Shri Gopal Subramanium and his Judgeship

Today, as we observe the 39th anniversary of the ominous Emergency declaration and remember with pain how the world's largest democracy was reduced to a mere 'tin-pot dictatorship,' it looks like we have not yet been saved completely from the tyranny of politicians. 

Shri Gopal Subramanium, Senior Advocate of the Hon'ble Supreme Court and former Solicitor General of India, despite having been recommended to be elevated to the Bench of the highest court of the country by a collegium headed by the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India, the executive had sent his name back to the collegium for reconsideration. 

That such an action has been taken by the government, which, in a way, is tantamount to contempt of the collegium that selects judges to the top court of the country, and also lack of faith in its initial selection, has to be protested against. Shri Subramanium 'is a sound lawyer with great integrity and will be a tribute to the Supreme Court Bench if he is installed as the judge of the Supreme Court of India,' said one of the most revered judges of the country, Shri Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, former judge of the Supreme Court, in a statement he issued couple of days back calling the Prime Minister's attention to the issue. 

Today we hear reports that Shri Subramanium has withdrawn from the race to the prestigious Judgeship. 'It is (a) sad day as the judiciary has been compromised,' he says. He adds that 'in these circumstances' he 'does not consider it consistent with his notions of self-respect to be a judge of the Supreme Court.' 

Rather than rallying for support, he has proven his integrity and has also vindicated the decision of the respected collegium for having unanimously selected his name. Had he waited for some more days and had the collegium recommended his name again to the government, it would have been binding on the executive to approve his name. The upholding of one's pristine self-respect at any rate is a lesson that we should learn from the way this great legal luminary has handled the situation. 

But, there is a more important lesson for us to learn. In his interview to Shri Bhupendra Chaubey of CNN IBN he expressed wonder that the judiciary did not protest against the government for acting in such manner that compromised its independence. Whilst some days back we saw a large group of lawyers from Tamil Nadu agitating against the 365 day working suggestion put forward by the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India, we see not a single lawyer agitating against this tyranny of the executive. It is for such issues that one should agitate. It is worth the effort. Though Shri Subramanium has made it clear as daylight that his decision to withdraw is 'final and irrevocable' we should not take it as a reason to not register our protest. 

I hope that the legal fraternity of our country, forgetting all, if at all any, professional jealousy, come together and mark its protest. I also hope that the students of law come together in this effort. Lastly, I hope that every responsible citizen of India who understands the importance of a free, independent and strong judiciary join. If we do not, we are shamelessly submitting to the tyranny of the worst kind. May on this anniversary of the ominous Emergency every citizen remember, along with his/her rights, the duties which certainly include protecting the prestige of every public institution in the world's largest democracy.  

Jai Hind!

Apology to Shri Rajdeep Sardesai

Despite you being one of my favourite journalists, during the time of AAP-RIL spate over KGB, I had mistaken you to have taken the side of Reliance during the ensuing debates. I had tweeted that you had been 'sold out' to Reliance and had also thought ill about you. 

However, this report by Live Mint (http://www.livemint.com/Companies/rqT2Oi8fwv4XVjJcHzlcVN/Inside-the-Network18-takeover.html) shows that you had refused to take sides. The report says that when RIL 'wanted a complete blackout of Kejriwal and AAP' you 'refused, saying it was just not possible.' You indeed did put journalism first, sir.  

For your refusal to have bowed down despite this massive pressure mounted on you and your channel, I salute you, sir. During those debates many a followers of the AAP had written and would also have had thought ill about you, just like me. On behalf of all of them, and also from my own side, I render genuine and sincerest apologies. 

You remain one of my favourite journalists! I shall pray for your wellness. 

Apologetically and with love,

Siddharth Mohan Nair

We may well need a Twitter Penal Code!

(Published in The News Minute on 22 June 2014)

Aware, empowered and strong we all become because of the spread and the ease of access of the social media, especially Twitter. Right from the Prime Minister of the country to the person next door we get to know what people do and what they think, on a minute to minute basis. News – information (at times disinformation) and views – come so quick and in plentitude. 

I use the word ‘empowered’ because in Twitter, unlike the conventional information providing media, one can not only hear what one says but, also respond – second, argue and question. To our response comes another response, and to it another, and it goes on and on. It becomes a potpourri of views, to an extent empowering.

But, sadly, all is not so rosy in Twitter. There thrives a fervent section among the Twitterati, who mount vociferous abuse on those who speak something against their beliefs and faith. Criticism is fine and even necessary, but certainly not abuse in the guise of it. If one does not like a particular person’s views, he can very well not ‘follow’ that person on Twitter. But, far from doing that, there is a strange section among the Twitterati who ‘follow’ more carefully those with whom they have diagonally opposing viewpoints, wait for them to speak, and then pour abuse like molten lava in an indefatigable manner with an intention to stifle them. Among those tweeple on the receiving end; some do succumb, tweeting no more of that. Some are sangfroid, with a say-what-ever-you-want kind of attitude. Some, albeit very few, fight back. Many ignore; but not beyond a level. Indeed, the level of toleration needs to be too high, and if one wishes not to bow down and to keep tweeting their views, what they should develop is a thick skin. 

Here are some celeb Twitterati who get the most of it.

On 8 June Smt Sagarika Ghose of the CNN IBN tweeted ‘Why is press freedom in jeopardy across the globe? Delighted to be presenting India paper at global media women retreat!’ Not much time had passed when her tweeple ‘haters’ took her to task. ‘I swear I read that as ‘Global MediaWORM Retreat’ – a place better suited for you perhaps,’ tweeted one. Another tweeted, ‘Who will listen to you jeehadi brainless anchor who has been strip(ped) off from IBNLIVE? Keep tweeting bullshit Indian not interested.’ 

On 2 June when she tweeted ‘Its been a long and wearying election & its time for a break at last! Stay well and stay cool folks.:),’ a follower of hers replied ‘Come back soon… India needs journos with spine, now, more than ever!’ To this tweet came a reply, ‘Can’t say about the spine – but on FTN (Face The Nation, a show she hosts) one certainly saw the biceps :)’ Abuses in professional to personal front, such is the level to which some tweeple can stoop!

When Shri Shashi Tharoor tweeted yesterday ‘Someone needs to remind PM @narendramodi of these views of CM Narendra Modi..’ sharing a link where Shri Narendra Modi as Gujarat CM had asked Shri Manmohan Singh to withdraw the hike in freight charges, a tweeple replied thus: ‘Yes we have also reminded him about synonyms death of a lady…. Yaad bhi hain ki bhul gayein.’ It seems some tweeple do not even let free those who have ascended from earth. When there were abuses all along, Shri Tharoor, probably pained at what he was reading, did not bother to reply. A tweet came, ‘shashi ji do you ever read our tweets even,’ and Shashiji replied ‘sometimes!’ Alas, what else could be have said?

Politicians and journalists are not the only ones to be heaped with abuses. Academicians, too, get their share for voicing opinion on Twitter. On 7 June when Shri Ramchandra Guha, a pre-eminent historian tweeted that ‘The largest and most influential ‘foreign-funded NGOs’ in India are in fact BJP and the Congress..’ and shared a link of a newspaper article titled ‘Delhi HC finds BJP, Congress guilty of receiving foreign funding,’ an exasperated man replied thus: ‘MORONS 1st,this story is 25 years old..2nd political party is against India?U r true moron and invloved in anti national activites.’ 

Well, to who say that historians should stick to topics of History alone, here’s what happened. On 10 June when he tweeted ‘Gandhi, speaking in Madras, March 1919: ‘There is too much recrimination, innuendo and insinuation in our public life...’ the tweets in reply were ‘From our eminent distorian,’ ‘someone seems to be a fan of " Back to the future",’ ‘… there is not a single favorable comment on this joker's tweet’ and so on. 

This morning Shri Siddharth Varadarajan, former Editor of The Hindu tweeted ‘My twitter day usually starts with a bunch of Hindutva types copying me on some anti-Muslim rubbish and me then muting them. Score today: 18’ In less than a minute he got a tweet in reply, ‘wow. That’s all you are reduced to now. What a fall.’ 

It was a trend in India in the past to call people who had opinions contrary to theirs as Communists and agents of the CIA. Very recently Shri Sanjay Jha, national spokesperson of the Congress party had, following a dispatch authored by a US Department of State diplomat, in a tweet on 25 April, called Shri Subramanian Swamy a CIA agent. Swamyji, the maverick he is, took the issue head on by accusing the Congress spokesperson of libeling him and served a legal notice on him. Sanjayji replied to the notice saying that his ‘impugned tweet’ was an attempt by him ‘solely to invite discussions in the social media to seek perspectives…’ and tendered an ‘unconditional apology’ and also promised to ‘delete the said tweet forthwith.’ 

Seldom do instances like these happen. Very few people read such tweets that come in response to theirs, let alone take them seriously. However, abuse should be stopped. Without which, rather than being a beautiful platform for sharing information and views, Twitter would turn into an ugly place. The easiest way is to not ‘follow’ those whose views one never concurs. But the urge in you to know what they tweet does not let you to do so, you must not reply, or at least, reply with civility. No one likes to see abuses being piled when they enter the world of Twitter. If nothing of these works, perhaps, we may well need a TPC, a Twitter Penal Code! Let such a day never come. Happy Tweeting!