By Mujahid Mughal
Article 19 of the Indian Constitution states that “all citizens (of India) have the right to freedom of speech and expression.” This is a fundamental right guaranteed to every citizen of India by the constitution itself. It is justiciable. However, on the ground I, like many others, would believe that Indian constitution is a beautiful theory which is hardly practiced.
The second thing which I strongly believe in is that Indian society by and large is unfit for democracy. It is a society which in 2015 (when science and technology has reached its zenith) voted for a temple.
These beliefs were strengthened when an incident happened on Facebook.
I am a regular blogger on Facebook apart from writing for several newspapers, online news portals and magazines besides my academic writings. But it was on the July 31, 2015 that I retweeted Waseem Zargar, a Facebook friend, that “Last message of M Yakoob Memon: M Ali Jinnah was right that Hindustan is for Hindus. I am ashamed of being an Indian Muslim. … I think we all Muslims are coward. … I salute Kashmiri Muslims, they are not coward like us.”
As soon as I reposted the above lines, there stood a number of friends who again retweeted the same. Then followed their comments and suggestions. Just one or possibly two people had objections over the post as they misunderstood it as misquoting Memon (who was hanged on July 30, 2015 in the Bombay blast case of 1993).
There objections were frank and I although don’t endorse their opinions but I believe that they have all the right to object and state their point of view in a civilized way as everyone else has, including me.
Let me clear that I retweeted the tweet after reading it properly. The tweet was NOT a direct quote of Memon (neither did I mention that). However I found a certain degree of truth and cry in that message. Thus I felt like sharing (with reference) to let the friends have their say. I did so and subsequently, they gave their opinions and suggestions and still others criticised.
Will somebody tell me what conclusion Muslims can draw when a judge of the majority community quotes ‘Manusmriti’ in the legal matters? What conclusion can be drawn when a fellow Muslim convict (a guilty) who is sentenced twice for the same crime? When a surrendered-prisoner (who have spent for more than two decades in jail) helps the police to solve the case, is hanged in the end as a reward.
Leave him aside for the time being. How about Afzal Guru? Was he not killed to satisfy the “collective conscience” of the Hindus? Let us take a look at the recent past and persecution and harassment of the minorities. Persecution in the name of Love Jihad and Ghar Wapsi. How can minorities feel protected when the police fires straight on the Sikh protestors (Jammu)? What else conclusion an ordinary citizen would draw when an MP (Hindu) says “a mosque can be demolished as it is not a religious place. When for every then and now the MPs of ruling parties want the minorities to go to Pakistan?
There is indeed a reason to say that India is turning fast into a Hinduised-theocracy where the majoritarianism has been so protected that the murderers of a Prime Minister (Rajiv Gandhi) are spared but when it comes to a person belonging to minority community (guilty of crime) they hang them for being a Muslim. They hang them on the circumstantial evidences (as in case of Afzal Guru). Sometimes they punish them for being a Kashmiri and sometimes for being a Muslim.
Another retired judge of Supreme Court of India believes that the evidence against Memon was “weak” to be hanged. So let us say he was guilty. How about those who killed the Prime Minister of India? How about those who demolished Babri Masjid? How about those involved in the Gujrat genocide? Shouldn’t they too have been hanged with Memon, if not before him?
Also, being a tax-payer of India and possessing its citizenship, do I not have the right to yell and express myself on what pains me or concerns me? Does being in India means, saying only what conforms to the ruling party at the Centre?
However, I was amazed on the evening of August 1 when I tried to log in into my Facebook account, as I received the notification (showing the above post along with the message) reading that, “We removed the post below because it doesn’t follow the Facebook Community Standards.” The next notifications from the Facebook said, “We have blocked you from posting anything on Facebook for 24 hours.”
I don’t know exactly how did it happen? Was it some cyber surveillance agency or was my post spammed by some friends. In either case, there is enough reason to believe that the freedom of speech is on its last legs in India (at least for minorities).
(Mujahid Mughal is a Ph D scholar from the Department of Geography, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh.)