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E. G. Raveendran is a laborer in Kanoor district of Kerala state in India and has been an active member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for 30 years. On March 11 Raveendran happened to be listening to a public speech delivered by the leader of a rival political party in his hometown. Impressed by the speech, Raveendran clapped his hands when it was over. That night, Raveendran was forced out of his home and assaulted by some "hit men" contracted by the Communist Party. Raveendran was seriously injured and is receiving treatment for his injuries.
Neither of the incidents mentioned above is rare in these two countries. The world is pretty much aware of what goes on in China whenever anyone inside the country criticizes the Chinese government. The history of modern China is full of anecdotes of those who faced the wrath of the administration whenever they tried to open their mouths against the inhuman practices in that country. Concerned groups around the world use every possible avenue to remind the Chinese administration and the world of the plentiful violations of human rights in that country. But of course China is not a democracy.
Less known to the world are the similar incidents happening in the world's largest democracy, India. The right to protest and to express dissenting opinions is guaranteed as a fundamental right in India. An infringement of this right, or of any of the fundamental rights guaranteed in the Indian Constitution, could be taken up in a court of law.
Yet dissenting opinions, particularly if they are against the ruling political party, are sure to attract immediate repercussions. The repression will be in full force, particularly if the dissenting opinion is expressed by an individual. Such oppression is not limited to places where the Communist parties rule in India; it is a common character of all political parties in the country.
Take for example the response of the Bahratiya Janata Party-led government in the state of Gujarat toward the Dalit groups -- people of the untouchable lower caste -- working in that state. In the past year there have been at least 30 reported cases of assault upon the Dalits by upper caste Hindus in Gujarat. In all these cases the Dalits were attacked when they tried to voice their protest against upper-caste exploitation.
In West Bengal state, where the Communist Party has retained power for more than 30 years, no one is free to raise a dissenting voice against the party or its leadership. Those who have done so, including the main opposition party leader Mamata Banerjee, have been assaulted and injured. In the rural parts of the state, local party committees even sometimes interfere in marriages. In the states of Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal and Jharkhand, if anyone opens his or her mouth against the state-sponsored repression of the tribal communities, they are sure to be targeted by state agents and booked under fabricated charges of anti-state activities.
If this is what the state governments do within their domain, the central government in India is not much different. Examples from the Northeastern states are convincing enough -- the government of India has been carrying out systematic oppression against dissenting voices who try to demand justice for those who have been killed, raped or tortured by the military and the paramilitary forces stationed in this region for the past few decades. It continues unabated even as you read this column.
In spite of all these records of brutal suppression of fundamental freedom within India, Indians claim and believe that they live in a democracy. Indians are concerned about what happens in China, and particularly in Tibet. This is not because of the belief that a peaceful settlement of the issues in Tibet would allow the thousands of Tibetan refugees to return to their homeland. It is because Indians are good at looking over their boundaries to criticize their neighbors while within India things are going terribly wrong.
"The protest against holding the Olympics in China is sponsored by the Western imperialist forces to tarnish the image of a good Communist government," said V. S. Achuthanandan, chief minister of Kerala. The Communist Party led by Achuthanandan has killed at least 59 people in the past two years who criticized the party and its leadership.
"Even though the recent happenings in China have not changed our earlier stand on China, we are concerned about the use of force against the people in Tibet," said BJP President Rajnath Singh in a discussion with the Chinese ambassador, Zang Yang. Yet the BJP is responsible for the murder, rape and torture of an estimated 3,000 Muslims during the Gujarat violence.
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(Bijo Francis is a human rights lawyer currently working with the Asian Legal Resource Center in Hong Kong. He is responsible for the South Asia desk at the center. Mr. Francis has practiced law for more than a decade and holds an advanced master's degree in human rights law.)
