Why is the freedom of speech a delusion? - Perumal Murugan Edition

Recently I had the chance to attend the literature fest Lit For Life conducted here in Chennai. I'm glad I did, as some insightful conversations aside, one of my biggest takeaways was the issue surrounding the Tamil author Perumal Murugan.

I hadn't heard of him before, understandably, nor the seemingly brutal way that he'd been silenced. And I know this isn't the first time something like this happened. The First Amendment to the Indian Constitution basically paved the way for fanatics of all kinds to deter any material that has the slightest hint of offence to their beliefs. It's interesting when you see that the USA did the exact opposite of this on their first amendment. Here's the full text of it -

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances

The above in my opinion is the ideal stance unless you want to be an extremist. In India, you could add caste, community in addition to religion. These are the primary areas where most of the "offence" seems to be targeted at. Needless to say, that one loophole in our constitution is archaic, doesn't really fit in a secular country like ours and makes exploiting the same very easy.

So what's Perumal's story? His Tamil book (now translated into English as One Part Woman) that came way back dealt with the predicament of a childless couple who's woes may well come to an end in the local temple's festival surrounding the God Ardhanareeshwara. The rules are relaxed for one night where consensual union between any man and woman is allowed. I don't know how it ends as I haven't read the book yet but I could tell from the synopsis that it's going to deal with the battle between social convention and intimate personal anxiety. It has all the makings of a riveting book that's totally unprecedented in Indian fiction. Where does all this outburst stem from then? Apparently it's the authors utter disregard for caste system in his book. Possibly the remarks over a fact that a woman during the ritual may well sleep with a man of lower caste. It's utterly disgusting that caste is a crux of debates even in the 21st century. Without pointing any fingers, the government for the most part seems to only pour more oil in the lamp. But I'm digressing.

What I really wanted to underline is that a person's freedom to put his mind on paper is something that should never be challenged. If the intent has really been to offend, it still doesn't give anyone the authority to mentally and physically cause hurt to that person. You have the freedom of speech if you want to retaliate, but not a freedom of violence. It's sad that a voice has now been silenced. I fear this will cut off some more radical voices. And India needs every single one of them it could muster. Now more than ever.  

Why are we so insecure about religion?

I'm sure at least some of us believe that India is the greatest country in the world. And if someone were to ask why, we do seem to have a set of standard responses  - cultural and spiritual birthplace, tradition, ancient science…and the list would go on.

But there's nothing wrong in believing in this, right? Rrrright. Until it spews out wrong behaviour from the society. So basically my question boils down to -  Should you really be a chauvinist?

Numerous incidents and public speeches come to mind. But none more radical than the ones propagated by the Hindutva parties. It almost feels like they want us to believe that if not for India, the world wouldn't be what it is today! Mr. Modi once called every one in India a Hindu as they are born in Hindustan. The logic seems fine but a looming problem of Hinduism being an established religion in the country meant that many were put off by this statement. He was quick to justify the statement in a later interview by saying he considers Hinduism as a way of life and not religion as such.

But -  what about people who do not want to be labelled? People who do not want to belong to any 'way of life'? People who just prefer to go by the moniker of 'Indians'. Secularism is already feeling like a fast departing train.

Probably what came as a wake up call to many (at least me) was the incident that took place in a Mumbai church a couple of years back. Guess it needs no introduction, but basically, there had been water dripping from the feet of one of Jesus's statues. People called it a miracle! The water was deemed holy as it was God's message! And more often than not with situations like this, word gets out and before you know it - it's a public spectacle. In the midst of this came a man to try to debunk the phenomenon. What he found was just plain drain water that climbed the wooden statue through capillary action. Anyone with a basic knowledge in physics would be able to see this. And so you would think this would abate the foolish beliefs! Maybe it did for some people (I'm hoping), but it also paved way for a lot of backlash from the Church. He was cast as a heretic for "trying to hurt the religious sentiments" and a criminal case was bashed on him for the same. And I finally had a tangible grasp of how religion can dominate pure common sense, if needed be. The question we need to ask is this - is your faith not strong enough if it can be threatened by just a simple man? Why do you have to guard your faith so rigorously?

The list is just endless. And then you have some dogmatic outbreaks like the one for the movie PK. Why so much of "taking offence"?

One of the best things in the world (maybe not really  :P) is having the ability to laugh at yourself. It removes those pesky blinds on your eyes and makes you see your own vices. The above are just my views on this topic. Sound-off below in the comments section if you feel otherwise!