Freedom, expressed

"What is freedom of expression? Without freedom to offend, it ceases to exist". So said Salman Rushdie. A lot of us would agree to it, maybe even swear by it. The reason is simple enough, every person in this world is unique in his own way and is entitled to have an opinion. Hence it is justified for a person to think that his take on a subject is accurate and therefore the world should accept it. Thus arises debate and for the more belligerent souls, an arguement and maybe a fight would not be far behind. Well, what happens when a certain individual has accepted an ideology and then as time passes by, he swerves from it? Change in perception, is after all, human nature. Would he be condemned by his fraternity, shunned by all those who had looked up to him admiringly or in reverence?

Well, that has just been the case with Mr. Jaswanth Singh, our former financial minister. Jaswanth Singh, a veteran politician was dragged into controversies because of his book "Jinnah:India-Partition-Independence". Apparently, in this book he had yet again strummed on a sensitive issue, the partition and who was responsible for it. According to this book, he portrays Nehru and Sardar Vallabhai Patel as the demons responsible for the partition. Jinnah is visualised as a lesser, maybe even the more admirable of the trio, the consequences of whose actions still bring out feelings of animosity and stir painful memories for most residents of the sub continent. But, isn't history itself an opinion? A prejudiced treatise on social conditions and traditions? In any case, the whole truth wouldn't be unveiled, would it? (Like the legend of King Arthur. Who knows if there was a Camelot?) In most cases it is romanticized, sugar coated and often manipulated to depict the glory of a nation or a race. Of course, there are those who think otherwise and have tried to disagree, Jaswant Singh being one of them for which he has been condemned by his berthern. Him being a senior party member of Bharatiya Janta Party, known for its Hindutva ideology, was literally a scrumptuos feast for the eternal mud flingers, fault finders, chair pullers and the like. The book was banned, so was Singh from the BJP.

This whole issue paints a much more profound picture. Was Jaswanth Singh, who had been in the BJP for over a decade, unaware of the party's ideologies? Certainly not. Just that for once, he stood up for his intellectual views and personal priorities. Trying to set his expulsion as an example to the rebels within the party, BJP is trying to clean up the chaos that had seeped into the party mechanism. After all, the lesson has been learnt. Maybe the political scenario would improve henceforth, as the Opposition of a country should have a strong grip on issues which is hardly the case with BJP.

Was Jaswanth Singh right in bluntly putting his views forward or was it a way of showing his disapproval of the party ways or was it publicity for his book, he can only tell. Maybe freedom of expression was his way of finally attaining freedom from this mindless power game. Only time shall tell.