Limitations Of Freedom Of Expression

Drawing cartoons or comical portraits is quite popular in the west which is an art of conveying your dissent or displeasure in a funny way and amounts to freedom of expression or freedom of opinion in an artistic manner

But recently this seemingly innocent expression has taken an ugly turn in European countries leading to a virtual war or jihad against those indulging in such acts of expression (namely drawing cartoons).

Meanwhile these European countries have called for discretion & restraint while refusing to put a ban on drawing cartoons that invoke religious sentiments and communal feelings. 

It is sad & ironic that those indulging in drawing cartoons seem unperturbed, while the victims of increasing backlash are innocent citizens particularly church-goers & shoppers.

It is high time to draw a limit to freedom of opinion or freedom of expression through cartoons. We need to draw a line between what to draw and what not to draw. We need to be sensitive to people's feelings while drawing portraits.

All of us need to take the following oath : "We shall refrain from drawing cartoons of Gods, Goddesses, Priests, Prophets, Seers, Religious heads, Religious Scholars, Saints, Preachers, Evangelists, Spiritual gurus, and Philosophers".

Millions of people hold tremendous devotion and faith in the above mentioned list and their entire lives are dedicated to those people as mentioned above. It is said that faith can move mountains. 

Let us not disturb and insult the faith of millions which can have untold repercussions. The entire world is surviving because of such tremendous faith.

Let us be clear that non-believers are in a minority while believers are in majority and therefore one should walk the path of majority. This is what civilised society is all about - treading the path of majority which has been carefully structured and constructed.

There is so much to "draw" from Nature. One can draw pictures of day to day life of a common man. One can draw pictures of typical life in a village, rural atmosphere, countryside, forests, islands and so on & so forth.

The best and most successful example of cartoon depiction one can give is that of R.K.Laxman whose cartoons depicted the struggle of a "common man" which used to appear daily in Times of India newspaper. I grew up watching R.K.Laxman's cartoons. In fact his book on "Malgudi days" was based on these cartoons.

If one good picture can describe thousand words or can tell an entire story, it is equally true that one mischievous cartoon, with malafide intentions, can hurt the sentiments and feelings of one million people and just imagine the type of negative effect, impact, and backlash it can produce resulting in the possibility of a war being fought over one single cartoon !