government’s increasingly conservative shift is also reflected in its proposals to introduce alcohol permits or statements that Indian culture doesn’t allow women to smoke.

So, even as we try to make the world believe in the India growth story, it looks like many our policies are regressive.

It’s ironic that India flaunts to the world its technological prowess with its 100th space mission and at the same time brings sedition charges against a cartoonist depicting the current political climate.

Perhaps the government believes a cartoon is more seditious than corruption perpetrated by its own ministers.

Democracy - a government by the people and for the people providing political and social equality.

Hypocrisy - the state of pretending to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs and principles but not actually having them.

India - the world’s largest democracy or hypocrisy?

Keep the doors open!

A nation that has no cultural heritage is like an orphan who has nothing to feed upon. An individual human being, a race or a nation must necessarily have certain roots somewhere. India is deep rooted in the culture of her past—the glorious past. It  is difficult to sum up her heritage in a few words as she has given birth to many great movements in religion ,art and literature.The India of today has a rich past over which we can look back with pride. Our past has given us a definite way of life, which is typically Indian and yet universal in approach.

The Indian culture has persisted through the ages precisely for the reasons of antiquity, unity, continuity and the universality of its nature.Its most prominent feature is that it combines many cultures. The South, North, and Northeast have their own distinct cultures and almost every state has carved out its own cultural niche.It has always been a land of  great variety and has shown great capacity for absorbing what came to her from outside.

Throughout her past, India has preached and practiced tolera­tion and understanding .These factors permeates the whole fabric of Indian life.Its charms and graciousness endures due to the philosophy of life which we have inherited from the past. What­ever we do, however great or small, is colored with religious sentiments. From the planting of a tree to the establishing of an industry, all are regarded as pious acts. Training and education, marriage and procreation, birth and death are all tinged with reli­gious fervor.

It is true that somewhere we are loosing our roots and our attitude towards life is now rapidly becoming materialistic. The glamour of the western way of life with its glorification of material prosperity and its wonderful achievements in the field of science and technology, has modified our aim and ambitions. A new orientation has been given to Indian life. The ideal now chiefly adored is success or the ability which produces success. 

However, it would also be not a very wise decision to completely resist the winds of change and remain adhered to the past values and principles of life. We must not close our doors to the influences from the outside world. If those influences are good, they will strengthen the basic concepts of our culture and so enrich it as to make it truly representative of the life of our people. What is to be avoided is a blind imitation of cultures and values.

 Even though our cultural heritage is very substantial, but it alone cannot enable us to improve the quality of life and living standards of nearly one billion people of India. We have to energise our attitudes by incorporating the democratic spirit of Americans, the cultural love of the French and the enterprising spirit of the Japanese to regain our past glory and to extricate our teeming millions from the clutches of poverty, backwardness and inertia.