And then they came for the cartoonists. The Indian Express headline this morning is quite brilliantly apt, more so because it reveals the cowardice of the hooded men with guns. A cartoonist is one of the most incisive beings in a newsroom, someone who uses the sketch pen as a weapon, not of mass destruction but of universal wit, sarcasm, laughter. You turn to a cartoonist for relief from the daily rigours of life: amidst sadness, death and destruction, the cartoon is meant to inject humour into our lives. The terrorist knows not of humour: indoctrinated by false interpretations of religion, by a belief system that is unshakeable, he uses the AK 47 as a symbol of power, a power that hides false bravado. He can’t fight the battle of ideas in a civilised world, so he turns to the gun to settle his real and imaginary grievances. The gun of the terrorist versus the sketch pen of the cartoonist is a no-contest. And yet, the very fact that the cartoonist can get under the skin of the terrorist is a mark of his triumph and courage: free speech scares the gun because it unmasks it’s hollowness. We can argue that the right to free speech doesn’t involve the right to offend, but who will decide what is offensive? And if you are offended by a cartoon, a book, or a painting, there are many civilised ways to settle the argument other than rushing out and gunning someone down. The brave contest ideas, it’s the cowards who seek refuge in a gun.
Interestingly, the cowardly attack on the cartoonists in France has prompted this tweet to me: Hindu Godmen lampooned in PK, you argue for free speech, Prophet targeted in a magazine, you call it provocative. My simple (and yet complex) answer: learn to celebrate the great spirit of tolerance of Hinduism that may allow someone the right to lampoon our Gods and yet will not incite violence except by a few madmen. Free speech can never be absolute, religious depiction can arouse sensitives, but if you are offended by its usage, go to a court of law. Better still, draw your own cartoon, painting, and offer an alternate narrative. Then, be it PK or the Prophet, violence is unacceptable.
One last point: stop demonising an entire faith for the acts of these fake soldiers of God. Islam needs to look within as to why it allows less space for internal debate. But so do those amongst us who seek to paint an entire community with the same brush. And remember, cartoonists don’t destroy a religion, fanatics and terrorists do.
