Speedy Thorat

The UPA government has gone full throttle,for instance,for retrograde policies like retrospective taxation and draconian rules that accompany the IT Act. It enthusiastically rushed off in the wrong direction in May,when objections were raised in Parliament about a cartoon featuring B.R. Ambedkar on the grounds that it allegedly offended caste sensibilities. The moment the cartoon controversy was hijacked by identity politics,Kapil Sibal issued an apology in the House. Within hours,the usually cautious Pranab Mukherjee surprised everyone by declaring that the cartoon should not have been included in a school textbook. Incidentally,a group of MPs had expressed strong displeasure at many more cartoons of political figures in school texts. Now,the committees report cements that illiberal position.

The committee,led by S.K. Thorat,ICSSR chairman,former UGC chairman and an authority in Dalit studies,has recommended large-scale changes in textbooks,including the removal of over 20 cartoons. The best that can be said of its exertions is that they have been speedy. In fact,the government has set a dangerous precedent. Would it now set up a committee every time someone is offended? And would questions that ought to be discussed in Parliament and in the public domain be referred to committees that meet behind closed doors? That would only deepen the silence that censorship seeks to produce.