Hate Speech Cannot Be Curbed Only By Judicial Intervention
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2022-10-11 06:42:00
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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
Two more names have been added to the rapidly growing list of politicians and community leaders who spew hate against other communities. BJP MP Parvesh Verma, said to be close to Prime Minister Modi, and the party's MLA from Loni, N K Gurjar have been reported for allegedly making inflammatory speeches in an event in Delhi. Verma is reported to have called for 'total boycott' of a community, not naming any but it was obvious he was referring to the Muslim community.
Delhi Police have taken suo moto cognizance of the matter and registered an FIR against the organizers of the event after receiving a complaint and after the video of the speeches from the event went viral on social media. Police added that the event organized by VHP in Dilshad Garden in the capital did not have the requisite permissions. It is strange that if the law mandates that organizers of such events need to take prior permission, how they are held without the permissions? It is not that these events are secret, closed door affairs. They are widely publicized and well attended. Can the police not be proactive and prevent them from being held? Also, filing the FIR against the organizers is good, but action needs to be taken against those who made the speeches too.
This comes on a day when the Supreme Court agreed with a petitioner that hate speeches needed to be stopped as they are 'sullying India's atmosphere'. But it is clear that hate speeches cannot be stopped only by judicial intervention. We live in times when the administration is biased. Anyone who speaks against government policies or criticizes members of the ruling party is booked for inciting enmity between communities but anyone who spreads hate against another community and actually incites enmity is either not touched at all or let off with just a rap on the knuckles. This has to change.
Things are getting out of hand and it is time that all political parties come together to draw a line. If that is too tough a thing to achieve, then at least the big wigs in the BJP and the RSS must instruct their leaders, right down to the block pramukhs and even the ordinary foot soldier, to refrain from indulging in the othering of the minorities. India has nearly 20% of the population which is not Hindu. If this population is made to feel that it does not belong here or the majority cannot stand it, it is clear that in not so distant a future the nation will be riven with communal strife and development will come to a standstill.
