Sadanand Menon - Reverse Swing: Imagining a Democracy of Designated Dissent
सहज मिले सो दूध सम, मांगा मिले सो पानि // कह कबीर वह रक्त सम, जामें एंचातानि - Dissent from designated spaces. In keeping with the line and length being maintained by it for some time now, the Supreme Court bowled one more ‘doosara’ on October 7, while ruling on the Shaheen Bagh protests. Justices Sanjay Kishen Kaul, Aniruddha Bose and Krishna Murari pronounced, “Democracy and dissent go hand in hand, but then the demonstrations expressing dissent have to be in designated places alone”.
This has turned out to be a philosophical contortion of
tortuous proportions which has left many a commentator puzzled. It is like
ruling that any batter hitting a sixer can perforce do it only from standing
within the crease. Or like drawing the good old patriarchal ‘Lakshman rekha’
that sought to restrain Sita within her designated space. The sheer banality of
it has the feel of currency from ATMs or milk from automated dispensers. But,
like with currency, there are other sources for milk too. And a subversive like
Kabir pointed it out 500 years ago in his conundrum:
Sahaj mila so dudh sam, maanga mila so paani | Kah Kabir woh rakt sam, jaame aencha-taani --- What is free in nature is milk, what needs transaction is water / Kabir says it’s like the blood that flows from argument and conflict
You can suck milk directly from the teats of wandering goats
and cows. But access to water depends on your caste and who you ask. This is
part of the designated order of our social circumstance. Any transgression of
these assigned boundaries leads to violence and bloodshed. Kabir was clear that
dissent can happen only outside ‘designated’ spaces and paradigms and values –
and that its consequences are brutal. Otherwise, demarcated, designated dissent
is actually like consent and merely contributes to reinforce the existing
regimes of conformity…
Avay Shukla: Acts
Of God And Follies Of Man
Samjhauta Express
blast case verdict: ‘Who will answer for death of my five children?’
Jailed and Harassed
Former IGP Darapuri, 76, Shares His Ordeal
Prem Shankar Jha:
The Shadow of Haren Pandya’s Case Lies Long Over Justice Arun Mishra
‘This episode is going to haunt SC in years to come’:
Justice AP Shah on CJI sexual harassment case
