About the Liberal, the Law, and Cricket

So, you are a liberal? Great. You believe in the stuff promised in the Preamble: Justice, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, Unity and all the good stuff? Fantastic. But you are appalled by some liberals behaving badly and breaking the law. You think it just isn’t cricket, you know? I hear you, mate. This post is for you.

Sati was legal. Ditto child marriage, triple talaq, caste discrimination, bonded labour, beating children and wives, polygamy, female foeticide, monarchy, barring daughters from inheriting ancestral property, loan sharking, dumping toxic waste into the river, cutting random trees, and many other things that would appall you today. Yes, they were all legal. As was the Rowlatt Act, the taking of Koh-i-Noor, the dethroning of Shah Alam, the transfer of power to Victoria. All legal. And I haven’t even mentioned non-Indian stuff yet.

Now, I don’t want to list all the things that were illegal. But at one time, even making your own fucking salt was illegal. Congregating unarmed at Jallianwala Bagh even after warnings was illegal. Printing leaflets critical of the government was illegal. Gathering at Azad Maidan in 1942 was illegal. Shouting Inquilab Zindabad was illegal. Travelling in “Europeans Only” compartments, or entering “Whites Only” hotels was illegal. You know what else was illegal? Raising the tricolour. Or demanding self-rule or independence (Swaraj in Sanskrit, or Azadi in Urdu, for those who don’t understand these words). Or refusing to go to war for your oppressor. Or joining the Azad Hind Fauj.

To those who keep telling me that regardless of the context, regardless of the fact that there are no curbs or limits to Arnab’s poisonous gibberish and propaganda, regardless of the abyss into which this society stares because of the divisive politics that is being played on the national stage, regardless of our own rights in a democracy, regardless of the historically documented and universally applied method of non-violent resistance, regardless of all that is good, holy, and sacred to a human, of that which is worth fighting for, worth dying for, regardless of all this, what is of paramount importance above everything is to follow the law and be nice, polite, and tolerant of intolerant people, because not being so would somehow break the unspoken rule of gentlemanly behaviour, which we are so proud of being, even as our pants have been taken down and we are being fucked in the ass as the world laughs at our cowardice and stupidity, I say, “You really don’t understand this, do you?”

I understand you are sitting in your cozy living rooms talking of legal niceties and tut-tutting over someone else standing up for what’s right, at huge personal cost. I understand you have the privilege and the luxury, as to be completely honest, do I, to sit and criticise the methods of someone who is risking their life, limb, livelihood, and reputation to fight on our behalf. You have the advantage of the lottery of birth, as I must admit do I, to insist that everything be done above board and in the spirit of the game, otherwise it’s just not cricket. I understand that you are all for fair play and being upright and all that, chaps, while someone else fights the dirty fight that needs to be fought. For you. For your children. For justice. For protecting the very society you live in and curse this person of vitiating. I understand you don’t want to get sweat under your arms, or be roughed up by the police, or spend an hour in the lockup, or risk being hit by a lathi, or be called in by your father or uncle and given an earful about how you are destroying the family name, or whatever, and that you’d rather someone else did it, but that they did it playing by your rules.

I also understand you do not condemn this person, whether a Shaheen Baghi or a Kunal Kamra. You are actually egging them on inside your mind. You secretly wish you could do it too. You just can’t, because it would go against your grain of being a good sportsman and a dignified loser, which you acknowledge you are and would ideally love to wallow in self-pity over a glass of something as you look longingly at those who are doing something about it and soothe yourself by telling your conscience that their methods are flawed. You’d surely have done in differently, right?

So, here’s an advice from me: Stop telling others how not to do things and get off your ass to start doing stuff instead. You need not do things you disagree with. But at least do those you do agree with and can. That’s fair, isn’t it? That’s cricket, right? You want to write RTIs? Submit PILs? Turn up for a protest? Make art? Write on mainstream media? Comment on social media? Refuse to cooperate with the government? Convince your friends, family, neighbours, colleagues about your viewpoint? Vote? Contribute or donate to a political party? Help campaign during elections? Raise funds? Raise awareness domestically or internationally? Use your influence to affect policy? Help someone affected by this? Go over and comfort your neighbour that you’ll stand with them if they are ever attacked? Unsubscribe from channels and celebrities that spew poison? Tweet? Post on Facebook? Like or share a post or comment? Simply shout into the abyss? Do it. You don’t want to do any of this? Don’t. But looking down on others who are doing this isn’t helping anyone except for the very forces aligned and arrayed so strongly against you and everything you claim you stand for.

So, what if you didn’t like what Kunal did to Arnab but don’t like what Arnab has done to thousands? What if YOU met Arnab in a party or at an airport or in his car next to you at a signal? And what if you wanted to tell him what Kunal told him but don’t want to “create a scene” or “break the law” because it may hurt your delicate sensibilities? I have just the solution for you: Go up to him, if you can, and shake his hands. Use your most polite and civilised tone. Tell him he is an asshole and he brings disrepute to journalists, celebrities, Indians, and humans across the planet, and that you are ashamed you share a genetic structure with him. Then, walk away. You have broken no law and you have remained the honourable gentleman or lady you always thought yourself to be. AND you have contributed to the cause to the point that you have a story to tell your grandkids. What if you aren’t able to go upto him (if you are in a crowded place or in separate cars etc)? That’s easily solved too. Start a conversation with your travelling partner loudly enough for him to hear but not so loud as to disturb anyone else (we wouldn’t want that now, would we?) and casually tell your partner, “Hey, there’s Arnab, the asshole. He is a blot on humanity.” That’s it. Easy-peasy, right? You have managed to do everything you wanted to without breaking into a sweat and without risking detention by the police or a blackballing at the club!

What, you wonder, if you can’t do even this? Then, my friend, you need to shut up about others who are doing it and let them fight on your behalf. And on your children’s.

Like that inspirational poster you have in your office: Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

Howzzat for simplicity?

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