Union Minister Narayan Rane was arrested on Tuesday over a controversial statement made against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. Referring to Thackeray's recent Independence Day speech, Rane is reported to have said, “It is shameful that he does not know the year of independence. During his speech, he leaned back to ask. I would have slapped him if I was there.” Thackeray retaliated by picking up Rane from his residence while he was having lunch.
The police action has not gone well with the BJP top brass and has evoked sharp reactions from the party. Sections in the BJP have cried hoarse over revenge politics and constitutional violation while slamming the police for being disrespectful to the 70-year-old legislator. Personal vendetta, provocation, retaliation and intolerance are traits that are more commonly seen in the current era of politics. The BJP, by its dominance in Parliament coupled with a largely disunited Opposition, have time and again resorted to this desperate path of intolerance and it has met against every single moment of critique with intimidation. Activists, political leaders in the Opposition, religious leaders and even journalists have faced the brunt.
The most glaring case was when Opposition leaders were incarcerated for nearly seven months in Kashmir. The arrest and subsequent custodial death of Fr Stan, a Jesuit priest and a tribal activist is another shining example of how political hierarchies remain numb and have scant respect to the stature or persona of those whom they are targeting. The response to Twitter posts by singer Rihanna and the public discourses by climate activists Greta Thunberg reflect a growing sense of intolerance towards any adverse comment. The arrest of eight senior journalists for reporting violence on Republic Day and the countless incidents where dissent, activism and those who question the Modi doctrine have been strangulated and dealt with an iron hand.
So why make such a hullabaloo over Rane's arrest? He just got the treatment that his party leadership has been dishing out to almost every ‘unpleasant’ voice. If BJP President J P Nadda found this arrest to be a violation of constitutional values, where was he when his party leadership swooped down on those who spoke against the regime? Was it not a mockery of the very constitution that guarantees the right to freedom of speech and expression?
It is time that voices of dissent are respected across the political divide. Intolerance does not augur well for a free democracy. If the move against Rane is to be condemned as retaliatory, the Modi-led government must first introspect within and learn to respect the views of others. If we may recall, Justice Chandrachud once termed dissent as the "safety valve of democracy". He had observed that silencing dissent and the generation of fear in the minds of people goes beyond the violation of personal liberty.
There is no justification to take the high moral ground when political players have survived by stoking fear and anxiety amongst those who stand up fearlessly. There is a greater need to understand and respect viewpoints, as much as there is a need to exercise restraint. Otherwise, there would never be any sympathy for leaders like Rane and others who could meet with a similar fate.
