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
First of all very well written blog. Each sentence of it was making sense, contrary to earlier blogs which I was critical about. Amola has come out with some astonishing facts about common Indian mindset. We get carried away so easily that we forget whether we are shitting on 'them' or we our self are getting shit upon. Aseem trivedi might have had the noble cause but the way he expressed it, can never be justified in any manner. I wud like to throw a little advice though for Amola: Keep it short like today's one. Its easier for public to grasp the idea and not getting away from FB for longer while they click on ur link. good luck :)
ReplyDeletethanks Vipin :) your advice well noted.
ReplyDeleteWell ur writing skill are very gud . Well Mr.Naveen Amola, lot of people says "aaj ke time main politican bharat mata ka rape kar rahe hai " that what this cartonist showed in his cartoon , ab koi bole to tum use dhyan nahi dete par kise bana diya to bhadak jate ho.
ReplyDeleteBharatMata are we the people and govenment exactly doing same what he showed in his Cartoon .
Lets focus at Parliament cartoon ab all Bills , all laws etc parliament se pass hote hai un par Parliament + Ashok Pillar to rahta he hai aur jab unhe paper ko use kar ke Lakhao ka ghotala hota hai tab tujhe nahi lagta use Parliament main jaha yeah beth kar corruption ho raha hai use toilet se compare karne main kya haraz hai aur Ashok Pillar ko wolf ke tarah dikhane main kya dikkat hai ...... bas soch ke baat hai tu use apne national symbol ka apman samaj raha hia main use aaj ke time ke sachai se jod kar dekh raha hu ......
Vipin Saklani bhai ab tu decide karega ke cartonist ko kya bana chahiyea kya nahi ....tere pass itna creative dimag nahi hai ha lekin Critize karne ka dimag jarur hai
Pradeep, you only understood from my blog what you wanted to, so there is no point in discussing. But try reading again and understand what is its main subject. It is not whether what the cartoonist showed is reality or not, it is whether we had accepted his cartoons if he had shown the religious reality of today's world in the same way as he showed the political reality. No. Babu Bajrangi kills pregnant muslim women and burns their fetuses and proudly says he felt like Maharana Pratap and Shivaji while doing so. For me that is like shitting on the legacy of Maharana Pratap and Shivaji. But would you support it if some one shows it in a cartoon or any other art form? I bet not. And even if you would, majority of Indians would not and this piece was on majority of India and not you. Rahi baat dimag ki, hum logo k paas dimag bilkul nahi hai but that is not a good enough reason for me to not exercise my freedom of expression like every other Tom Dick and Harry who can write, draw or rant at jantar mantar does :)
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