A Threat To Democracy

State agencies have become adept at ‘investigating’ and intimidating those who speak up

- Pavan K Varma

Alexander the Great once encountered two Jain saints in India who were disinclined to show any deference to him. When he asked them why, they said (according to Arrian, Alexander’s biographer): ‘King Alexander, every man can possess only so much of the earth’s surface as this we are standing on. You are but human like the rest of us, save that you are always busy and up to no good ... You will soon be dead, and then you will own just as much of the earth as will suffice to bury you.’

Millennia later, in April 1918, a man called Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was arrested and produced in the dingy court of the British sub-divisional officer in Champaran, Bihar. The judge asked Gandhi to leave Champaran. ‘If you leave the district now and promise not to return, the case against you would be withdrawn,’ he said. Gandhi refused. The magistrate then offered to release him on the bail of a hundred rupees. Gandhi refused bail. That night he was released on the magistrate’s personal recognizance.

The ability to speak truth to power has a hoary tradition in India. But, it is also true that it is easier for saints to be brave. They have little to lose, and the fire of their convictions is not easily doused by intimidation, incarceration or threat to life. Ordinary people have to more carefully weigh the consequences. This is especially so because in modern times, even in democracies, the powers of the government are not to be trifled with.