West Bengal has done it again. The state-run Urdu Academy cancelled a literary event after the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, joined by the Wahyain Foundation, objected to one of the invitees – none other than Javed Akhtar, poet, film writer, and permanent panelist on primetime debates. His alleged crime? Speaking against Islam. His punishment? Erasure.
One would imagine that an ‘eminent’ secular atheist like Javed saab would rush to the barricades to defend his right to speak. One would imagine the Award Wapsi brigade, the emergency merchants of intolerance, the self-appointed guardians of free speech, the Prakash Rajs, Naseeruddin Shahs, and Aamir Khans would have their lungs working overtime. But Bengal is not Modi’s India, so it is radio silence.
Hypocrisy in high definition
During a debate on News18, Anand Ranganathan did not mince words: ‘The hypocrisy is unbelievable. West Bengal has bowed down to Islamists… Total silence? No outrage. Where are all those who say we speak the truth to power? Perhaps only Modi is in power. Didi isn’t?’
That is the question. In Bengal, freedom of expression comes with a ration card. Unlimited buffet if it is Hindu-bashing, crumbs if it crosses Islamist sensibilities. As @AshwiniRoopesh quipped: ‘This nation feels like the only democracy where freedom of expression runs on ration cards. Unlimited buffet for some, crumbs for others.’
Free speech on Fevicol
Where are the belligerent journalists and screechy TV anchors? Those who find an RSS shadow behind every lamppost? Today, they have swallowed Fevicol. Perhaps it is hard to scream when one’s jaw is glued.
Even Javed Alhtar himself – who never misses an opportunity to blame Modi’s India for curbing dissent – has discovered the virtues of silence. As @RandeepSisodia jabbed: ‘The fear is such that perhaps Javed Akhtar has forgotten how to write, hence no tweet of condemnation!’
Selective outrage: a national pastime
The hypocrisy is glaring. @ManiYogini nailed it: ‘When even Javed Akhtar, who built his career on targeting Hindu traditions, can’t speak freely in Bengal, it shows the selective ‘freedom of expression’ under Mamata.’
@RajYadav873 observes: ‘So much for freedom of expression in West Bengal. The irony is that those who shout the loudest about intolerance elsewhere fall completely silent when it comes to Mamata Banerjee’s government.’
And as @kapiln13 summed up in one brutal line on X: ‘Freedom of speech in India now depends on which religious group you might offend. Sad state of democracy.’
The silence is the story
The bigger story is not that an Urdu event was cancelled. The bigger story is the silence. The so-called secular warriors who roar like lions in Delhi become sheep in Kolkata. Dissent is performative, outrage selective, free speech conditional.
Urdu literature will survive this cancellation. What will not survive Bengal’s appeasement politics is courage – rationed more strictly than free speech itself.
