Aseem Trivedi was a supporter of India against Corruption, which became handy for him when he was booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 124A for sedition, Section 66A of the IT Act and under the National Emblem Act, 1971. His arrest unleashed an outrage among civil society and he emerged as a symbol of the freedom of expression. The state government ordered an inquiry to reconsider the charges as the chief minister and deputy chief minister of Maharashtra felt that they were too harsh for his actions. The media joined hands with protesters to build public opinion against this action on Aseem Trivedi. Perhaps Aseem was lucky enough to have been arrested in India’s commercial capital, which provided the opportunity to convert his issue into political theatre.
Punjabi book publishers and editors have not been lucky like this, as they have been booked under charges of atrocities against scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, rioting and conspiracy for publishing the edited works of the poetry of Babu Rajab Ali (1894-1979), a well-known Punjabi poet. Babu Rajab Ali wrote poetry to narrate traditional stories, contemporary social-dynamics, ballads, and rendered themes of the freedom struggle in his verses. Before moving to Pakistan after Partition he was known for his genre, Kavishri, in which the poet narrates a story punctuated with songs. He has written on historical, mythological, political, religious, and social issues in the Malwai dialect of Punjabi (which is spoken in the Malwa region). He invokes folk wisdom in his works and society’s accumulated civilisational resources, including caste, emerge as important social variables in his Kavishri. Caste names appear in his poetry, regularly, as he narrates characteristics of the caste-ridden Punjabi society.
Ashok Garg, the owner of Sangam Publications from Samana in Patiala district and Sukhwinder Singh Swatantar, editor of Anutha Rajab Ali, were booked under Sections 153A/501B/502B/505/120B of the IPC and 3(x) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, on 15 September 2012 on the complaint of Guriqbal Singh, the station house officer of the Samana police station. Similarly, Amit Mittar of Vishav Bharti Parkashan, Barnala and Jagjeet Singh Sahoke, editor of Gatha Surmian Di were booked under Sections 153A/501/505 of the IPC and 3(x) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, on the complaint of Harmik Singh Deol, deputy superintendent of police, Barnala. Both cases have been registered on the same day in the same fashion, as complaints were marked by the respective special superintendent of police to the respective district attorneys for opinions and cases were registered, thereafter. Amit Mittar was taken under police custody for a day and, thereafter, all the accused were taken under judicial custody for publishing collections of Babu Rajab Ali on 15 September when they were arrested from different places in a coordinated operation of the Punjab Police from two districts under the supervision of an inspector general of police.
Government as Literary Critic
Dalip Singh Pandhi, a member of Punjab State Commission for Scheduled Castes had written to the commission’s member-secretary that “an atrocity has been committed against the helpless poor and innocent by falsely registering a case against them”. While granting bails to Jagjit Singh and Amit Mittar, the Additional Session Court, Barnala noted, “mens rea cannot be attributed to the petitioners as the contents of the book are not authored by them”. The bail order reads further, “…petitioner no 1 [Jagjit Singh] belongs to scheduled caste community and thus it is still debatable whether he can be prosecuted for an offence under Section 3 of the Act. There is a letter from the Chairman of Scheduled Caste Commission, Punjab that the FIR has been wrongly registered against petitioner no 1.” The accused of Samana case and Barnala case got bails on 25 and 29 September respectively after furnishing bail bonds of Rs 50,000 each from the respective sessions courts. The police promptly filled challans against all the accused but withdrew the SC/ST Act against them, as both of them belong to the scheduled castes. While it may be seen as the police having learnt a lesson that only non-dalits can be booked under the SC/ST Act, it can also be that police has amended its case to make it stronger to defend in court. The promptness of the police to file challans, in the sessions courts, testifies to the fact that the State is pursuing these cases vigorously.
What provoked the police to invoke such stringent provisions and, thereafter, meticulously pursue it against these publishers and editors? Babu Rajab Ali’s poetry has been published in one or the other form by almost all Punjabi publishers, both government as well as private. The complainants claim that the books “use derogatory language for scheduled castes which can instigate people from targeted community and situation can deteriorate into communal riots”. This argument can be extended to a large part of Punjabi narrative poetry and folk literature. This would mean that the poetry of Bhai Gurdass to Waris Shah and Dhani Ram Chatrik would be under the same prohibition. In Punjabi, a female poetic genre, Sithnia, carries the voices of repressed women and is replete with all sorts of names. There are lots of derogatory remarks against the brahmin and Bania communities. This whole literature has been taught and researched on in educational institutions. If the government takes such a stand then any publisher, educational institution, library, researcher, archivist and collector of Punjabi folk literature and narrative poetry can be booked under the stringent sections of the criminal procedure code and the IPC for being casteist, indecent, obscene and vulgar.
This whole volume of literature contains contemporary idioms and documents the caste discrimination in one or the other way. Such idiom in present-day literature will, rightly, demand admonishment. However, does the reproduction of old literature need to be put in the same bracket? Definitely yes, if any commentary or interpretation or even introduction justifies caste discrimination and uses caste names for that purpose. Should we delete all such references from the old literature, which are not in tune with contemporary sensibilities? Is the State planning to sanitise history and literature? What purpose will it serve? As an analogous example, Howard Zinn wrote The People’s History of the United States, at a time when, under the influence of the civil liberties movement, it had been resolved not to use the word “Nigger” for Blacks. Howard Zinn, however, retained the word “Nigger” wherever it appeared as such in the original texts. It is important to maintain the integrity of original writings as well as research based on that. This apparently self-evident position seems to be lost on the authorities in Punjab if the recent FIRs are anything to go by. The debate over what is the appropriate language to engage with caste must go on, as we need to develop a vocabulary of mutual respect, but that cannot lead to a ban on historical texts and traditional literature.
Public Stand
Intellectuals from Punjab have come out with a measured response. A public statement has been issued, published in EPW’s recent issue, which says,
The Punjab government, in its overzealous thoughtlessness, has entered controversial territory, as this is not the only text containing traditional caste names. Such a cleansing will need doing away with all the classical Punjabi literature containing traditional caste names.
The Punjabi diaspora has joined hands to oppose the government’s actions as writers from North America and Europe have signed the statement. The Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations (CDRO) too has come out with a strongly-worded statement. Rajeev Sharma, a Punjab-based filmmaker has pointed out that the State is least bothered about caste-mongering in the music industry which also pushes lumpen masculinity. Punjab’s music industry is the loudest public expression of casteism. Another publisher, Harish Jain of Unistar Books, underlines the most damaging implication, “It will infuse the publication industry with different kinds of apprehensions. There will be self-censorship which will be much more dangerous than official censorship.” Harish Jain is contemplating building a platform for publishers where they will discuss the issue and its larger impact on the publishing industry. He feels that publishers alone cannot handle the magnitude of the issue and it should be raised by all sections of civil society as it touches on our fundamental rights.
While there is no clear answer as to why this sudden action of the State on the publication of Babu Rajab Ali’s poetry, there are many speculations about the politics involved in the issue. If the State truly wants to encourage a justice-loving society, free of caste, gender and racial discrimination then the key has to be an informed and sensible citizenry. A rule could be brought in where old writings which have insulting caste names and ideas perpetuating biases can be published with disclaimers.
Other means and methods can be thought out too to deal with this. If this is the intention of the State then a policy needs to be developed which serves both ends – sensitising readers to caste and other biases as well as protecting the publication and dissemination of traditional literature. However, the erratic and high-handed manner in which the Punjab government and state institutions have acted seems to suggest that they are trying to take advantage of volatile social relations through hypersensitive reactions to polarise society on traditional lines. If the State will come out with a policy it will get an organised and coherent response. Here the State, with an erratic response, seems to be sending a coded message to its citizens through the targeting of the book publishers. Citizens need to have a non-erratic response to such government actions.
The views expressed in this article are personal.
The article has been published in Vol - XLVII No. 42, October 20, 2012 issue of Economic & Political Weekly
