India is facing an existential threat to civilisation and in a post-truth society where people no longer are able to distinguish between truth and falsehood, warned senior advocate Prashant Bhushan.
Speaking at a literary meet for tolerance organised by Gram Seva Sangh and Dakshinayana in Bengaluru on Sunday, Bhushan alleged there was an organised army created by the BJP to spread fake news and videos in the social media.
"There is an existential crisis because we see lynch mob going around beating up defenceless men and women, filming and circulating those videos on social media and gloating about it. Then, there is this army of lynch mobs on social media created by the government to abuse and threaten people with rape and murder. The same goons are invited to prime ministers residence for tea and they are followed by the PM on Twitter. What kind of monsters have we created?" asked Bhushan.
Comparing the current situation to Chomsky's "manufacturing consent", Bhushan says the US has a nominal democracy as the minds are manipulated through advertisement. But India has become a post truth society where people are unable to differentiate between truth and falsehood.
Hitting back at the Centre for the recent arrest of rights activists, Bhushan alleged the term "urban naxal" was coined by a failed filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, who in an interview had claimed his business was to deal with perception and not facts.
As a counter to the communal onslaught, liberals must unite to identify fake, false, hateful, violence promoting messages on social media, file cases and pursue them in the courts, suggested the lawyer. "Identify group of lawyers who can fight these cases. Also, do positive messaging of multicultural society and diversity against their idea of a Hindu Rashtra. Their assault is on education and thinking. Why are they attacking JNU? Why do ministers want JNU to be shutdown? They want to train students who only go and follow the orders. Youth who can burn down houses on their order. We must work on "aman" or peace committees at district-level where sober people from different communities to flag communal incidents and promote greater engagement and interaction to fight false images of Muslims as bad."
Bhushan also contended that no person from anti-Constitution organisations like RSS should be allowed to hold constitutional posts.
Earlier, filmmaker M.S. Sathyu reminded that art can't afford to be diplomatic. "If we hurt some people (through art), we have to. Art should be used as a weapon to destroy fascism and religious fanaticism."
Singer Vasu Dixit performing during the Literary Meet for Tolerance, organised by Gram Seva Sangh and Dakshinayana in Bengaluru on Sunday
Jnanpith awardee Girish Karnad ridiculed the incoherent FIRs in connection with the recent arrest of rights activists. "The FIRs are inconsistent as the police mention many reasons for the arrest—from plotting to kill the PM to Kashmir. This is happening because the police, like their political masters, feel they can say and do whatever they want," said Karnad, who also took a dig at a changing society saying we have moved from "lancha-avatara" (corruption) to "lynch-avatara" (lynching).
Historian Ramachandra Guha warned people against those who hated both Gandhi and Ambedkar. "Gandhi and Ambedkar were collaborators in the making of democracy and they were not opposed to each other. "Gandhi defined Swaraj as a bed with four sturdy posts—non-violence, religious harmony, annihilation of untouchability and economic self-reliance. It is relevant to this day. Babasaheb, in his Constituent Assembly speech, said bhakti in religion was the route to salvation and bhakti in politics was route to dictatorship."
Many writers and activists felt that dissent should not just be a celebration, but a chargesheet against the system. Some rued the fact that the intellectual space was more city-centric with little action in the grassroots and communal forces were exploring this loophole and reaching out to the masses to push their ideology.
Writer Marulsiddappa alleged the lynch mob, supari killers and the media engaged in spreading falsehoods were unofficial power centres.
The literary meet passed four resolutions to chart cultural alternatives to fight the twin challenges of religious extremism and machine-driven civilisation. The resolution stated that secularism was about practising moderate religion and gram swaraj, and nationalism was being patriots and a world citizen at the same time. "At a time when people are raising doubt over the role and responsibility of writers and artists, it is important to understand they come from a rich tradition of saints and socialism. We will go to the backyards of our communities to teach them simple living, rationality and tolerance. While, we do so, we have a commitment to protect mother Earth."
The second phase of the campaign begins on October 2, when more than 1,000 college students will go on fast for a day.
