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Giving up too much

Kuldip Nayar writes from New Delhi
OUR history will be what we make it. If we go on as we are, history will take revenge. This is as much truer of India as of other countries. Fear has got hold of us and we have compromised with the harshest laws and the blatant human rights violations. Our focus on security concerns actually generates repression. Terrorism has made us cast our society' in such a way that we justify the excesses of state police or central forces. We are giving up too much.
In many states in India, the repressive POTA has come back in one form or the other. The centre which included POTA's dictatorial part in the Unlawful Activities Act is using it with a vengeance. As the shadows of intolerance lengthen, the state discards even simple values. Terrified citizens have nothing except to say that the government knows the best. Thank God, the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi withdrew the order which made it compulsory for every resident of the Capital to carry a photo identity card. This, as the order said, was meant "to ensure that terrorists or anti- social elements don't sneak into the city." They do not want an identity card because they know how to fudge papers.
The order would have meant harassment to lakhs of people, particularly those from Bihar, who do not possess any paper to prove that they are the resident. They have been here for years, doing odd jobs. When even the Delhi chief minister reads about the order in the press, it means that the establishment wants to con-
vey that the big brother is watching you. After all, it was the Congress government which had imposed the emergency (1975-77) to suspend even fundamental rights. The order's withdrawal does not come as a relief to me. I feel that the central government which directly rules Delhi has something up its sleeve to restrict the individual's liberty and free movement that the constitution has guaranteed.
No society can prevent all threats. Some element of risk will always be there. We should take normal precautions but should never make such intrusive rules Indian universities. This will drench out even the last drop of creativity and independent thinking. Finally, the report to find out the reasons for the furore over the "obscene painting" at the Baroda University is out. The three-member committee has recommended the reinstatement of acting Dean Shivraj Pannikar who had defended the painter, his student, against the attack by the pro-Hindutva students.
Yet, the committee appears to be afraid to come out openly on the side of the painter. It says that the painting would have been "obscene" if it had been displayed in
which actually undermine the very democratic principles. Democratic nations slip into dictatorships when the citizens are not vigilant. Without the awareness of what is right and a desire to act according to what is right, there may be no realisation ofwhat is wrong.
In fact, the manner in which liberty is being flouted is worrisome. The University Grants Commission wants to prescribe a "homogeneous curriculum" in all public but since it was shown within the university premises, it was not so. What an apologetic approach? But then the university is under Gujarat of Narendra Modi fame.
The case of paintings by M.E Hussain is still pending before law courts. He is staying out of his country because the hooligans who call themselves "the people" are after him. The government is too timid to intervene since the BJP is involved. Agreed, nobody
has any right to hurt the sentiments of the other, but they should not be stretched to a point where the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression is restricted.
More or less, same is the case with Taslima Nasreen. the Bangladeshi author living in India. 1 would like to see what she had written against Islam because all that is known is that she criticized Muslims in Bangladesh for victimizing Hindu women. Her book, Lajja (Shame) says all that. Information Minister P.R. Dasmunsi has demanded that she should apologise to the Muslims.What is that has hurt them?
At present it looks as if Taslima has been penalised for her liberal views. The extremists have made so much noise that the government has confined her to a house. India's traditions do not tally with the treatment meted out to her. Even the few visitors and friends allowed to meet her are harassed by the authorities. I only hope that her visa ending next month is renewed for a permanent stay. But then the way in which she had been sequestered
suggests as if the government is looking only for a short-term solution.
When it comes to basic rights, the naxalites are the worst sufferers. Unequal society' does drive people to desperation. Still I abhor violence and favour a democratic solution to the problem. But it looks as if the government is not allowing even such naxalites who want to return to democratic ways.
One case is that of Dr Binayak Sen. PUCL vice-president from Chattisgarh. Presuming he is a naxalite, there should be no bar if he wishes to pursue democratic methods to deal with his case. He wants to get a bail for the crime of "cartying a letter’ from one set of naxalites to another. Even that is not yet established. Yet his application for bail has been rejected 22 times. Bail is the right of an accused. The Supreme Court has said so in several judgments. Maybe, the law under which Dr Binayak is detained needs to be amended. He is only an ’accused,’ not proved guilty. In a climate where even a bail is not granted, desperation is the natural fallout.
And what about someone's right to live? Hindu extremists led by Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a member of the Sangh parivar, have killed scores of Christians and burnt their houses at Khandam al district of Orissa. Even the communist leaders were stopped from visiting the area. A committee of Christian intellectuals which has visited the area has said in its report that the w'hole thing--killing of people and burning of houses—was pre-planned and executed with the blessings of the administration.
My purpose of putting together the different incidents is to point out how' the spirit of accommodation, a basic need for democratic culture, is lessening day by day. There is a lack of engagement in the country. New rules and regulations are made regularly. But they are meant to punish, not to encourage a dialogue. Democracy is nothing but a dialogue. We should never adopt such measures which may kill the basic principles that we w'ant to uphold. The Lt Governor of Delhi nearly did that.
Kuldip Nayar is an eninent Indan columnist