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The Short Shelf-life of Post-Truth - II

By Badri Raina. Dated: 9/22/2017 1:00:54 AM

Some Positive Happenings

For the Preambular citizen-by that I mean the citizen whose allegiance remains steadfast to the vision and stipulations of the Preamble of the Constitution of India rather than to new-fangled constructions of state and polity, although with ancient pedigree-there has been a sweet slew of good news in recent weeks.
Here, the first to be mentioned must be the path-breaking determination by a nine-judge Constitutional Bench of the highest Court in the land that the citizens' Privacy constitutes a Fundamental Right, deriving from Article 21- namely, the Right to Life with Dignity. After the concerted attempts by state agencies to diminish the citizen through an aggressive surveillance regime, this decision of the Supreme Court is nothing short of a new lease of life for the Republic. Indeed, would it not be wonderful if once and for all our democracy was put on an irreversible footing by legislating our own First Amendment, making the Right to Free Speech absolute rather than merely fundamental. With the proviso of "reasonable restrictions" restricted, in turn, only to incitement to or actual violence. Let us hope this is truly work-in-progress.
Then, there have been the two cases of the assertion of secular principles of law over criminal and irrational abuse of male authority, both linked to so-called religious practices. In the matter of the striking out of instant triple talaaq as ultra vires of the fundamental rights of citizenship of Muslim women, however devious the motivation of some ruling protagonists for the "cause", a great exposure has been made of the disingenuous claims of some Muslim clergy that striking out this provision, however, obnoxious the practice they conceded, would damage the right to religious freedom. The fact is that this instant practice has never had any sanction in the Koran, only in some schools of Islamic jurisprudence like the Hanafi school, and has been a cunning toll to hold Muslim women in thrall. Thus we say, good riddance to a suffocating and servile patriarchal practice. And a salute to the brave Muslim women who stood up and followed through the secular system, vanquishing obstreperous orthdoxy. One awaits similar action from the Sangh affiliates with respect to, for example, further the cause of temple entry into the sanctum sanctorum of Hindu women of all ages at Sabarimala. Ideally of course men and women from across communities need in the days to come to make conjoint struggles against the remnants of federal/patriarchal cultures which misuse religion to oppress vast sections of our population.
Then, the gloriously heartening courage of the District Judge, Honourable Jagdeep Singh, in sending away the criminal charlatan, Ram Rahim, to the place he properly belongs to; all of that in the face of the most shameful connivance with him of the Government of Haryana, and the menacing threats and violence unleashed by more than a million charmed followers of the said conman. Mention to be made also of the no-nonsense upbraidings of that complicit government by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, making it impossible to find escape routes of any sort.
In both of these above cases, the secular Constitution of the Republic of India has stood tall at the hands of officials of the Court who have struck far-reaching blows against a ravaging culture on both sides to seek to subvert the constitutional regime by placing custom and sentiment above its imperatives. It is to be hoped that increasingly the right reason of the secular and law-abiding citizen will find greater and greater resonance with our systems of law enforcement and judicial pronouncement, keeping in check the proclivities of an Executive that palpably desires unfettered sway.
In this general pattern of counter-assertion must also be counted two political occurrences-one the defeat of the BJP at Bawana and, no less significantly, in the elections to the Delhi University Teachers Association. Regrettably but unsurprisingly, the latter has found scant space in the media as opposed to previous times A negligence that seems complicit with the general assault on institutions of higher learning, especially where the Humanities and the Social Sciences occupy pride of place. Now, of course, such institutions that produce advanced knowledge are to be taught lessons in patriotism by rock bands, we are told. How much further may we fall into rank imbecility, one wonders. And such edicts from a regime that used to snigger at the Red Book etc.
As we write, news comes of a Left sweep in the elections to the JNU students' body; nothing could be a greater affirmation of changing times-after all the vilification and the campaign to discredit the progressive character of this premier university to make space for Right-wing Hindutva politics, this result bears extra-ordinary significance in asserting the resilience of democratic voices that speak for reason and debate in opposition to demands for oppressive conformity.
Altogether, one is encouraged to think that coming events may indeed be casting their shadows; that the fumes of irrational commitment may in time yield to the flame of reasoned action, that post-truth may, sooner than later, vacate its impostor dominance and satyameva jayate once again to find its due place in the hearts and minds of state and polity alike, that the Constitution of India may indeed be the holy book Mr Modi called it when he took office, in word and deed. Additionally, that Indian legislators may find it in their will to install an electoral system that be truly representative of the votes cast, that politicians come to see party hopping as more heinous than the private acts of converting from one faith to another, that individual legislators not be bound hand and foot by coercive whips but be free to make known what their real thoughts are on any policy or organisational principle pertaining to their own parties, that elections come to be state-funded in proportion to vote-share, that the investigating agencies of the state be made autonomous and independent of the governments of the day, that police forces be made respectable as employment with all accoutrements duly provided, and likewise bestowed the freedom to act per law regardless of any subject in question without fear of political reprisal, although always themselves accountable to the law.
Were all this to happen, and some more for which another time (just as a hint, if we were to cease to be the second most unequal society in the world, with some quarter of the budgets spent on health and education, and women and all ethnic, religious and other minorities free and equal at all times, safe from predatory majoritarian or male vigilantes), would we not be justly proud of Bharat Mata?
(The author, who taught English literature at the University of Delhi for over four decades and is now retired, is a prominent writer and poet.)
—(Courtesy: Mainstream)