Replacement of R with D is a wrong against Oriya Language

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

D and R_ situational use
Replacement of R by D in the English spelling of Orissa’s name and language by a law is a wrong that adversely affects its archaic uniqueness.

After consistent stress in these pages of ORISSA MATTERS on necessity of preservation of classicism of Oriya language, a section of Oriya authors and scholars have started speaking for recognition of Oriya as a classical language.

The Government of India has recognized Telugu as a classical language in 2008. But Linguistic Survey of India has recognized Oriya as a richer language than Telugu. To quote it, “The Oriya language can boast of a rich vocabulary in which respect neither Bengali nor Hindi nor Telugu can vie with it. The richness of the vocabulary is the index by which the vastness of a vernacular can be gauged” (Vol.IV).

“Oriya has preserved a great many archaic features in both grammar and pronunciation” has said famous linguist Prof. Suniti Kumar Chatterjee in I.H.Q. Vol.XXIII, 1947.p.337.

Replacement of R by D has ruined this “archaic feature”.

As Chatterjee has noted, Oriya is an ancient language of India that has “preserved a great many archaic features” and, as Linguistic Survey of India has determined, it is so vast in vocabulary that Telugu cannot vie with it.

If Telugu became a classical language in 2008, why Oriya is left behind?

This is because, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, whose mother tongue is not Oriya and who has no knowledge about the “high antiquity” quality of Oriya language, which is the cardinal condition for recognition of a language as classical, had by then started playing the mischief against this quality of the language.

Instead of demanding for recognition of Oriya language as a classical language of India, Naveen had made his followers in the Assembly adopt a Resolution on 28th August, 2008 to change the name of Orissa to Odisha oblivious of how adversely that was to affect the “high antiquity” quality of Oriya language. So, instead of Oriya language, Telugu earned the status of classical language.

Naveen, who has killed the soul of Orissa by forcing its people into displacement to handover their lands and living environment to the non-Oriya – even foreign – industrial houses, was in dire need of something to show the people that he is not anti-Oriya. The alteration of Orissa’s name was contrived to help him in this regard. On this mischievous measure metamorphosing into a law with supportive constitutional amendment, Naveen was so relaxed that official holiday was declared to celebrate it as a victory and the entire administrative machinery was misused to project him as the greatest epitome of Oriya nationalism by squandering away, on the occasion, the State exchequer in propaganda and fireworks.

It is a shame that the supporters of the “alteration” who feel “proud” over the change of the English spelling of Orissa and Oriya to Odisha and Odia, in the name of Oriya nationalism, are not ashamed of the very fact that their mother tongue has lost its primacy as the official language in Orissa in the administration of Naveen Patnaik, even though the State’s Official Language Act 1954 that had made use of Oriya language compulsory in official works, is 15 years senior to Official Language Act framed by the Union Government for India and their motherland is also the first amongst all the States of India to have been formed as a province on the basis of its language.

However, it is to be noted that some of my friends are of the opinion that the letter constituting the crux of my discussion has no two situational shapes; but the two shapes are of two different letters acting as two different phonemes.

The set of Oriya alphabets depicted by old Oriya dictionaries, given below, is capable of making the position clear.
oriya alphabets

The greatest ever encyclopedic lexicon of Oriya language, ‘Purnnachandra Ordia Bhashakosha’, in distinguishing the two different situational uses of the concerned letter says, it is “the 13th consonant and the third letter of the “Ta’ series (cerebral), corresponding to the‘d’ sound. When it occurs at the beginning of Oria words it is pronounced as in day and when at the end or middle of a word, it is pronounced as rd in hird”.D We find ‘rd’ evolving into ‘r’ in writings of the leaders of Utkal Sammilani to whom we owe resurrection of our motherland that was deliberately and diplomatically divided into four separate limbs by the British because of its fear for the “disposition” of the inhabitants of this brave land, which, its area authorities were sure, “will always present formidable obstacles to suppression either by military or police” (Report of W. Forrester to Robert Ker, Dt. 9.9.1918).

The Law to change Orissa to Odisha and Oriya to Odia is a legal mischief to do away with this distinction and hence is a bad law that no Oriya, who loves the richness of his ancient vocabulary and respects the “high antiquity” quality of his beloved mother tongue, can ever obey.

For us, it would continue to be a matter of pride to disobey the Law that replaces R with D in international spelling of the names of our motherland and language: Orissa and Oriya.

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A Comment from an esteemed visitor and my Reply

Posted on December 25, 2012 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

I have received a comment on my continuing opposition to change of the English spelling of my motherland and mother tongue from an esteemed reader Sri Deba Prasad Parija. I could have replied to him on the dashboard itself. But, as I feel that it would be better if the debate continues, I deem it proper to post my reply on the major area of my page. So, here it is.

Sri Parija has written:

So we should change our pronunciation as the foreigners pronounce? If not then what wrong to correct the mispronunciation. I am sorry to tell some time we try to show our knowledge. Why we bother how Britishers call us, we have got them out and now time to correct our names. You may accept or not but 99.999999…%Odia has approved it even before the Bill was passed. Bande Utkal Janani.

My reply is:

Dear Sri Parija,
Thanks for the time given to the article.

You have perhaps not gone into the articles linked to this article and therefore, wrongfully attributed Orissa or Oriya to pronunciation by foreigners.

D and R_ situational use

From “Ordia” as in Purnachandra Bhashakosha to “Oriya” as developed by founding fathers of our resurrected State, our own pronunciation of D used in second and onward position in an Oriya word has evolved into the shape of this transliteration, when Oriya had attracted foreigners’ attention and our founding fathers – Kulabruddha Madhusudan Das et al – had the need to project Orissa before the foreign community.

Orissa and Oriya are the names in which our founding fathers had decided our motherland and mother tongue to be mentioned in English.

And, their decision was based on their pride in the archaic uniqueness of our language, that they had wanted the world to know.

The Kera-Oriya Naveen Patnaik, who, despite being in power for so many years, has not learned our language as yet, and his sycophants in the cabinet and the Assembly, and packs of habitual order carriers in bureaucracy and fellows in Parliament that do not know anything of the uniqueness of Oriya language have played this mischief against our mother tongue and heritage.

If, according to you, “99.999999…% of our people has approved” this mischief, it is necessary for history to take that so many people have been reduced to such pusillanimous condition within a decade of demoralizing misrule, that they – recognized from the times of the Epics to the British time as the bravest people in India – have lost their courage to go against the whimsical and capricious decisions of the Government.

But had the spelling change been ever subjected to plebiscite? Where from you got the statistics that 99.999999…% of our people have approved the spelling change “even before the Bill was passed”? Be honest. Be honest in contributing to living history, if you can.

In all my articles on this subject in these pages I have shown the distinction of D that forms the crux of this issue. For ready reference, I am placing this picture –

D in 2 different forms
Mark the two shapes of the single Oriya alphabet.

The archaic magnificence of Oriya language lies in this alphabet. When the letter is used in the first position of a word the first shape is used as in DARA.

D in the beginning of a wordD in the middleWhen the letter is used after the first alphabet in a word, its second shape with the dot underneath is used as in MADAKA.

D in 2 different use
To understand the distinction, mark the word DABADABA. Here the word has 2 uses of D. There is no dot under D, which is used at the beginning of the word. But there is a dot under D which is used as the third letter in the word.

The uniqueness of Oriya language lies in this. The single alphabet D appears in two forms: D in the first position of a word and D with dot underneath in subsequent positions. Therefore, the alphabet in second position has a dot underneath as in the name of our motherland and in the name of our mother tongue.D with dot underneath in our state namedot underneath as in the name of our mother tongue

This deference in situational shape of the single alphabet D, had given birth to use of R in place of D in the second or any later position in a word, as our founding fathers had preferred to show the world our distinction.

The change that the Kera-Oriya Naveen Patnaik has brought out in English spelling of the name of our motherland and mother tongue is against the archaic magnificence and classical distinction of our language over and above being an offense against our founding fathers.

The concerned law is a bad law and needs rejection with utmost contempt by everybody to whom Oriya’s linguistic beauty and archaic magnificence are matters of pride.
Kind Regards,
Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

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Orissa shall not become Odisha

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

I appreciate the deep love for the motherland that I mark in some of my friends when they appeal me to adopt Odisha in place of Orissa, specifically as the constitution has been amended to this effect and accordingly to change the name of orissamatters.com to odishamatters.com. Sri Pramod Chandra Pattanaik, my nephew, a highly patriotic intellectual and a retired IAS officer, whom I love and rely upon, represents this class of friends. I therefore, think it proper to post my views again in the matter.

A margin note in our Home page declares as to why shall we not adopt ‘Odisha’ in place of Orissa. There is a link therein that finally spells out as to why we will not change the English spelling of the name of our motherland and mother tongue despite the constitutional amendment. If any law asks a child to change the spelling of the name of his/her mother, it is proper to ignore that law; we maintain.

When Orissa’s Kera Oriya Chief Minister initiated this mischief, I had appealed him and his ministers not to adopt the proposal in the Cabinet as it would go against archaic uniqueness of Oriya language and damage its classical character. Stage by stage, in every stage, ORISSA MATTERS had argued as to why the proposed change was unnecessary, unwanted, uncalled for and injurious to uniqueness of Oriya language.

In the final stage, when the Parliament was to finally take up the issue, we, as a sentinel of Orissa, had also elaborated as to why this proposal should be rejected. But as the stupid politicians have no real concern for the motherland, the Constitution got amended. As my reaction thereto has been linked to the margin note on our Main page, I think, our views before its adoption, may help my friends getting the crux of the issue.

In answering as to why Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, whose aversion to Oriya is so deep that despite being in power for so many years he has not learned the language, is so very adamant to change the spelling of its name, I had, on June 11, 2008, written,

“Perhaps, after pushing Orissa into the labyrinth of chaos, he is in very much want of ways to hoodwink the people. So, he wants to create a confusing aura of Oriya nationalism in the guise of spelling of the name of the State and to use it as a camouflage to get people off their guard during elections that are not far away.

But why some others, specifically amongst e-mailers, are raising the chorus for change of Orissa into Odisha?

Perhaps, they may change on perusal of this posting or on further research at their respective levels. But if one is unable to understand the intricacies of Oriya language, it would be better for him or she to appreciate that motherland Orissa has many names like Odra, Udra, Uddiyana, Oddiyana, Utkal, Kalinga, Kosala, Tosala, Orissa, Udisa, Udishya etc. Call in any of these names, only she will thereby be addressed. There is no necessity to change or drop any of them.

Lord Vishu has a thousand names. So also Devi Durga. So also many of major Deities. So also mother Earth. If we have the liberty to call any of them in any of their names, we should have no problem in retaining every name of our motherland including Orissa.

What is that to us if Bombay became Mumbai or Calcutta became Kolkata or Madras became Chennai? Why should we belittle ourselves to be affected by that? Our motherland has many names with glowing history of heritage behind all of them. We have a place of pride under the Sun as an ancient nation of matchless creative people who are second to none in uprightness and valour.

If we have any reason to feel dejected and want to be extricated from that, we are not to imitate name changers of Bombay or Calcutta or Madras; we are to reject the name changers of Orissa, who have contrived this mischief to divert public attention from the damage they have done to this splendid soil”.

The entire article may be perused here.

Read with the article linked to the margin note in the home page of ORISSA MATTERS, this article, I believe, may make the background of why we continue to write Orissa and Oriya instead of Odisha and Odia clear to my friends.

I repeat, if any law is created to force a child to change the spelling of the name of his/her mother, that law deserves to be disobeyed with utmost contempt.

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Neither there was, nor there is, any real Freedom of Speech and Expression in Theocratically Backward Orissa:AMOFOI on Free Speech Day

Posted on August 6, 2012 by orissamattersbbsr

Forty one years ago, on August 2, 1971, the High Court of Orissa had issued a judicial writ to the Government to stop prosecuting a new entrant to Orissa Education Service, B. Ramachandra for criticizing a Government policy in a newspaper, as to the Court, the nature and character of the decision of the Government would improve, only if Government servants are allowed to criticize it.

Ramachandra was facing prosecution for having contravened Rule 6(ii) and Rule 7(i) of Orissa Government Servants Conduct Rules, 1959 that prohibit publication of articles by Government servants criticizing the Government. The High Court, in quashing the prosecution against him, had also declared the said Rules “void”.

It was a day of victory for freedom of speech.

But alas! the Government of Orissa has not yet withdrawn the said two Rules and the Government servants are yet kept suppressed and intimidated in matter of sharing their informed views with the public as a result of which the Government is often taking wrong steps without knowing where its shoes pinch.

Therefore, AMOFOI, the ‘anti-caste marriage and one-child family organization of India, founded by Ramachandra, has resolved to observe August 2 as ‘Free Speech Day’ every year as celebration of the judicial writ and in order to mount pressure on the Government to amend itself in term of the said judicial writ.

Prof. Biswaranjan

This new campaign for free speech was launched on August 2, 2012 at the State Information Center (Jaya Dev Bhawan) Bhubaneswar under Presidentship of Prof. Biswaranjan. He held that every act of suppression of Government servants’ right to expression by using the rigors of Rules is nothing but indication to what extent administration is inflicted with malfunction. Whichever Government knows that it cannot give good governance, prefers to silence its employees by curbing their right to expression through creation and imposition of restrictive laws. Miles to go; yet initiation of observation of the ‘Free Speech Day’ is the best beginning in this regard he said.

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Representative-in-chief of orissamatters.com Subhas Chandra Pattanayak was the guest of honor-cum-chief guest. He lauded AMOFOI for its decision to observe August 2 as Free Speech Day as free speech is the strongest weapon to defeat plutocracy that has taken over India through political treachery.

Chittaranjan Nanda

Advocate Chittaraanjan Nanda, a senior practitioner in Orissa High Court was the guest of honor, who gave an account of evolution of right to information from the right to freedom of speech and observed that the government has erred in not having dropped the restrictive provisions from the Conduct Rules by way of amendment, in view of the 1971 decision of the High Court.

Dr. Shashikant Acharya

Dr. Shashikant Acharya, Ex-Professor in Mechanical Engineering in REC, Rourkela, pointed out how the rational thinking contributes to free speech too. A government that do not discourage people’s mad rush into grip of blind beliefs cannot encourage free speech, he warned.

Dr. Bijayanand Kar

Dr. Bijayanand Kar, retired professor of Philosophy, Utkal University, strongly supported the free-speech-campaign, as to him any restriction on expression is anathema to evolution of society that human beings always dream for.

When John Omprakash, President of AMOFOI had welcomed the seminar, educationist Ms.Swapna Bijayini proposed the vote of thanks.

We place below the key-note address given by Prof. B.Ramachandra CST Voltaire, founder secretary of AMOFOI on whose case the Orissa High Court had issued the landmark order .

Prof. B.Ramachandra CST Voltaire

Lord Jagannath of Puri with his clones and other deities in each and every village of Orissa are being used to perpetuate caste system and social exploitation in the name of religion and thus a great obstacle to free thinking and free expression, despite advancement in technological modernity. Because of this theocratic backwardness, neither there was nor there is freedom of speech and expression in Orissa.

Freedom of speech is the essence of all that the best of thinking minds have prescribed for human society of the world.

Even as Tagore’s famous words in this respect were, “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; where knowledge is free, …….. into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake”, the utilitarian thinker J . S. Mill’s work ‘On Liberty’ says, “If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would no more be justified in silencing that one person, than if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind”. When Bertrand Russell said, “Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do, the opinions will suppress you”, Voltaire championed free speech in the following words: “I do not agree a word of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”.

The High Court of Orissa had issued a writ of this wisdom, in the case of B. Ramachandra, in 1971, by declaring “void” the Rules that restricted freedom of expression of government servants; but sad, the governments that have ruled over the State since then, have not complied with the High Court order. To campaign for its implementation, the Free Speech Day may lay the foundation.

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ORISSA GANA SAMAJA THANKS THE MEDIA

Posted on January 29, 2012 by orissamattersbbsr

Orissa Gana Samaja joint conveners Prasanta Patnaik and Rabi Das have expressed their heartfelt gratitude to all the members of print, electronic and web media for giving adequate coverage to all the programs of the movement of the Gana Samaja in connection with Pipili gang rape case and to press the 8-point demands of the Samaja.

In a statement, both Patnaik and Das said the media persons and organizations have played a commendable role in highlighting the issue and creating massive public
opinion against the criminals, police officers, politicians who were trying to suppress facts for reasons best known to them . Media also played a commendable role in exposing the alleged criminal  negligence by the police and the medicos in providing timely treatment to the victim.

Orissa Gana Parishad hoped that it will get continued cooperation and encouragement from all friends in the media in future for the best interests of the people of Orissa.

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Odissi gone into Guinness Records Despite Filth Created by Orissa Government

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak with pictorial input from Aradhana Misra

Orissa Government has pathetically failed in preserving, protecting and projecting the true history of Odissi dance, which, with 555 artists performing for 28 minutes at a stretch at the Kalinga Stadium of Bhubaneswar, on 23rd December, has gone into Guinness Book of World Records.

A dance is a classical dance, because of its creation by and adherence to specific scriptural codes. The scriptural codes of Odissi are provided for in Abhinaya Darpana Prakasha authored by Jadunath Rai Singh, then the prince of Tigiria belonging to Tunga dynasty, which, the famous scholar Pt. Kedarnath Mohapatra, in Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts of Orissa prefers to describe as “the Grammar of Odissi dance”.

To keep warriors of his State physically fit and agile for protection of the Jagannatha trinity that his grand father Sankarshana Chamupatisigh Mandhata – the King of Tigiria – had, under a plan prepared by him and the Gajapati Emperor of Orissa, secretly transported into his principality from the backyard of Goddess Bimala in the night of 16 May 1692 by misguiding the Moghul commander take away a duplicate set of images from the temple podium of the Lord (as per Pt. Mohapatra in Khurudha Itihasa), Prince Jadunath had amalgamated Alasa Nrutya prevalent in coastal temple systems and the martial dance called Tunga Nrutya developed by his own predecessors. And for the new form of dance thus created, though not named by him, he had prescribed the codes in Abhinaya Darpana Prakasha, the scripture he authored as referred to above.

Centuries after his death, the unnamed dance form metamorphosed into Odissi.

So, it is Jadunath Tunga Rai Singh, who alone should be recognized as the father of Odissi dance. Yet, he is not honored as the real creator of this classical dance or provider of its scriptural codes.

On the other hand, it is Kabichandra Kali Charan Pattanayak whose single minded campaign carrying his dedication to and concentration in revival of the dance system has earned the classical status for Odissi. He was the real man behind recognition of this system as a classical dance. The Odissi practitioners now-a-days do not remember this man, who, despite subterfuge resorted to by envious elements, had obtained for the dance the recognition of its classicality.

But sadly, a few famous artists like late Kelucharan Mohapatra and Kumkum Mohanty, taking advantage of the political Government’s sophomoric approach to culture of the State, have, in their own way and through cronies, exploited different forums and occasions to project themselves as creators of the dance form.

The Odissi Dance Festival that commenced with the Kalinga Stadium event and is scheduled to continue till December 30 in different halls at Bhubaneswar, wherein a USA based organization is collaborating, had the occasion even to accept without any grumble that it is Kelu babu, from whom the dance came into form.

This happens when a political Government remains addressed to benefits of the ruling party than to benefit of the State.

The political government of Orissa is so very averse to cultural environment of the State that it had made the mega event take place in obnoxiously filthy an atmosphere.

A conscious subscriber, Ms. Aradhana Misra, has sent us pictures of the Odissi dancers while performing for the purpose as well as of the filthy environment where they were forced to perform before the observers from Guinness Book of World Records.

All the seats of Kalinga Stadium – that had costed the State Exchequer Rs.103 crores, according to a functionary thereof – are littered by bird droppings with no attempt ever made to clean them up as a result of which the filth is standing for years on the chairs and on the floors and between the rows and wherever the eyes go.

It is claimed that an amount of Rs.10 crores is spent on costumes for the dancers on this occasion. In the prevalent environment of scams, whether or not the said amount is really spent on costumes is a different matter; but it is sure, had a portion thereof been drafted for cleaning the filth, the guinness records could have come in a befitting condition.

We congratulate the artists, because of whom, Odissi has created a landmark in the world records. But, we should be failing in our duty if we do not say: Odissi has gone into Guinness Records despite the filth created by Orissa Government.

Except resizing, the pictures used in this report are absolutely unedited for records.

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Indian Parliament Should Call Back Its Resolution: Archaic Richness of Orissa Shouldn’t be Spoiled; Spelling Change Conspiracy Must be Foiled

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

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Utkal Divas :: The Day that Reshaped Mother Orissa

Posted on March 31, 2010 by Saswat Pattanayak

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Gouranga Charan Das – Unforgettable Freedom Fighter in Times of Free Market Capitalism

Posted on February 19, 2010 by Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Gouranga Charan Das, eminent freedom fighter, was born in Bagalpur, the village of Karana aristocracy in the district of Cuttack in Orissa on 26 January 1899. He was physically handicapped by birth with his right hand critically crippled. But in early youth he joined the freedom movement and soon led the people whose sacrifice made India a Sovereign Republic on his 50th birth anniversary.

Imprisoned for more than five years by the British authorities he had started his first journey to jails on 13 April 1930 by leading the salt movement at Inchudi, a movement that was meant to make people of India self-dependant.

He was the man who made history by changing aristocrat Karans of his village to allow Harijans into the famous Dadhibamana temple.

Gouranga Charan Das


A legendary Gandhian, he was simple in nature but strong in decisions. He was deeply involved with Charakha movement but one of the stalwart organizers of Congress socialist party.

He had been elected uncontested to Orissa Assembly in 1945 and was chairman of Cuttack district Board from 1961 to 1967.

He breathed his last on 19 February 1972. But despite holding positions of power, he was without any money in his possession as always.

Gouranga Charan Das, who fought for India’s freedom from colonialism is today ever more relevant in people’s struggles against Free Market Capitalism imposed upon them by the ruling political combines.

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Emancipatory Journalism Must Be Protected From Sedition Charges

Posted on January 20, 2010 by Saswat Pattanayak

By Saswat Pattanayak

As Published in Kindle

As Published in Kindle

Laxman Chaudhury’s arrest in Orissa is the latest in the series of assaults on press freedom. In the guise of fighting the Maoists, various state governments in India are now harassing journalists in an unprecedented manner. But what is more peculiar in this specific oppression of the people is the manner in which grassroot scribes associated with vernacular media are being specifically targeted.

Chaudhury from Mohana has been charged under sedition and for having waged war against the state. A committed journalist who exposed the nexus between ganja smugglers, women traffickers and the police, is suddenly declared as an enemy of the State after being framed for alleged links with Maoists. OTV reporters Khusiram Sunani and Kirti Chandra Sahu, editor of Nissan, Lenin Ray, Samaj correspondent Jagannath Bastia, Aaromv reporters Sriharsha Mishra and Kiran Mishra are also instances of journalists being harassed under similar pretexts.

Sedition is possibly the most serious charge envisioned against an unpatriotic and disloyal subject of the State. To bring up such a charge against active journalists who are championing the voice of the underrepresented clouds the vision of a vibrant democracy. Not only are the charges of sedition inappropriate to be brought against any journalist who advances the voices of dissent, but the very code of sedition needs to be reevaluated, and subsequently purged from the legal paraphernalia.

We need to remember that the original Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (1870) defined Sedition thus: Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards Her Majesty or the Crown Representative in British India or British Burma shall be punished with transportation for life or any shorter term, to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine.

Conveniently enough, our judiciary and legislative power combines have not amended this section much, and have merely replaced “Her Majesty or the Crown Representative” with “the Government established by law”, “British India/Burma” with “India”, and the “transportation for life” with “imprisonment for life”. What has entirely gone amiss from juridical interventions is the need to rethink the absolutely abominable colonial strategies to continue enslaving human subjects in the name of loyalty to the ruling structure. Its utter disgusting to sustain such a tradition of oppression even to this date, let alone fabricate freethinking conscientious journalists into submitting to charges of so-called sedition.

What has gone missing from the critical discourse is the unique history of humankind against colonial empires. Had the unfree subjects obeyed such unjust legal systems enforced upon them, there would have never been a single instance of civil disobedience or non-cooperation, or outright opposition against social injustice. It is important to recall that revolutionaries of our freedom movements were not so much opposed to the British individuals per se. In fact, many of them were educated by British professors, admired rationalist traditions of the British, and joined internationalist forces in declaring their freedom rights. This was the reason why our leaders, moderates and extremists alike, did not prefer to incite violence against the British individuals. They were chiefly opposed to the unjust methods of the British colonial system. They demanded overhauling of the system, but did not preach hatred against the rulers. This is the approach of the revolutionaries – to heed to the peoples‘ causes and calls and stir up a new movement to replace an older unjust one. It is not mere opposition to specific political parties that is desirable for a journalist to air, but also the demand for replacement of a whole gamut of corrupt structure when it has failed its entire purpose.

Journalists, more than any other professionals, are representatives of the people’s voices. It is through their views and interpretations that some people aspire to be politicians, some administrators look for policy changes, and some judges inform themselves before releasing a verdict.

Not only journalists need to be forever shielded from sedition charges, they must work together to influence the masses to demand for abolition of such unjust colonial legacies in our legal system. If people demand Her Majesty to be ousted, so be it. And if the majority of India, impoverished in poverty and being penalized for being poor, demand the existing government – elected through fraudulent methods of indoctrination, money power and manipulations – to go, so be it.

If a grassroot journalist can be accused of sedition, then its time to reassess the executive-legislative-judiciary branches in view of their former colonial masters, and they must together be declared guilty of graver charges. Crimes against the people must be denounced far more stringently than crimes against the authorities.

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