“The
government’s stand on the issue of ‘freedom of expression’ may be termed as
ambivalent and dependent on political considerations from time to time. Thus
while functionaries of the government joined the votaries of ‘free speech’ in
defending M. F. Hussain’s ‘freedom of expression’ to paint Hindu gods and
goddesses in the nude, the ruling party at the centre had no hesitation in
forestalling the publication of “The Red Sari”, Spanish writer, Javier
Moro's biography of Sonia Gandhi. Isn’t Sonia more sacred than Bharat Mata,
Sarawati or Sita?”
“Internet
as an open democratic medium has earned the wrath of both the politicians and
media persons for obvious reasons. If the politicians hated it because it does
not respect their ‘more equal’ status, it has become bête noir for the media
persons as it did away with their monopoly over dissemination of news. Now they
not only have competition but the easily accessed, 24/7 medium subjected their
conduct to relentless scrutiny.”
'Big Brother' wants to watch!’, was
first published in The Hans India of
December 12, 2011.
................................................................................................................
Kapil
Sibal has certainly set the cat among the pigeons when he demanded executives
of Google, Yahoo and Microsoft to screen content posted on social
networking sites. The Information Technology (Electronic
Service Delivery) Rules, 2011, the government notified earlier this year in April, are
considered to be the most stringent compared to those in any democratic
country. The rules require ‘the intermediaries’
(like Facebook, Google, Orkut etc) that provide a platform to users to post
comments and create their own content to remove ‘offensive’ content based on an
e-mailed complaint from an aggrieved person.
The
immediate provocation for Kapil Sibal’s demand appears to be a cartoon posted
on Facebook lampooning Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh. Sibal termed it
‘unacceptable.’ In a party that lays great store by loyalty to ‘the’ family,
Kapil Sibal, as Information Technology Minister cannot be seen to be deficient.
In addition to loyalty Sibal has another reason to be chagrined with the
internet, especially the role played by Facebook and Twitter in bringing the
government to heel in the recent Indians Against Corruption (IAC) movement.
The
government’s stand on the issue of ‘freedom of expression’ may be termed as
ambivalent and dependent on political considerations from time to time. Thus
while functionaries of the government joined the votaries of ‘free speech’ in
defending M. F. Hussain’s ‘freedom of expression’ to paint Hindu gods and
goddesses in the nude, the ruling party at the centre had no hesitation in
forestalling the publication of “The
Red Sari”, Spanish writer Javier Moro's biography of Sonia
Gandhi. Isn’t Sonia more sacred than Bharat Mata, Sarawati or Sita?
Indian
politicians, who strongly believe in the dictum ‘some animals are more equal
than others’, have rarely taken kindly to criticism. They certainly could do
with eulogy, thank you. Like Kapil Sibal in 2011, in 1987, M. G. Ramachandran’s
government wanted to teach a lesson to irreverent journalists. S. M.
Balasubramanian the editor of ‘Ananda Vikatan’ was summoned by the Tamil
Nadu legislative assembly on April 4, 1987 to tender an apology for a cartoon
the magazine published in its issue dated March 29, 1987. The Editor refused to
do so because he was not given an opportunity to explain his stand in the
matter. The assembly passed a motion by voice vote to award three months
rigorous imprisonment to Balasubramanian. The sentence elicited strong
reactions from the press and other quarters. Known for hunting with the hound
and running with the hare, the Congress party played a curious role in the
affair. After supporting the motion in the state assembly, its Home Minister at
the centre, P. Chidambaram wished to defuse the crisis by offering an apology
to the assembly - on behalf of Balasubramanian! The issue was resolved after M.
G. Ramachandran appealed to the assembly to rescind the sentence.
Balasubramanian was released after spending two nights in prison.
A
similar drama was enacted in Andhra Pradesh during the reign of N. T. Rama Rao
as Chief Minister. In 1985 the state legislative Council summoned Ramoji Rao,
Editor of ‘Eenaadu’ over the caption of an editorial the paper published
criticizing a ruckus in the Council. Ramoji Rao approached the Supreme Court
for redress and the issue would have blown into a legislature-judiciary spat.
N. T. Rama Rao, already unhappy with the Council’s intransigence over
legislative business, resolved the crisis by abolishing the Council.
Internet
as an open democratic medium has earned the wrath of both the politicians and
media persons for obvious reasons. If the politicians hated it because it does
not respect their ‘more equal’ status, it has become bete noir for the media
persons as it did away with their monopoly over dissemination of news. Now they
not only have competition but the easily accessed, 24/7 medium subjected their
conduct to relentless scrutiny.
Much as
Kapil Sibal and his government would wish to govern the internet to ensure
ordinary folk show due respect to the politicians at all times, it is easier
said than done. There are an estimated 100 million netizens in India. We are the
third most populous netizen country in the world after China and the US. But
how does the Indian government police content posted outside India? If every
article, cartoon, video and comment posted on the internet had to be screened
and cleared before publishing, the process would simply crash the system.
Secondly,
regulating information flow had never worked. The erstwhile Soviet Union did It
for 70 years deluding itself that the ‘worker’s paradise’ was really popular
with the masses. Nearer home, though Indira Gandhi bowed to international
pressure and ended the infamous emergency in 1977, she called for elections
with the smug satisfaction that her regime was popular, which was the
impression fed to her by her own propaganda machinery. For it was she who
disbanded four private news agencies and created her hand-maiden Samachar!
TAIL PIECE: There are many ‘iron
curtain’ jokes but this one on the popularity of Russia’s mouth piece PRAVDA, though seemingly
apocryphal, has a tell-tale lesson for the Kapil Sibal’s of this world: After
the collapse of the Soviet Union, a citizen of Moscow went to his favourite
coffee shop and asked a waiter to bring him a cup of the brew and the day’s PRAVDA. The waiter politely
informed him, ‘Sir, I will bring you your coffee, but I am afraid I can’t bring PRAVDA because it was closed down.’
As
the waiter deposited his coffee cup, the man asked him again to bring the day’s PRAVDA. The waiter politely
replied again that the PRAVDA was closed down. However the man
continued to ask for PRAVDA every five minutes. Finally, the
exasperated waiter lost his cool and shouted, ‘How many times do I have to tell
you Sir that PRAVDA was closed down?’ The man replied with
obvious relish, ‘I want to hear it again and again and again!’
