PUNE: “Self-censorship is the most dangerous thing for our democracy today,” said former IAS Officer Kannan Gopinathan.
He was speaking on stage in the city at an event held to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the mooted National Register of Citizens (NRC) of India.
Speaking about the lack of discourse with this government, he questioned how many of those preparing for the civil service examination have stopped posting their opinions about issues and ideologies on social media?
“I know several aspirants have stopped voicing their opinions because they fear that it will affect their chances of getting selected. If you are ready to compromise so much when you have not even entered the system, how will you voice your opinion when you are actually holding positions in the system?” Gopinathan questioned.
Reiterating the need to question the government, he added, “A democracy does not turn into a dictatorship when a dictator takes over. It happens when people stop asking questions. This government loves to label the people who ask them questions. The students protesting become ‘tukde-tukde gang’, the educated urban people become urban naxals, the poor become real naxals. If a Muslim asks a question, he is a Jihadi, if a Hindu asks, he is anti-national. But if you ask me, the only person who is anti-national is the one who knows what is happening is wrong, and still chooses to keep quiet about it.”
Speaking about why people are protesting against the CAA/NRC, Gopinathan said, people need to ask the right question to the government.
“CAA enables communally-motivated NRC. How to prove who is an illegal immigrant and who is not? Every person might not be able to produce documents. The citizenship of these people that will includes tribals, nomadic communities, poor, women, orphans, disaster-struck people will be rendered doubtful.”
“Even today, data shows that only 62 per cent birth registrations under the age of five take place in India. How are people supposed to find documents that go back decades?” Gopinathan added.
Gopinathan said, “The protests are certainly making an impact on the government. But nothing can happen overnight. The only way to fight this is to protest constitutionally.”