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Journalism of Courage
Where are the tall leaders who could put an end to this experiment in censorship?
The UPA government may have only been true to character when it keeled over at the first hint of political uproar against cartoons in NCERT textbooks. Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal hurried to withdraw the book with the newly controversial Ambedkar cartoon,without a minimal attempt at debate,and Pranab Mukherjee said that books with cartoons of leaders will be withdrawn and appropriate action taken against those who indulge in such acts. But whats most disturbing is the unanimity with which all political leaders in Parliament agreed no,competed to show zero tolerance. The Ambedkar cartoon was just a first flimsy excuse,the entire tradition of political caricature may be under threat. Other anodyne cartoons in the NCERT political science curriculum featuring Jawaharlal Nehru,A.B. Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh are said to have incurred the strong displeasure of a section of MPs. Lampooning leaders will now bring heavy consequences. Given that many MPs from Arun Jaitley to Ram Vilas Paswan have strong memories of the Emergency,and of defying it,it is indeed sad that they now seem so comfortable simply whiting out material from a textbook. We rely on the good sense of our legislators to uphold free expression,and this inability to see an old cartoon for what it is makes them more laughable than anything dreamt up by a satirist.
Who could have predicted that todays MPs,stung by the so-called lack of respect for the political class,would choose this absurd way to demand it? Our experiments with censorship have gone too far. It is now up to our tallest political leaders to put an end to this competitive intolerance,and speak up for an increasingly disused freedom.
