Take people into confidence, it helps

Last Friday the Indian Navy cancelled the unfurling of the national flag at Sao Jacinto Island in South Goa after residents said they did not want the Central or State Government to carry out any activities on the island. Their objection was not to the flag hoisting. Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant took to Twitter to call the people anti-national. He promised to deal with them with an "iron fist". Though it might sound strange that any Indian should oppose flag hoisting on Independence Day, it should be understood that the protest was not against India or the national flag. It was a protest against the proposed Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP).

The islanders have been maintaining that they themselves would hoist the flag as usual. They had even invited the Navy officials to join them in the celebrations. The islanders' distrust is because the draft CZMP and the Major Port Authority Bill, 2020 shows Sao Jacinto falling under the jurisdiction of the Mormugao Port Trust (MPT). They do not want their heritage structures to go in the name of development.

This happened even with the Lakshadweep Islands too. Reform measures in the islands came under attack by the locals and the Opposition but the administration maintained that vested business interests were behind the allegations. When a local film maker Aisha Sultana called the administrator a 'bio-weapon' used against the people of the Union Territory, she was booked for sedition. If the administration is planning to do good to the people, they could always take people into confidence and talk them out of their protest. Yet, unfortunately, it is not happening in the country.

No authority is willing to talk to the protestors. Be it in the universities, campuses, on the streets or in the hinterlands, governments are remaining tight-lipped. Only cases are filed. It seems nothing less than sedition matters nowadays. Right from the Apex Court, we have several Courts ruling against the sedition cases in the country, yet, the authorities are not amenable to reason. Even in Disha Ravi case the Delhi Court had to say "the offence of sedition cannot be invoked to minister to the wounded vanity of the governments." It also said the government could not put citizens "behind bars simply because they chose to disagree with the state policies".

In Farooq Abdullah's case, the Supreme Court said, "Expression of views which are different from the opinion of the government cannot be termed seditious." The sedition law has been in controversy for far too long. Often the governments are criticized for using the law — Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) — against vocal critics of their policies.

The Preamble to the Constitution of India promises liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. These three freedoms are vehicles through which dissent can be expressed. The right to disagree, the right to dissent and the right to take another point of view...that is the essence of our democracy. Even from a political viewpoint, it is neither prudency nor political exigency to file such cases. just for disagreeing with the governments. It would only make them turn against the ruling parties. It is as simple as that. Why do they not understand it?