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Silencing Progressive Thinkers

Silencing progressive thinkers

By Malini Shankar

Digital Discourse Foundation

The untimely and unfortunate murder of a fiercely vocal journalist 55 year old Gauri Lankesh in Bangalore by miscreants at her door step on 5^th September 2017 epitomises the intolerance to diverse opinions, plural political perspectives and political dissent… the very benchmarks of a healthy and robust democracy.

The need to create a political environment where dissent is considered vital for political maturity is the responsibility of the powers that be … be they in the ruling party or the Opposition.

Gauri Lankesh was a radical writer with an intellectual worldview far ahead of her times. Her abhorrence to violence formed the basis of her efforts to integrate misguided Naxal elements; but alas violence consumed her, sounding the fearsome prospect of violence stalking future elections in an otherwise peace loving Karnataka State in South India.

Her ideas of reforming dogmatic worldview of Lingayat community too would not have gone well with the Lingayat political leaders of the dominant Lingayat community in Karnataka which is heading for the hustings next year. Secularism defined by Gauri as well as by political pundits who drafted the Indian Constitution was an apolitical distance from all religions. It is wholly another issue that the masses in India today don’t subscribe to this political thought.

Lankesh’s pen powered battle against right wing majoritarianism was perhaps too powerful for a party which has brutal legislative majority. But it would be statesmanlike for a very popular Prime Minister to condemn the brutal slaying of a powerful female voice from the Fourth Estate. That this has not happened perplexes other progressive voices and intellectual forces. More significantly, it would be politically correct for the Prime Minister to ‘unfollow’ mischievous social media elements that have ‘celebrated’ the most unfortunate murder of a dissenting voice. Yes the Prime Minister is busy with statecraft but “following” mischievous elements is unbecoming.

Indeed the BJP has every right to extrapolate the lack of sympathy for the violence that has enmeshed Kerala politics. Violence of any political hue needs to be admonished unequivocally. Nothing, absolutely nothing can justify murderous violence. Indeed the unfortunate and untimely murder of Gauri Lankesh vindicates and reiterates the need for Democracy and Secularism most succinctly.

While the BJP and ‘right wing’ parties have a point in exposing the hypocrisy of ‘pseudo secularists’ the timing of any far-fetched justification for silencing dissent or lack of condemnation of the journalist’s murder plays into the hands of fundamentalists vindicating the suspicion that right wing supported miscreants threatened by ‘progressive voices’ were responsible for her brutal murder.

In the aftermath of the murder the need to rise above partisan politics cannot be reiterated more strongly. For in failing to do so, social media propaganda (divisive at the best of times) will only worsen the politically charged social atmosphere by articulating against ‘pseudo secularism’.

For the Media too it is time to introspect. Media professionals tread a thin line. While using the power of the pen the Media must detach themselves from the issue; it is the job of the Fourth Estate to mould opinions, not to articulate the opinions themselves. The pen can be an activist by itself. While the editorial pages offer space for the valid opinion of the Fourth Estate, credibility lies in fact based copy rather than ideology driven copy.

Thus social media should be used to increase readership or access to such credible objective copy instead of using social media to articulate opinions. Social Media is divisive at the best of times; it is only a tool to augment the communications; that way the engines of the Fourth Estate serve their purpose well. Such a pity that Mediascape is misused in a healthy democracy to settle scores with the gun! Gauri Lankesh is a martyr to the cause of Secularism! The best tribute that can be offered to her is to abhor violence and abstain from playing into the hand of any divisive force.

It is time to debate issues openly instead of whipping up hysteria. Defeat by debate is more characteristic of robust democracies. India being a flag carrier of healthy democratic tenets has reason to hang its head in shame for supporting cowards who adopt the gun instead of the pen! Transparent Governance calls for access to the highest echelons of government and lowest rungs of administration.