No democracy without dissent: Tharoor to PM
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to protest against the registration of a sedition and breach of peace case last week against 49 eminent people for writing a letter to the latter in July over growing incidents of mob lynching and violence.
In a letter dated October 7, Tharoor underlined that those criticising the Prime Minister should not be considered “anti-national” and urged him to take a public stand welcoming dissent. He asked Modi to assure the nation of his commitment to upholding freedom of expression even when it involves disagreement with him or his government.
The case was registered against the 49, including author Ramchandra Guha and filmmaker Mani Ratnam, at a police station in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur on Friday following the orders of a chief judicial magistrate. “We are deeply disturbed by the FIR [First Information Report] filed in Muzaffarpur, Bihar against a group of 49 concerned Indian citizens, who wrote a letter to you, on July 23, 2019, highlighting the rise of mob lynchings in the country,” Tharoor said . “We would like to register our strong protest against the FIR.”
Tharoor said mob lynching, whether triggered by communal hatred or triggered by rumours of child kidnapping, “has become a disease that is spreading rapidly”. He added that the 49 citizens did the right thing in bringing it to the PM’s notice.
Tharoor underlined that there was no democracy without dissent and added that India was built on the “bedrock of coexistence of diverse and often diverging views and ideologies”. “That is what makes India a successful and vibrant democracy. “As citizens of India, we hope that everyone of us can fearlessly bring to your notice, issues of national importance so that you can take the lead to address them.”
Tharoor said that the citizens would like to believe that the Prime Minister, too, would support the right to freedom of expression. He referred to Modi’s 2016 address to the US Congress in which he called the Constitution “real holy book” of his government. “However, some of the actions of your government have contradicted your statement. Does this mean that you have changed your opinion on these fundamental issues?”
Tharoor wondered since when writing a letter to the country’s elected leader became the trigger for an FIR. “In the Naya Bharat [New India] that you have promised the nation, are FIRs going to be filed every time a citizen is critical of the government or its policies? Is this Naya Bharat that you wish to create, one where citizens shall not be heard and their concerns not addressed?...”
Putting up a strong defence of the government, senior BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javadekar said the FIR was filed after a Bihar court’s order. “This has nothing to do with the BJP and the government. This is a canard which is always spread to defame the Modi government and used to give an impression that there is a choking of freedom of expression in a draconian fashion under it,” news agency PTI quoted him as saying.