Debate and dissent are, undeniably, the warp and woof of a robust democracy. Thus, a truly democratic regime can always afford a large and free space to discordant voices and will not take recourse to means of muffling them; rather these voices are duly considered to be equally contributory factors to the very idea of a healthy democracy. Writing of French Philosopher Voltaire, Evelyn Beatrice Hall in her book “The Friends of Voltaire” has rightly quoted the erudite scholar who remarks, “I don’t agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” History also bears witness to the fact that whenever and wherever voices of the intelligentsia have been smothered and subdued, in the wake of that, there have always been heard the roaring rumbles of revolutions that have been instrumental in uprooting the superstructure of tyrannical establishments from their very base.
But the flip side of this culture of debate and dissent in democracy has its shoddy face too, which has certainly vitiated the environment in multiple ways. It is believed that blessed were those who were born in the age of Renaissance, an intellectual movement which had Italy as its epicentre and spreading all across the European nations, a new era of awakening was heralded. Free speech or right to expression was one of the bedrocks of the Renaissance on the foundation of which the movement not only got a fillip, but grew also with man’s consequent liberation from the octopus grip of divinity. The glorious movement which has its seeds in the invasion of Constantinople has been constantly evolving and revolving since those bygone phases of history. Though it has never ceased, it has certainly changed the courses of its directions. Modern Renaissance is a Renaissance of contradictions and conflicts and a directionless democracy is one of its offshoots which is not growing in its natural spontaneous manner; in fact, the idea of it has been heinously hijacked by the nefarious elements of society. These elements are smartly but deviously masterminding their own crassly stupid set of ideologies to grind their own axe. Unfortunately their tall claims and hollow ideologies have succeeded in hoodwinking the gullible masses. And much to our chagrin in a country like India, the crowds of the credulous people have quite considerably outnumbered the people with rational minds. Although modern man has undergone a tremendously great phase of his glorious evolution, growing sane and sagacious, giving up the scourge of barbaric savagery that was pre-eminently and predominately writ large on the canvas of life in the medieval era, yet the impact of this progression is not all pervasive. Despite having a much touted culture of debate in every context, democratic societies are not functioning well. Their malfunction is fully exposed in our day to day small instances with big significance. What else can be more undemocratic than prohibiting women from entering into the premises of certain holy places in our so-called fully evolved democracy? It is indeed an onslaught on their right to worship for which they have to fight in courts and spearhead campaigns. Is it not the travesty of an egalitarian society of which we are otherwise unduly proud? This is just one of the examples of a faulty and flawed model of a democratic nation that is to a large extent incapable of protecting the equal rights of her citizens. In the name of free speech, hate speeches laden with vitriol and vituperation are being made on the very campuses of the universities which ironically stand for the sacrosanct idea of liberal education redeemed of any form of dogmatic ideologies.
If a student with impressionistic mind is inspired to choose some ghastly terrorist as his role-model or a communal crisis is fomented by perverts with their incendiary lectures, they must immediately be charged under the law of sedition. Undeniably, the seats of high learning like JNU have been producers of the finest of visionary leaders and savant scholarly wits. These precious jewels of the nation have set many matchless precedence with their adroit skills and cerebral capacities. However, this pseudo free thinking at times is the sheer reflection of their intellectual snobbery which often dissociates them from their very crusade for which they have ostensibly held cudgels. But a truly concerned class of intellectuals has just got the raw deal for its fair and square speaking. If they call a spade a spade, they are assaulted with the shovels by the custodians of the moralistic brigades, the self-styled emboldened vigilantes. Such matters are painstakingly debated and dwelled over, but mammoth powers vested with lumpen and retrograde elements incapacitate even the law enforcing agencies and resultantly, the perpetrators of the abominable crime merrily go scot free. Under such circumstances, an ordinary man seems to be caught up in a catch-22 situation due to the despicable dilemmas of democracy. Such a diabolical dance of democracy is being perniciously performed by a class of rowdy ruffians brandishing their swords and sticks on occasions like Valentine’s Day to instil fear among those who dare to be not falling in their line as non-conformists and every time during such clumsy conflicts, democracy has suffered heavy casualties. Thus, certainly, our democracy has been put to a rigorous acid test in which healthy criticism and debates are always quintessentially welcome, but in the very name of right to debate and dissent, mere meaningless ruckus generated with vexed motives must be sanely seen through and out-rightly rejected.
Prof Shiv Sethi is former head, Department of English Language and Linguistics at Dev Samaj Post-graduate College for Women, Ferozpur.