“In our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either.”
                                                                                                       ― Mark Twain

LIVING IN INDIA in the times of Arnab Goswami, one is left confounded as one wrestles with ideas that are caught in a strange conflict with each other. One finds it difficult to determine who exactly are the patriots: the social activists and intellectuals fighting for public causes, or the experts appearing on Arnab Goswami’s television channel who slam these social activists and intellectuals in high decibel voices, call them enemies of the people and interrogate them in the name of the nation?

In the times of Arnab Goswami, it is possible for any journalist to wonder if the real journalist is Arnab Goswami or Siddique Kappan (the scribe arrested by the UP Police under UAPA on October 5 this year when he was on his way to report the rape and murder of a dalit girl in Hathras, and who is still in jail).

When Arnab Goswami is arrested, the common citizen living in these times protests the action of the state; he knows that the state is acting out of vengefulness; he maintains that he may not agree with the journalism of Arnab Goswami but still opposes his arrest; he is surprised to see so many powerful people jumping to Arnab Goswami’s defence; he watches how all these powerful people are worried that with Arnab Goswami’s arrest, a serious danger has engulfed the freedom of expression; he watches retired army generals, those associated with the political party ruling at the Centre and many other powerful loudmouths joining forces to extend all possible aid to a beleaguered Arnab Goswami.

The common man sees the Arnab Goswami case leaping its way to the Supreme Court and an advocate as eminent as Harish Salve appearing pro bono to defend him. The Supreme Court orders interim bail for, and immediate release of, Arnab Goswami, and thus certifies the larger common understanding that we are all now living in the times of Arnab Goswami.

Also Read: The Threat to the Freedom of the Press

This is the same apex court that, only a few days earlier, had ruled that Siddique Kappan should approach the lower courts to seek bail. The common man wonders why the law is different for Arnab Goswami and Siddique Kappan. When the issue snowballs, the Supreme Court, 42 days after the arrest, issues a notice to the UP government on November 16, but does not extend an interim bail a la Arnab Goswami case.

For a few brief moments, the common man is grateful to the apex court of the country for this small mercy but then a strange thought pierces through his mind: he starts thinking that at least the cases of Arnab Goswami and Siddique Kappan reached the Supreme Court but what about that poor district level journalist who has been languishing in a mofussil jail for months and who does not have the resources to approach the high court or the Supreme Court?

He wonders about that promise of equality before law that the Constitution’s Article 14 promised: “The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.” The common man reads this promise and wonders if someone lacking the resources to knock at the doors of the high court or the Supreme Court is even considered a “person”, much less a citizen or a human being!

Some great intellectual mind then steps forward to educate the common man that this is all stuff connected to a larger debate that encompasses issues of class, caste, economic resources, judicial ethics and social standing — issues too big for the poor common man to wrap his head around; so he shouldn’t even get into these.

The common man then brushes aside the issue of other common men and women like him but asks why those who spoke out and stood up for Arnab Goswami did not raise their loud voices for the likes of elderly Varavara Rao and Stan Swami; why they did not shake the studio walls or gathered at Jantar Mantar for Sudha Bharadwaj and Jyoti Jagtap?

The common man has a long list of such cases, including tales of those dragged into litigation in the Bhima Koregaon case: Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha, Hany Babu, Jyoti Jagtap, Milind Teltumbde, Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor and his Kabir-singing wife Jyoti Jagtap, Soma Sen, Sudhir Dhawale, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj, Mahesh Raut, Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson etc.

The common man has been carrying many such lists, several such complaints: of those arrested in connection with Delhi riots (Meeran Haider, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Shifa Ur Rehman, Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, Umer Khalid and others); of the treatment meted out to Kafeel Khan and others; of the arrests of Prashant Kanojia and other journalists ….

The common man asks strange and yet simple questions. He asks how do the judges of this country go to sleep peacefully when an 80-year-old poet of the people, who has spent a lifetime penning verses in Telugu that drip with love, is languishing in jail? He asks how do the judges of this country go to sleep peacefully when the daughter of Krishna Bharadwaj, one of the great classical economists of this country, Sudha Bharadwaj, herself an untiring fighter of public causes, is in jail?

He asks how do the judges of this country go to sleep peacefully when an Anand Teltumbde, related to Dr BR Ambedkar, and who, all his life, did little except teach young students, is in jail? He asks how do the judges of this country go to sleep peacefully when Jyoti Jagtap, who always sang the tales of social equality, is in jail?

The common man wants to speak, he wants to shout, he wants to cry himself hoarse, but he is told that the conscience of the judges in this country is pricked only when an iconic journalist like Arnab Goswami is arrested; rest all are small people who harbour anti-national ideas. They are all urban naxals. He is told to stop thinking like this and ask no more questions. He is advised instead to re-educate himself de novo as a true patriot by watching Arnab Goswami’s television shows. He is made to understand that raising any question about judicial ethics can trigger the charge of contempt of court.

When the common man talks about his own place in society, his own relevance, his own safety, his own security, his own freedom, he is told that there are far bigger concepts like the country, religion, nation, ideology, society and tradition, and that his own place in society is such a miniscule thing that it shouldn’t even matter.

The common man is made to watch the Arnab Goswami school of television that teaches him that we should not worry about or think about our country, our people or even our own selves since Shri Arnab Goswami Ji is doing all this for us and on our behalf. He is the one who is asking all those big questions at such a high decibel level of all these worthies appearing on his prime time television debates. The common man hears Arnab Goswami’s voice shattering through the evening air as the now familiar shout rents the waves: “The Nation Wants To Know!”

Also Read: KASHMIR — Human beings, citizens, people or Homo Sacers Living A Bare Life?

The common man is told that Arnab Goswami is the biggest nationalist of the world of television. He is so worried about his countrymen that he sometimes has to shout so hard to silence those harbouring antinational ideas that even his throat goes raspy. If a common man has to shout so hard, he would lose the use of his vocal cords. Outside of the television, this is a great task undertaken by the prime minister, his ministers and a few other great leaders of the nation.

Watching all this, listening to such patriotism-dripping words of wisdom, the common man then wisens up; he picks up the quill and hesitatingly writes:

Living in the times of Arnab Goswami

How happy are we!
How fortunate are we!

That We
Need Not Worry About
Our Country or its people!

Arnab is doing all of this for us
He is the one saving our democracy

How much does Arnab love the people
He who wields the sword of justice
He who rides astride the spirit of nationalism
Our Republic is ready to sacrifice all for him

Arnab is doing all this for us
For he alone is saving the Republic

He, Arnab, the great nationalist… he…

The common man cannot complete this entire poem…a voice deep within him tells him that in the times of Arnab Goswami, only the freedom of Arnab Goswami is all that matters. In the times of Arnab Goswami, the verses of Varvara Rao mean nothing; the scholarship of Anand Teltumbde is of no use; and as for the likes of Prashant Kanojia, Jyoti Jagtap and others, you better forget about them.

As they say in Punjabi, ‘ਬੁੱਲ੍ਹੇ ਸ਼ਾਹ ਹੁਣ ਚੁੱਪ ਚੰਗੇਰੀ, ਨਾ ਕਰ ਏਥੇ ਐਡ ਦਲੇਰੀ/ਗੱਲ ਨਾ ਬਣਦੀ ਤੇਰੀ ਮੇਰੀ।’’ 

(We have refrained from translating Bulleh Shah, and encourage you to find someone to read it out and explain it to you. It’ll start a conversation, and that’s exactly the point. We need to start talking to each other about the common man, about our selves, about our Republic, or only Arnab will do it for us. – Editor)

Read the original in Punjabi by clicking here.

_________________________

Also Read:

Arnab Goswami’s freedom, and my father’s: Sanjiv Bhatt’s Son Responds To Odious Comparisons