Muzzling free speech will hit growth: Manmohan

Congressmen and intellectuals recall Nehruvian legacy of secularism

Amid a raging debate over intolerance, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday deplored “blatant violation” of the right to freedom of thought by “some violent extremist groups” and shared the view that it was an “assault on the nation”. “Suppression of dissent or free speech poses a grave danger to economic development. Capital is likely to be frightened away by conflict,” said the prime minister in his inaugural address at a conference here ahead of the 125th birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru.

The seminar “Securing Nehru’s Legacy and India’s future”, organised by the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Contemporary Studies (RGICS0, a Congress think-tank, was addressed by Left historians and liberals among its list of speakers.

Singh said, “The assault or murder of thinkers for no more than disagreement with their views, or (of people) because of the food they eat, or their caste, cannot be justified on any grounds. Nor can the suppression of the right to dissent be allowed. All right thinking persons have condemned such incidents in strongest terms as an assault on our nationhood.”

Left historian Irfan Habib hit out at the present regime and the “anti-Nehru campaign of this government”. Habib has been attacking the government for growing intolerance in the country. According to Habib, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) feels religion is relevant to Indian life and that too Hinduism as they perceive it. Reiterating that it was important to hark back to “real secularism”, Habib recalled how Nehru had warned about “majority communalism masquerading as nationalism”.

Interestingly, in the backdrop of the storm that had been generated with historians and liberal intellectuals perceived to be siding with the Congress, historian Romila Thapar has reportedly excused herself and decided against attending the two-day seminar.

Liberal intellectuals who spoke at the seminar included Teesta Setalvad, Mukul Kesavan, Kumar Ketkar, Aakar Patel, Nikhil De, Kancha Ilaiah and Brinda Grover.

The former Prime Minister’s attack on the Modi government, goaded the BJP to react. Spokesperson and BJP secretary Shrikant Sharma later speaking to the media said, “It would be good if Singh had been more specific about these incidents as it would have made it clear that they happened in states ruled by his party.”

The BJP claimed that these incidents have nothing to do with the Centre. “Blaming the Modi government for intolerance is just an excuse as it is basically the intolerance of the Congress to Narendra Modi that has made it run a poisonous campaign to malign India's image.”

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi is expected to deliver the valedictory address.