Opinion Listen to Him

The hate-mongers who would send their political opponents to Pakistan now know where they can go themselves. In a public function in Kochi, President Pranab Mukherjee has said that “there should be no room in India for the intolerant Indian”. It amounts to an eviction notice for the trolls who have dominated the political discourse both online and offline. In addition, the president has specifically pointed to the university as a disputed site in the battle between competing ideas of India, and to the need to preserve its freedoms. And he has stood up for women, arguing that brutalising a woman wounds the soul of Indian civilisation. In the wake of a shameful attack on a woman student in which a Union minister allowed himself to be embroiled, this amounts to a direct indictment of the government.

The prime minister generally hears out the president. In October 2015, Narendra Modi had broken his silence on the Dadri lynching to respond to Mukherjee’s insistence that diversity, tolerance and plurality are core values binding the country together. Calling him the “pramukh mukhia” of India, Modi had embraced his line and urged the people to follow suit. Rhetorically, he had asked people not to deviate from it even if Narendra Modi told them to. Later, at a function in December, the prime minister had expressed his gratitude for Mukherjee’s guidance in the early days of his government. He had kept Rashtrapati Bhavan updated through the period of turmoil following demonetisation and in his New Year’s address, the president had sensibly pointed out that the people needed immediate succour, and that the year-end relaxations provided a flimsy shield.

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Now, while decrying the meanness and ugliness which has cast a shadow over politics as the states go to the polls, President Mukherjee has said that leaders must listen to the people, engage with them, learn from them and respond to their needs and concerns. It is valuable advice for a government which hopes to change the way India lives and thinks. It cannot achieve positive change by unilateral action, and dissent can be demonised only at the expense of democracy. In particular, it must be appreciated that students go to university to learn how to think, not what to think. They must have the freedom to explore knowledge without the fear of being penalised for thoughtcrime, or eventually, the knowledge economy which this government values so much will collapse. Listening to the people and governing according to their needs rather than political imperatives is an ambitious project. But the government could make a small but significant beginning by listening to, engaging with, learning from and respond to the needs and concerns of the president.