The
cartoons are finally to be assassinated.
The 'Thorat' cleansing is all set to be put into motion.
Did you say something like 'freedom of expression'? Come on! Don't you know our politicians are increasingly becoming conceited and intolerant?
Cartoons
stirred the imagination of Indian politicos to the extent that two committees
were formed in quick succession within days to fix the ‘cartoon question’ (as if it was some Syrian Question framed by the Assads) and implicate the scapegoat.
One was six-member S K Thorat Committee while the other was single-member B S
Baswan Committee.
The
committee led by one Professor S K Thorat has found the NCERT textbooks have overdose
of ‘political’ cartoons and has
recommended 21 of them to be purged. Overall, Mr. Thorat’s insight has sought purging/modifications
in 36 out of total 176 cartoons. Incidentally, Professor Thorat is also
chairman of the Indian Council of Social Science and Research (ICSSR). It seems
Professor Thorat has done groundbreaking sociological research with opportune political
motivation and so could so efficiently toe the government line in finding and
explaining fault in almost every cartoon. He was so authentic in his findings
that one of the members of the committee had to file dissenting-note against the findings of the committee.
According
to a report published in The Telegraph quoting sources, Pandian did not
attend all the committee’s meetings in protest against the “attitude of the
chairman” whose primary concern, according to him, was “to find fault with the
cartoons and text”.
Professor
Pandian would probably never be able to head a body like ICSSR.
In
compliance with the assassination order, the committee has recommended some other
measures. One of this is asking the National Council of Educational Research
and Training (NCERT) to frame guidelines on ‘appropriateness’ of cartoons for
students. NCERT has called meeting of the experts who were associated
with the preparation of the ‘tainted’
textbooks. The committee and other concerned officials would discuss the Thorat
wisdom to decide on the future course of action.
Did you again say something on 'freedom of expression'? Come on! Be realist.
Did you something on real issues like corruption, price-rise, dull Monsoon, farmer suicides, poor health care and education and so on? But who are you to decide if these are the real issues?
The Thorat task-force recommendations came on a day when Government of India’s Chief
Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu said India should be ashamed of the widespread
corruption. He said it has gone to the ‘infuriating’ levels. He said, “For ordinary people it is very very
discouraging when you face a mountain of bureaucracy and the demand for bribes
to be paid for these kind of things to be got to be done."
But
who has the time and the intent?
No one, not even Mr. Basu’s boss Mr. Manmohan Singh would
like to see this culture gone. Had it not been the case, we would certainly
have seen a clearer stand by Mr. Manmohan Singh on the ‘Lokpal’ issue. Its true
he cannot get it passed as his own party would not like it to happen, but he
certainly could have taken a stand speaking his intent clearly.
The
Thorat lower court death sentence to the NCERT cartoons came on a day when the designated
young political honcho of the country, chief minister of India’s most populous
but also one of most backward states with millionaire politicians, Uttar Pradesh,
came with an idea aimed to strengthen the tradition of the ‘political philanthropy for politicians’ from the taxpayers’ money.
He
announced that every MLA of the state could purchase a car worth Rs. 20 Lakh for
use during his term as MLA. The catch is the sum was to be taken from the fund
allocated to each MLA for development of his constituency. A political decision
had to see a political reaction. Adversaries were calling shots, criticizing the
young CM but no one was in berating tone as Congress leader Mr. Pramod Tiwari
said that he questioned the move but believed the CM’s intent behind it.
Now
don’t we know how the politicians from warring camps gel so well when it comes
to the issues of their selfish gains. So, we never hear politicians making
noise on unprecedented increase in their salaries, perks and on issues that
foresee them to be on equal footing with the voters who elect them. We recently
saw the living testimony to this brethrenhood when the whole Parliament
conspired to derail the ‘Lokapl’ Bill as it was directly hurting their misrule tentacles.
They
need us to see what they want us to see.
To
keep the focus away, in the classic ‘The Truman
Show’ style, our policymakers craft diversions like this ‘political cartoons’
issue and burn the midnight oil to let them become the top-priority policy
issue. The machinery of political hooliganism then comes into full motion
organizing protests by vandals of the streets. They disrupt activities of the legislatures
and call for immediate action.
In
a country where the media comes into overdrive even at the slightest hint, the
issue is overblown pushing every other issue like the ever-increasing number of
farmer suicides or criminal hike in the prices, and the agenda is set.
And
so is the case even this time.
And
so the issue has been comfortably resolved within months the way they had
wanted.
But
who has become the scapegoat then.
Who
else but ‘you and me’! And what you have been trying to say - Freedom of Expression my dear.
Now
the whole exercise will be redone. Another expert committee will sit. Yet
another committee will frame guidelines on the ‘appropriateness’ of the
political cartoons for the students.
All
at the cost of the taxpayers’ money!
When
would the bewilderment cross its threshold?
For
how long are we going to continue with the cleansing by the likes of ‘Thorat wisdom’ of the
politicians that can stoop to any low?
©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/
