Are we misusing our freedom? Are we misusing democracy?
Incidents like the unexplained disappearance of Chinese business tycoon Jack Ma, show how lucky we are to live in a democratic country like India, enjoying the freedom of speech and expression. But are we misusing this freedom in a way that it harms the interest of our own country? When will we begin to put our ‘country first’ before serving our own vested interests?
Once the richest man in Asia, Jack Ma, the Chinese citizen who founded the well-known Alibaba Group, has not been seen for over two months. He had been participating in various public events the world over and was a youth icon in the business world. Just before his sudden disappearance, he had planned the world’s largest IPO, and now that stands postponed.
There are several media reports and guess works about his disappearance. Nothing can be said with surety. The one fact, however, which is emerging is that the government in China had not taken kindly to his public utterances against the government policy. The regulators in China had started proceedings against him under anti-trust laws. There was a sudden loss of wealth of the Alibaba Group due to these government proceedings. This incident leads us to believe that even the richest man in China is not allowed to have freedom of speech and that he can be punished if he is seen to be indulging in its breach. Although Jack Ma has just resurfaced it is still unclear whether he was hiding or he was under arrest.
BLESSED WITH FREEDOM
Now let us compare our country with China in this respect. We are blessed. We are the world’s largest democracy and our Constitution considers ‘freedom of speech’ as a fundamental right of the citizens. We Indians use our right freely without any fear, and our courts help to see that there is never any suppression of this right by any act of the government or other organisation or legal entity. Our Supreme Court has stated in a recent case that dissent is a safety valve of democracy. We all know of PILs, which are so many these days, and which our constitutional courts take for adjudication, as they are considered a legal remedy for wrongdoings by the government and other organisations.
Excess of anything is bad, and the same is happening with our constitutional right to criticise the government’s policies. There is nothing wrong in criticising the government, as it is our democratic right, but we should also remember the ‘constitutional duties’, which are also part of our Constitution. While enjoying our freedom of speech, we should not cross the ‘Lakshman Rekha’ and utter things that hurt the interests of the country.
Governments will come and go and criticisms against the government are understandable, but we should always nourish our country. We all grow if our country grows. These days there are developments of unfortunate trends that while criticising the government, we go on speaking or doing something which directly harms the country. This column goes to illustrate such incidents which may harm the country.
"The government in China has not taken kindly to Jack Ma’s public utterances against the government policy. The regulators in China had started proceedings against him under antitrust laws"
INDIA’S PROUD VACCINE MOMENT
Our country is one of a few to announce the production of Covid vaccines. We have cleared the emergency use of two vaccines: Covishield and Covaxin. These vaccines are produced by the Pune-based Serum Institute and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech respectively. The government has already started dry runs for the distribution of these vaccines beginning with the most-needy sections of people. Covaxin is 100% indigenous as ICMR and NIV are associated with Bharat Biotech, while Covishield has been developed by Oxford University and mass produced by Serum Institute.
Our Prime Minister has said that it is a proud moment for our country to be in the race with a few developed countries and that our distribution of vaccines will be the biggest in the world. Some countries have expressed interest in our vaccines and our country can be a big exporter of these vaccines. The WHO and leading personalities like Bill Gates have appreciated our Covid-related efforts and our early production of vaccines.
But it is unfortunate that there has also been a domestic clamour against our products, particularly against Covaxin, that it has got approval without sufficient trials. There has also been criticism by our people that trial results are not in the public domain. The foreign media has been picking up these mischievous utterances by our people and this may harm their export.
A section of our people wanted to snatch the credit from the government when there was this proud announcement by the drug regulator about the two vaccines getting approvals, but in the process, they are only harming the interests of the country. The two vaccines were cleared by panels of scientists, and so after getting assured of their safety, criticising their approvals is not good.
FARMERS HIJACK DELHI
The ongoing farmers’ protest around the Delhi border against the three farm laws is another illustration where some people have joined the bandwagon to criticise the government and are demanding the repeal of these laws. Protesting cannot be faulted, as it is permitted in a democratic set up, but what is alarming is that the protestors are trying to hold Delhi hostage till their demands are met.
Vested interests are using the protest platform of farmers to help their own cause. The protests are so loud that foreign media and some foreign governments like Canada are criticising our government. A case is being made out that in India, even the rights of farmers are not safe and there is no rule of law. The negative image of our country will detract foreign investors from investing in India. The interest of the country suffers due to the wrong propaganda that is being used.
The reality is that a small section of farmers from Punjab and Haryana, together with non-farmers like the commission agents attached to the mandis and some leftist groups are the major participants of the stir. Most farmers spread all over the country and the really poor farmers have welcomed the three farm laws.
"The reality is that a small section of farmers from Punjab and Haryana, together with non-farmers like the commission agents attached to the mandis and some leftist groups are the major participants of the stir..."
NO RIGHT TO BLOCK
Protesters do have the right to protest and speak against the government but they have no right to occupy public roads and cause inconvenience to the people. If the protesters have the inherent democratic right to protest, the public at large also has the democratic right to live peacefully, without any obstruction by the protestors. Obviously, the protestors are breaching the ‘Lakshman Rekha’ between their democratic rights and duties and thus hurting the interests of the country.
CAA - MISINTERPRETED PROTEST
The Shaheen Bagh protest against CAA was a similar protest. That protest too was engineered through a wrong and mischievous interpretation of the enacted laws. CAA was never meant to take away anybody’s citizenship but was aimed at giving citizenship to people who came to India before 2014 from countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
The misinformation about CAA ultimately led to communal riots in Delhi where more than fifty innocent people lost their lives. India was dubbed in a bad light, spreading the impression that the rights of minorities were not being protected here. The riots took place during the visit of the US President and the aim was to tarnish the image of the country globally, in the presence of the international media. It is really disturbing that some people who are against the government go all out to work against the country.
Why do such incidents occur? The routes taken are the fundamental rights of freedom of speech or democratic rights of peaceful protest, but they end up hurting the interest of the country. This also happened in the United States of America recently, when pro-Trump demonstrators attacked Capitol Hill.
An immediate answer may be the short term selfish goal of the protestors or people indulging in free speech. Social media platforms and fake news planted by agent provocateurs work as tools to create anarchy. The short term selfish goals may be to depose the government or to spread ideologies like leftist or rightist. But the people doing this forget that in the long term, they are doing much harm to their country, as we discussed in the illustrations noted earlier. The protestors in the US could not bring Trump back but the name of the oldest democracy has been sullied, and the competitor country, China, is mocking the USA.
Another reason may be a lack of patriotism. We forget that ‘country first’ is what matters. Temporary and short term reasons should not be raked up if they hurt the country. All Indians should remember this.