“Vishwa Hindu Parishad! Bajrang dal! Feature kare se!
Bajrang… Bajrang… Bajrang… Jai shri Ram
Put your hands up…
Bajrang… Bajrang… Bajrang… Jai Shri Ram!”
Oh, what a jam!
The Bajrang Dal should be applauded for its creativity even though it restricts other’s creativity and the right to express.
Today, in the unit ‘Intolerance and Democracy,’ we will learn how to take offence and lodge an FIR against a play that you haven’t watched.
FIR Filed Against Principal Of SCD College, Ludhiana
The college recently witnessed an FIR report against the principal, professor and the students for a play showcased in the alumni meet, as it apparently hurt their Hindu religious sentiments. The Principal said that the narrative was centered on women empowerment and has nothing that would hurt any religious sentiments. The alumni condemned this behaviour too.
Rahul Shukla, an alumnus of the college who is a 2014 pass out, told Campus Watch, “the position of the play ‘MUSEUM’, written by Rasika Agashe and directed by Vicki Maheshwari at SCD college is just like Indian democracy in a dictator government where Bajrang Dal plays the role of the government. It is clear that the play doesn’t have anything violent as it got first prize in Punjab University and fourth in North Zone.”
On the question of the state of art and theatre, he continued and said, “I feel bad that no action is being taken for these kinds of wrong activities in the society by these so-called “groups” and “dals”! Freedom of speech and expression should not be terminated at any cost in today’s fake nationalism.”
The All India Students Federation (AISF) also extended its support to the cause and told TOI that “Bajrang Dal’s launching of an FIR was an attack on the freedom of speech.”
Campus Watch contacted the writer of the play, Rasika Agashe, for a comment on the actual content of the play. She remained unavailable.
Patterned Attacks On The Freedom Of Expression
These attacks have become so common that one can write a manual on how to take offence and lodge an FIR:
1. Go to an alumni meet of a college, uninvited. Pretend to watch the skit presented there. Doesn’t matter if you listen to it carefully, just be there to assert your presence.
2. Oh, the play is on female empowerment? Such uselessness. Women don’t need empowerment. Men like us are allowing them to do whatever they want to, what more do they need? Such a waste of time. Begin to leave…
3. Wait, is that Lord Ram? Did I hear Mata Sita? And Draupadi?
4. Your blood must boil! How dare they take such pious names in their play? Doesn’t matter if you don’t hear what the actual content is but this is absolutely wrong! Slimes like these have no right to malign your religion! So what if the play won a lot of prizes in other colleges? It has Lord Ram in it! This is utterly objectionable! Be a true nationalist!
5. That pain should, in turn, induce some remembrance and knowledge! There it is – Section 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion), IPC! This is the best time to use it.
6. Register a FIR against the principal, professor and students of the college. There you go! Let them face the repercussions for what they did to hurt your sentiments! Wait for the police to do something and if they don’t do it quickly, you have all the right to take the law in your own hands! Launch an agitation, brothers!
That is it for today’s chapter. Given the way the attacks on freedom of expression are trending, I’m sure we’ll continue with the unit ‘Intolerance and Democracy’ as it seems to be a never-ending one.