Bhushan attack: Alternate views unacceptable?

New Delhi: In the backdrop of the shocking attack on senior lawyer and Team Anna member Prashant Bhushan, the question that arises is whether this is another example of how our society is getting even more intolerant. Many attempts have been made in the past to muzzle free speech.

On November 26, 2010, Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq held a press conference in Chandigarh. Within minutes, his presser was intruded upon, he was heckled and shouted at for his stand on Kashmir.

Just 25 days before that incident, award winning author Arundhati Roy's residence was picketed by BJP's Mahila Morcha unit for her views on naxals and Kashmir. In her absence, her house in central Delhi was vandalised and an FIR was registered with the police.

Many attempts have been made in the past to muzzle free speech.

Such attacks are not just confined to activists. Even journalists like Arun Shourie have faced violent protests, especially from RPI activists in the 90s for his views on Dr Ambedkar in his book 'Worshiping False Gods'.

More recently, even the IBN-Lokmat office in Mumbai was attacked by Shiv Sainiks, the channel had taken a strong line against intolerant politics against north-Indians in the state.

Similarly, the Headlines Today office, just a few 100 metres from the RSS headquarters was vandalised by the sangh cadres. The incident happened just a few days after the channel carried a story on hindu terror, linking it to some RSS functionaries.

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