Dangers to democracy discussed as editors pay tribute on Gour Kishore Ghosh’s birth centenary

Here was a brave man Ghosh who shaved off his head to symbolise the end of democracy and unwaveringly went to jail for a cause he believed in He dared to write an open letter to Indira Gandhi and call her a fascist, Patricia Mukhim, editor of Shillong Times, said.

Freedom of speech in the country was endangered when Emergency was declared in 1975 and now, when the country celebrates 75 years of independence, individual choice is again under attack, according to some eminent editors and authors. These views were voiced in a panel discussion on 'Deshprem and Deshdroha' (Patriotism and Sedition) as the centenary celebration of journalist and litterateur Gour Kishore Ghosh concluded in Kolkata on Tuesday. "Here was a brave man (Ghosh) who shaved off his head to symbolise the end of democracy and unwaveringly went to jail for a cause he believed in… He dared to write an open letter to Indira Gandhi and call her a fascist," Patricia Mukhim, editor of Shillong Times, said. Ghosh, a Magsaysay Award winner, was arrested after Emergency was declared in the country by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1975. "Democracy was under threat when (independent) India was 28 years old. Today, India is 75, and we cannot say we are better off now. We cannot say that we are a better democratic system today," Mukhim said. Taking part in the panel discussion, Semanti Ghosh, Associate Editor of Ananda Bazar Patrika, said that in India, a person generally likes more to be part of a community than to be an individual and this community identity gets the better of his/her individual identity. "And this community identity quickly identifies a boundary, and sees everything and everyone beyond as outsiders," she said.

The ruling class now is being assisted by a section of the ruled class which very happily crosses the border of individual choice – who is eating what and who is marrying whom, said Ghosh. "In the 75 years of independent India, we have never felt this captivity. An individual needs to assert his or her rights," she said. "What prevails in the country is not democracy but majoritarianism. It did not come from outside but from those who call themselves believers in democracy. This can be termed as the paradox of democracy," said Ghosh.

Mukhim said that when other parties started questioning the Congress about imposing the Emergency, Gour Kishore Ghosh had said, politicians should question the Congress on its principles, and not because they wanted to become the alternative rulers.

"The lesson we learn from (Gour Kishore) Ghosh's writings is that an ideological fight cannot be contained by brute force or by the arms of the law alone. But by engaging in a better, non-violent, non-destructive ideology. "This is not being done because of our lazy thinking, we are not thinking enough. Even today, when you look at the opposition parties, they are all in disarray. Because no one is thinking about the country. All are thinking about how to get into the offices of power," said Mukhim. She quoted from a writing of Gour Kishore: "Our society is in need of a great change and it is possible to bring about that change by democratic methods on the basis of a carefully thought-out concrete programme of action. Not by showering false and demagogic promises." Wishing that Ghosh was alive today to speak these words, Mukhim said, "In the light of what is happening in Manipur today, this quotation would have been so appropriate and so educative." Semanti Ghosh said majoritarianism leads to peril for all who are backward in power both socially and economically - religious minorities, Dalits and those whose ideology is different. Anita Agnihotri, retired bureaucrat and author, who conducted the programme, reminded the audience about what Gour Kishore wrote about patriotism: "The patriotism that focuses only on rights over land is fake. The patriotism that emphasises humanity is pure."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)