Right to Freedom

There are two principles that any definition of democracy includes. The first principle is that all members of the society have equal access to power and the second that all members enjoy universally recognised freedoms and liberties.

Both these principles have been violated time and again by various people / agencies / political parties.

Just yesterday there was a news item that said that Oxford book store in Mumbai had been asked by a policeman, attached to the Marine Drive police station, to remove all books by all Pakistani authors as they feared an attack by the MNS. Apparently, a staff member, also attached to the MNS, ‘advised’ them to do so saying why must we keep books of Pakistani authors? I’m guessing that the purpose is to not allow anyone from the neighbouring nation to make money from us.

We are, however, missing the point. This is not about Pakistani authors. This is about the right of an Indian to sell, buy, read, love, hate or detest what he wants. This is about the freedom to choose. I would not buy the book, but I still want to have the choice to buy or not to buy.

And what are the police doing about it? Nothing except making citizens cower down to such ridiculous demands. They are here to protect the people against this and instead, they want to make life easier for themselves by restricting our lifestyle. This has become a trend in the past couple of years. They had also advised ‘Bombay Scottish’ to change the name to ‘Mumbai’ as the MNS did not approve. Who is the MNS to approve or disapprove? I’m surprised that the Election commission is not taking any action against them for their strong-arm tactics. They should perhaps be debarred from contesting the election.

This is no different from saying that women must cover themselves fully or no one will be responsible for the consequences or from telling women students that they must not wear jeans. These are absurd statements meant to cover up the inefficiency of our security agencies.. and under the pretext of ‘Prevention is better than cure’. I have to disagree with that. In some instances, it’s important to cure so that anti-bodies are created which make the body immune to further infection. The same should be the case with law and order. Perpetrators of any injustice should be challenged and brought to book to serve as an example to the rest of the populace.

The strangest thing is that no one has raised their voice against this. We have to understand that every such move by any political party must be challenged. This is a threat to the freedom of every citizen and it’s important to nip it in the bud.

We are so focussed on Pakistan that we fail to see the threat from within.. and one day, when it becomes a monster that’s too big to control, we’ll find that it’s too late.