The way some sections of the society have treated one of our most eminent of social scientist Prof. Ashish Nandy over  his alleged slur on the Dalit and OBC community during the course of an interactive session at the Jaipur literature festival is beyond shocking. The mind simply goes numb to think what this country is coming to as far as freedom of speech and expression is concerned. Every passing day we are witness to the bizarre spectacle of one fringe group or the other taking offence to one thing or another whether a film or a book, a song, a play, the list could be endless as if these cretins decide to pick one item from the menu everyday to feel offended about just in order to validate their existence.

But coming back to Prof. Nandy, his comments in the course of a discussion on corruption about the hypocrisy of the elite and how the hierarchy of corruption made the corrupt practices indulged in by the lower classes and Dalits seem more gross and abominable was made in a specific context. But the poor man fell victim to the tyranny of the age of sound bytes where one sentence or remark is not only taken but wrenched out of context by the news channels and is used to create a spurious controversy. Even if what came out might have been grating on the nerves of a few members of the community, the answer is not the threat of arrest or intimidation but equally forceful denouncing  and challenge of the said view on an intellectual plane. If a book or any other piece of art is not congenial to your sensibility or sensitivity, the best way to respond is to write another book or produce an alternate piece of art to contest the assumption or just ignore it and let it pass. Instead what we are seeing today in this country is the increasing prominence the bigoted and reactionary elements are gaining in the public discourse.     

Let there be no doubt in anyone’s mind that I will continue to be as outspoken against all the forces of extremism, unreason and bigotry as I possibly can.  I have a problem and I will have a problem whenever I see that personal freedom and individual liberty are being curtailed, whether by any social group or by the government itself.  And let me also say that I fully support all the writers and filmmakers who have returned their awards to the government as a mark of protest against the rising tide of intolerance and vicious bigotry by a section of the population which believes that the present union government is not only spiritually aligned, but also sympathetic to their regressively illiberal agenda.  Therefore, I stand by all our intellectual people in the country for showing the courage to face down the bully. 

  And please, don’t try to trip me with guilt by forcing me to draw moral equivalence between one societal derangement and another, like if I condemn this then you turn around and say why don’t you condemn that, why you say this now why didn’t that then?  I am too old for games like that.  Everything in life has a context and we as human beings can’t wade into every battle.  We can only pick and choose our battles that we think are worth fighting for.  I am no fan of the previous regime either, who ruled through the murky system of patronage and cooption of a corrupt feudal elite, and it was necessary to get rid of them, but we can’t replace the corrupt with the reactionaries either.  I would like the Prime Minister Modi to be unequivocal in his denunciation of the fanatics and forces of reaction on both sides Hindus as well as Muslims, and not be mealy mouthed on this vital issue.  He must subject himself to tough questions by the media and not cynically use social media for banalities and one-sided conversation.