Devil's Advocate

These lines are from the forthcoming Ram Gopal Verma movie 'Rann'. The lyrics couldn't have come at a more opportune time when sectarian politics in India is on a rise and people are trying to differentiate between the civilians on the basis of their linguistic allegiances. But what does our executive do when someone tries to point out the obvious? They go ahead and ban it. Or demand moderation on the part of the filmmaker. And what does our judiciary do? They pat the executive's back and say- we won't tolerate tampering with the national anthem.

But what use is a national anthem to its citizens if it cannot bind them into a nation? It is a classic case of high handedness of the executive and the judiciary. The nation is burning and we turn a blind eye to it. Pretty shameful. Secondly, whatever happened to our 'freedom of expression'? It seems like we are still living under the 'Raj'. The very bastions it created still exist and they hinder the very freedom of expression we yearn for.

Agreed the song very crudely portrays how the Indian union is degenerating into a mess of selfish states, crude enough to make you stand up and take notice. Because sometimes you need to shout to be heard. Churchill once said- desperate times call for desperate measures. These surely are desperate times.

We fought for the same freedom and what do we get? We have a relic of the past called the Censor Board which with its handful of members decides what is suitable for a billion people. And according to it, we aren't supposed to call a spade a spade. People spewing venom against religions go scott free. Even linguistic chauvinism goes scott-free in our country but when someone tries to raise his/her voice against it, they try to muffle it.

So much so for freedom of speech. I’m disillusioned!!!