I have a long awaited query and an unanswered question, still open for answers... "Is Democracy and too much Freedom a bane for India?"
Are we stumbling as a group of people living in a nation, which is formed by default on various societal, structural and systematic fault lines. The issues which come up each day in the national media are mostly trivial issues and provide comic relief to the majority of sane and discerning grey cells.
It is painful to see the freedom of the country, achieved with so many pains and sacrifice of many generations, going down the drain on pointless and petty issues. Democracy seems to be fast becoming the 'Demonstration of the Crazy'.
The situation even after so many decades of self-rule is failing to trigger a serious introspection in the administrative quarters those yield power and have the capability or responsibility to show a saner path. This is fuelling the support to strong views of state control, but who in the state in these situations can be trusted? or capable to do the 'tight-rope-walk' of allowing 'Free Expression' and ensuring free space available for 'Fair Expression', I wonder, the answer is none!
It is true that discretionary power and discerning capability about the decisions made are best left to the individual. Provided even the strongest of the strong views are kept to oneself and not try to impose or enforce on others against their will. Certainly the state is not expected to play a role in these decisions and try to censor what to see, whom to love, whom to pray and what to read? But, these are all the side-effects of electoral politics, which people fail to understand and allow themselves to be exploited. The state too is run by the individuals elected resultant of this political system which likes to play to the gallery. These leaders of men are also found to be cynical to the core on more than one occasions.
The state must concentrate on important issues and the issues of culture are better left for the time and society to decide. No one could stop invasion of our society by foreign religions, language, goods, culture, system, spread of consumerism, invasion of technology and even new festivities... Change can't be restricted with regressive and forceful impositions by a section of people, the majority of people will automatically stay away from something that is unpleasant or impractical in the current societal settings.
The state shouldn't decide and mustn't allow any disruption to anything(legally allowed) that is done at the individual level, more so, when it is an expression of art.
I also hoard a contrary opinion, that 'There can't be and shouldn't be anything that is absolutely free', "Lest it will become obsolete and will be abused obsessively".
The last para is open to discussion and debate in a different media...
In response and responsible reply to Sanjay Chetia's article.
