Ravish Kumar’s ‘The Free Voice’: A Journey of Fear and Courage

The Free Voice? How Free are we talking about?-A sneak peek into the book The Free Voice: On Democracy, Culture and the Nation by journalist Ravish Kumar.

In this book, Ravish Kumar, one of India’s top journalists, delivers a sharp critique of the country’s current state. As the past Senior Executive Editor at NDTV India, he's known for fearless reporting and hard-hitting political analysis. However, his truth-telling has made him a frequent target of online trolls. In this collection of nine essays, Ravish shares personal stories of being harassed and humiliated, while also exploring the bigger picture of how democracy in India is under threat today.

It only took a few minutes on the blurb to take this one home for a deep dive. I was in a creative block. And that even applies to reading. This book was supposed to be my way out of it. But looking at the time it took me to finish this one as it has been months, I know I'm not fully recovered yet. 

Whenever I write about a book, I am always limited by this fear of whether should I stick to a format of Book review. One where you will be able to gain the best idea of the book I am talking about and make a decision to read it or not. But I’ve miserably failed to stick to a format over time and that’s where we are right now.

Free Voice has followed a conversationalist pattern like very few good books out there,  where you will genuinely feel like you’re sitting and talking to the author throughout. As you read through the preface of wisdom it feels like youre sitting across a table in a coffee shop sipping chai, talking to him about the state of current media and democracy.

“Communalism is being legitimized as patriotism. In the drawing rooms of the elite, communal talk is already like dessert after a good dinner. Bigotry isn't always shabbily dressed; it also wears the robes of high culture.” 

This from the preface struck me, I’ve earlier in my life associated education and wisdom in the general sense as being directly proportional to the thoughtful and humane people are, but It took me a while to realize that bigotry exists everywhere be it premium or middle class, everywhere alike.

He added, “Elected representatives can garland killers, ministers can lie, news anchors can read out government press releases as news. It bothers no one enough”.

He throws light upon the death of strong and free journalism over time and questions whether the 2019 election results meant placing a knife on the neck of the journalists who are ready to do the job.

“The shadow of government falls in the newsrooms of TV channels and newspapers. It has been some years since they stopped interrogating the government and holding it accountable. Some of us may still laugh at the kind of questions that are put to our Prime Minister but the large segment of our population has already begun to see these as the right kind of questions to ask.”

“I write something, say something, afterwards, people introduce me to new and different varieties of fear. Even if what I say is commonplace and noncontroversial people caution me: ‘ Aren’t you afraid? Take care of yourself’ Whenever I hear these words I see a world of fear of fear on the speakers' faces. These exhortations to keep safe have made people cowards. Because they are not warnings to speak carefully, but warnings to not speak at all.”

Ravish says, “Whenever someone asks me if I am afraid to speak out, fear spreads its wings within me.” And he narrates how that makes him go back to his childhood self, crippled with fear to face the darkness, wrath of mathematics exams, and violence on screen. Hearing this from a seasoned journalist gave me so much comfort and assurance of what it means to still be afraid of things. And most importantly afraid of the only thing you want to pursue in life. And he adds to it “And the thrill of this journey, between fear and courage, has destroyed my sleep, it has gained me abuse, and sometimes made my ears resounds with applause. One must pay other prices for speaking out too.”

Fear is a constant companion to anybody willing to speak out but hearing it from the author and how it swarms around every story he is putting out made me realise. Fear is constant. To not be accepted by a larger chunk of the population or family comes with the liberation of a free voice and that is meant for the ones with courage, that does not mean the ones who are not afraid, just the ones who still keep doing it. 

Kumar alerts us very well about the “national project of instilling fear”.He throws light upon the fact that In India today, those who dare to dissent are often branded as "anti-national" and face relentless online abuse. This has seriously limited the space for open discussion and meaningful criticism in the world’s largest democracy. In addition to this, attacks on journalists have also been on the rise, with incidents like the harassment of Basit Malik and the tragic murder of Gauri Lankesh in 2017.

Today, in 2024, as I write about this book, all of those issues that he talked about years ago, and warned us about are not only relevant today but also have gained more importance. The government is cuffing the media in ways beyond measure. The cancel culture and the extremist outbursts on media houses and journalists have crossed all the boundaries that we could draw. The influence of hate, lies, and fake news surrounding, circulated, and thrown in the air by the IT cells to serve the best-made propaganda is being served to the right vulnerable audience.

Where does an aware Indian stand among all this? this book made me wonder. When it's so easy to bait on the information served with poison yet looking so good. How do we make sure to eat right and not fall sick? How do we make sure to say No to the very well-written and beautifully served lies?

It’s a never-ending grit, I said to myself. It has to come from within.

If you would love to read about the harsh realities that has tainted democracy from the view point of media and the freedom of speech and expression this book is your cup of tea.