Aseem Trivedi was a name unknown until last weekend. Suddenly he has become the face of India’s young, rebellious, enlightened and patriotic janta. And he did not even have to sit on an Anshan or slap a politician to do that. All he had to do was exercise his right of freedom to expression by drawing some stuff on a piece of paper. Here is one example of his many expressions
The irony here is, Assem uses the right given to him by the Constitution of India to insult the Constitution of India in probably the second most (first would have been Kasab taking a dump on it) distasteful and abominable manner. I was not surprised by Government coming into action and arresting him (which I do not approve of) because of the recent approach of Government towards internet censorship. However I was really surprised by the indifference of general public towards this kind of art. A month ago Dr B R Ambedkar was chosen by the same public as the greatest Indian ever after Mahatma Gandhi and a month later they are out in full support of an art which ridicules and disrespects the very reason for which Dr Ambedkar was chosen the greatest Indian. Oh I see, it is Aseem's freedom of expression and young, progressive India is all for freedom of expression. Is that really the case? I have my doubts. I wonder if people would have supported his freedom of expression if he had shown Babu Bajrangi urinating on Geeta or Laden urinating on Kuran.
I wonder if public would have supported his freedom of expression if in the following cartoon, instead of Mother India getting raped by corruption, he had shown Goddess Saraswati getting gang raped by owners of private schools, colleges and coaching centers
Or if public would have supported him if in the following cartoon, instead of Parliament, he had shown a temple which covers the corrupt and inhuman practices of its priests, as a toilet.
For me Babu Bajrangi urinating on Geeta and the pimps of education raping Goddess Saraswati are as symbolic of our current reality as are Aseem Trivedi's expressions. But I am sure had he dared anything of that sort, his house would have been burnt down and he would have been lynched to death. The Indian public would have sympathized with him but would have never supported his freedom of expression. Well they did not support M F Hussain when he was targeted. They did not even support Karan Johar when he was targeted for calling Mumbai as Bombay in one of his movies. However here they are in full support of Aseem because the subject ridiculed is not their religion but their country.
This tells us three alarming things about Indian public. First they can take jokes on country, its constitution and its national symbols but cannot stand anything against their religion and gods which bursts the myth that Indians, majority of which being Hindus, place their country above their religion. Second, while everyone in India today is anti system and anti government, unfortunately very few are pro India and thus they are ok with anything that ridicules India if it ridicules the government. And third Indian public, like Indian Government allows freedom of expression only when it is acceptable and convenient to them. I am glad I am not a part of this crowd. I am equally appalled by Aseem's cartoons and Hussain's paintings, but I also equally support their freedom of expression. Maybe I am neither too patriotic nor too religious or maybe I am too much of both.
And yeah, Happy Birthday to me :P
