Author: Chandan Mitra
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: January 9, 2011
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/309190/Selective-amnesia-of-our-'liberal-democrats'.html
Their hearts beat for Binayak Sen and assorted
terrorists and secessionists, but they are prompt in condemning others being
tried by the same system of justice
With some amusement I read reports last Friday
about jailed Maoist Binayak Sen having moved a court in Chhattisgarh against
the sentence of life imprisonment awarded to him last month. I say amusement
because only 48 hours prior to his going in appeal, his wife Ilina Sen lashed
out at the Indian judiciary, police, Government and finally India itself.
Declaring that her husband's trial was staged, that the whole thing was a
frame-up and Indian courts were putty in the hands of politicians, Ilina Sen
said she had no faith in the fairness quotient of India's judicial process.
She went on to add that in view of the harassment her Maoist husband had undergone,
she would seriously contemplate seeking political asylum in a "genuine
liberal democracy", implying Indian democracy was a sham.
After that outburst, broadcast on various
news channels and extensively reported in newspapers (English-speaking Maoists
get a lot of mileage in the English-language media and relatively little in
their Indian-language counterparts), one would have expected Sen's considerable
brigade of supporters to move international agencies to process his application
for "political asylum". Since the convicted leader has no faith
in the Indian judicial process, it would only be appropriate that he should
pursue migration abroad.
But I wonder what kind of "genuine"
liberal democracy Ilina Sen has in mind. Since Maoists are fighting the Indian
state with the aim of establishing a proletarian dictatorship in India and
avowedly reject Western-style democracy, there is a contradiction in her statement.
Liberal democracy, as commonly understood, refers to the system of Government
prevailing largely in Europe and North America and some countries of South
Asia. In the past, Communist regimes fashioned themselves as People's Democracies
that were subject to one-party rule. Barring a few countries in Asia (China,
North Korea and Vietnam come to mind) and one in Latin America (namely, Cuba)
that discredited system has been buried everywhere else.
Surely, the Indian Maoist leader's wife does
not have any of these countries in mind when she expresses her desire to migrate!
Although, it must be pointed out that most Naxalite intellectuals of the 1970s
eventually abandoned the 'revolution' and succumbed to the discreet charm
of the Green Card and took the first available flight to JFK once they quietly
converted to the capitalist faith. Some have continued to spew revolutionary
fire through their academic pursuits in US universities, turning institutions
like Berkeley into quasi-Maoist dens. It would not be surprising, therefore,
if the Sens are nursing a similar goal.
This is not the place to debate the merits
of Binayak Sen's case. It may well be that the Raipur court has passed an
unduly harsh verdict on the Maoist ideologue and his sentence would get reduced
in appeal. That is a matter in the legal domain and since senior advocates
of various political persuasions, BJP MP Ram Jethmalani included, are falling
over one another to argue for him, I am sure that Sen will have the best defence
he could have hoped for. The issue, however, is one of double standards and
systematic orchestration of opinion in favour of a convict.
A friend on Facebook recently posted a count
of articles in favour of Sen. On one given day alone there were 124 write-ups
in the Indian print media alone, leave alone suitably tilted TV discussions
and blogs! Some time ago, I was horrified to note the number of Google entries
the doctor attracted. Significantly, two of my earlier pieces in these columns,
predictably not flattering to him, drew the ire of hundreds. I have rarely
got so much hate mail on any other subject.
Binayak Sen may eventually be acquitted. But
my point is about the selective orchestration (actually manipulation) of public
opinion by a set of Left-leaning radicals who have a romantic notion of Maoists,
Kashmiri secessionists, 'persecuted' Christian missionary proseletysers and
so on. In other words, all those out to weaken the Indian state and dilute
the country's national resolve are lauded uncritically and anybody mildly
suggesting anything to the contrary is howled down, apart from being tainted
as a neo-Fascist. It is exactly the same way that December 13 Parliament House
attack accused SAR Gilani was feted.
The same people volubly defended the secessionist
jamboree in Delhi last year in which Kashmiri groups implacably hostile to
India, the rump of Punjab and North-East outlaws and sundry India-bashers
assembled to preach India's dissolution. Their cause was spiritedly championed
by the redoubtable Arundhati Roy, who has already declared her desire to "secede"
from India for a variety of imagined grievances. The separatist conference
in Delhi truly crossed the borderline, forcing the courts to intervene and
direct the police to file cases of sedition against the preachers of hatred,
since the Government was too weak-kneed to proactively pursue them. I nevertheless
believe there is a space for dissent in every democracy even for unpalatable
views.
The problem, however, arises when the so-called
votaries of "genuine liberal democracy" refuse to concede similar
space to contrary opinion. I hold no brief for Swami Aseemananda, Lt Col Shrikant
Prasad Purohit or Pragya Singh Thakur - currently languishing in various jails
for allegedly participating in terrorist activities. But when reports of the
young Sadhvi's torture and serious health problems came to light, not one
'liberal democrat' questioned the apparent brutality of the Indian state apparatus.
Incidentally, none of them has been convicted and from every account the chargesheets
(wherever filed) are appallingly weak. On the other hand, Gilani was convicted
and sentenced to death but acquitted later and Binayak Sen too is now a convict.
Even the courts appear terrorised by the hysteria
these people can work up. When the Supreme Court refused to entirely endorse
their plea on raising the height of Gujarat's Sardar Sarovar dam, the same
'liberal democrats' burnt effigies and vocally demonstrated outside the court
premises. The judges, who would have slammed the handful of agitators into
the cooler for at least seven days had they championed any other cause, dealt
with this bunch with kid gloves, letting them off with a mild rebuke.
On the face of it, there is no linkage between
those denouncing a Raipur court for holding Binayak Sen guilty and Congress
heavyweight Digvijay Singh's strident utterances against Hindu groups and
equally fierce defence of suspected terror sympathisers. But I see a pattern
and a political ploy in both. The 'liberals' hold an ideological position
similar to Digvijay Singh in matters of terrorism. They are trying to argue
that there are 'good' terrorists, wronged by an insensitive state and 'bad'
terrorists (although no terror charge against them has been proven) who are
flourishing because of misguided majority support. In the process of articulating
this position, they justify Maoist depredation, jihadi terror and secessionism
of various hues. I believe, despite their effort to overpower all other opinion,
the silent majority will ensure India remains one and even if it takes a long
time, the conspiracy of destablisation hatched by sundry malefic elements
will be resoundingly defeated.
