Another Brick in the Wall

Anand Teltumbde's book offers us a significant insight into prisons, those who run them and how they contribute to the deterioration of judicial processing

- Kabir Deb

DEMOCRACY of a nation is defined by those who make it democratic. In the later part of the nation's existence, the idea or ideal is given life by its leaders, bureaucrats, and people. One can easily identify a nation's failing democracy by observing certain changes—restricted freedom, controlled choices, forced incarcerations and a climate of fear—which paralyse not only the development of the country, but also break the spine of its people, to ultimately disintegrate hope. The democracy of India has always faced some hard and robust challenges, making it both strong and vulnerable. Yet, the challenges have been approachable. The intellectuals have always been heard and political parties have had to face strong dissent for suppressing voices.

In the last eleven years, the political climate, discourse, language and belief of India have become more extreme and intolerant. Fear has been normalised, incarceration is considered a solution, and the attitude of bullying is worn with pride. Today, there is a celebration when a learned and aware individual gets arrested or murdered. Under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the plummeting of India's Press Freedom Index is fearful and, at the same time, the rise in the number of identity-based imprisonments and deaths makes us ask an important question—are we really democratic? Many people avoid asking this question. Those who do are incarcerated.

Anand Teltumbde's The Cell and the Soul: A Prison Memoir presents before us a mirror in which we get to see our shattered democracy. From 2018 to 2019, the arrest of sixteen intellectuals with the help of fabricated documents, emails and voice recordings shook the liberty of this nation.