Monday, December 12, 2011

Free speech, Internet and Indian Government

By Siddarth Sehgal

Free soeech in danger Controlled democracy, this is the word Mr. Farooq Abdulla used while supporting Kapil Sibbal’s decision to censor social media websites in India. Apparently, Mr. Abdulla didn’t realize the agony and frustration of a common man at the hands of the ruling party in India or the meaning of the word democracy but what can one expect from a politician who has profited switching sides between left and right wing parties over the issues of Kashmir.

Can you call a country free where people cannot express their anger towards a government? Was India free under British rule? Can citizens of China call themselves independent? Did countries in Middle East who saw revolts of the masses called themselves free under the dictatorial rule? If that is not enough, I would like to ask the Indians who have seen the iron fist of Indira Gandhi, can they call that freedom?

These so called procedures to ban objectionable material on social media are just an oppressive measure of the government to ban free speech. Exactly who will decide what is objectionable and what is not and what right does Indian government has to decide what people think and read. I am confident that free spirited internet users of India will not be affected by this step and will exercise their constitutional right of the freedom of expression with much more fervor then before. The communication and information technology minister gave an excuse that he doesn’t like people posting inflammatory comments about their leaders on the internet but I want to ask why did their leaders forgot about their good name while earning millions in scams and corruption? Why didn’t they think about their reputation while people are struggling with inflation and oil prices?

Every year Indian government celebrates anniversaries of freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh, Lala Rajpat Rai, Mahatma Gandhi and many more but it works against the very principles for which these people sacrificed their lives. The progress of human society is the result of the efforts of enlightened men & women who valued their free will above everything else; Galileo Galilei didn’t worry about the opposition of the church when he proposed that Earth revolves around the Sun.

We Indians are hard working people. I feel elevated thinking about the contribution my people have made in the betterment of the world. Even here in United States, there are many success stories of the doctors, engineers, scientists, students and businessmen who are making their motherland proud. All this glory and pride will mean nothing if we let the government take away our freedom of expression. It is our duty to fight against these submissive tactics for we are responsible for our future. Government can delete posts, ban profiles and groups but can never take away our soul. It can never control our minds or pull the plug on our inquisitiveness. It’s far better to die free then to live a slave.

“Better a thousand fold abuse of free speech than denial of free speech.” ~ Charles Bradlaugh

Other posts by Siddarth Sehgal:

Siddarth Sehgal is a graduate student at University of Alabama at Birmingham and a columnist at the University student newspaper. He frequently writes on international issues, politics and human rights.

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