by ANIL NAIR
In India and Pakistan, British era laws on sedition and blasphemy are meant to muzzle dissent
Intolerance is on the rise in the Indian subcontinent. That’s hardly surprising. What is frightening, however, is that the murder of Salman Taseer in Pakistan and the sentencing of Binayak Sen in India are basically of the same kind and differs only in degrees. What is condemned as ‘blasphemy’ in Pakistan and used as an instrument to get rid of sober and cultivated voices, is called ‘sedition’ here and used to the same effect.
This is not a hyperbolic statement. The primitive nature of the Aasia Bibi case which culminated in Taseer’s killing and the equally primitive manner in which the public there – at least large and vocal sections of it – glorified it comes from some dark and dangerous place, something as inexplicable and ominous as the amygdala or the reptilian part of the human brain. In contrast, Sen’s sentencing seems more like a momentary loss of sanity on the part of the Indian state. Yet, the relatively less violent nature of the Indian state’s response to dissent, and to perceived or imagined threats to its sovereignty, shouldn’t blind us to its more methodical and institutionalised, and thus arguably more dangerous, nature.
Bangalore Mirror for more
(Thanks to Harsh Kapoor of SACW)