The Hitavada Special Correspondent

UNDATED: Taking a bold stand that did not match the official position of his party, veteran Congress leader Dr. Karan Singh and his son Vikramaditya Singh asserted that they acknowledge many “positives” in the Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution, withdraw Special Status to Jammu and Kashmir, and split the State into two Union Territories. The view of the father-son duo is being treated as important, thanks to the fact they belong to the erstwhile royal family of Kashmir and have been associated with the Congress party for decades.

 

Dr. Karan Singh, however, is not alone in the Congress party to back the Government’s move. Many young leaders, including Jyotiraditya Scindia, have opposed the party’s stand on the issue. On condition of anonymity, a senior leader also stated that he refused to get tagged along the party’s official position on Kashmir issue. ...

THESE and a few other instances point to a slow but sure realisation dawning upon the country that it cannot carry on with a distorted socio-political discourse on the road ahead. A silent dimension of this realisation is that much of India’s public discourse was distorted deliberately to suit a few vested interests.

 

Thanks to the firm initiatives by the Narendra Modi Government in the past five years such as introduction of the law to declare instant Triple Talaq invalid and withdrawal of Special Status to Kashmir and splitting the State into two separate Union Territories, the distorted discourse now stands severely and seriously challenged.

 

Those sections of the political community that promoted the distorted discourse all these years are, therefore, finding it tough to stick to their discourse without harming their respective constituencies and circles of influence.

In the past five years, the nation also saw a change of tone and tenor of electoral politics that witnessed a change in the voting pattern. The nation realised that many sections of the voting population were opting for candidates beyond the traditional caste and creed lines as well as beyond the habitual pseudo-secular discourse.

 

The change in the electoral behaviour of a silent majority dumped the ruling Congress party -- and its so-called like-minded allies -- and brought up the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to the top. Though many people in the so-called liberal camp never understood or sensed this changing direction of the political tide, the change was stealthily marching on.

 

Looking back, one does realise how the Indian nation suffered from a deliberately distorted discourse in social and political thought. The people were made to believe that instant Triple Talaq was sacrosanct and could not be toyed with. The people were made to believe that Special Status to Kashmir was unalterable and had to be put up with. The nation was made to believe that the Muslims would indulge only in a particular electoral behaviour and the Dalits would have their own way of looking at things. A fierce propaganda worked all the time to impress upon the people that there was only one particular brand of secularism.

 

This deliberate distortion dominated public discourse in India for seventy-plus years since Independence. Before that, too, as systematic distortion of reality continued to bog down the freedom struggle for long decades, particularly in the field of communal amity and unity. Most unfortunately, those who tried to dare that discourse were razed to the ground and finished socially and politically. Those who tried to raise a different voice were singled out and attacked in the most uncouth manner, the victims of the deliberate distortion of public discourse in the country for cheap gains.

 

Thanks to the changing political winds and deft social engineering undertaken by some saner sections in the public arena, the distortion started getting exposed about a quarter of a century ago. That process gathered tremendous momentum in the past ten years. And in the past five years, corresponding to the rise of Mr. Narendra Modi as an unquestionable symbol of national aspirations, the public discourse started gaining in sensibility and sensitivity in ever-increasing proportions.

 

The law against instant Triple Talaq and also withdrawal of Special Status in Kashmir are the latest milestones the nation passed by on its way to a healthier, undistorted public discourse. The parliamentary debates on Triple Talaq and Kashmir exposed the superficiality of the public discourse that misled the nation until now. They also made the discourse hitherto look childish and intellectually and spiritually corrupt and hollow.

There is little doubt that this change will soon start entering other areas of public arena, no matter how hard vested interests may try to stall it.

 

This change is essential aspect of the massive social engineering that is in motion presently. Eventually, with due passage of time, many other areas would get covered under its expanding circle. Years ago, Hindu Code Bill saw a transformation and the Hindu community changed accordingly. Now the new law about instant Triple Talaq will bring about appropriate change in the Muslim community’s collective behaviour in due course of time. A time will come when Common Civil Code, too, will come into effect, which may be not far into future.

 

The highlight of this process is that slowly but surely deliberate distortions in public discourse will stop taking place. It is this belief on which stands India’s basic commitment to democracy as a system of all of us, for all of us and by all of us. Finally, in due time, we will script a brilliant story of social togetherness.