MEMO FROM NARA

Freedom of speech is our right today. We are free to question everything and anything happening around us. There was a time we had no freedom to ask questions. In fact we were afraid and we were also not allowed to question. We accepted everything and anything even within our own family. In schools and colleges we just blindly followed what the teachers and professors said. We thought we have to follow the elders.

But today, in the modern world education opened our eyes to ask questions to find sensible answers. Both boys and girls have the courage to question every activity in order to get a suitable answer. Even the government orders or court judgements are questioned! In our parliamentary system, we see how the majority party is questioned by the minority parties.

People today ask questions like: ‘who says God likes topless men not jeans?’ and ‘why Science Congress is a circus?’ If such questions are not asked there will not be progress in these fields. In order to make improvements and progress we need to ask constructive questions which will lead to constructive planning and execution of projects. This is the positive side. At the same time, people question just t o block a project. Such protests sometimes lead to violence. We do see such activities everyday in our towns and cities.

Free speech sometimes offends somebody. Last year (2015) in the month of January 12 people connected with Charlie Hebdo were gunned down in Paris because of the free speech phenomenon. Cartoons supposedly insulting the Prophet Mohammad were published in Charlie Hebdo. Writers want freedom to write whatever they want. Free speech has to be curtailed if it calls for violence or criminality. Respect for others has to be kept in mind when we speech or write.

Questioning is not wrong, but protesting is wrong. Questioning is to find a solution. Protesting is a severe method used for finding solution. Freedom of speech has to be used in the proper way. We cannot speak irrelevant things in the name of freedom of speech. One has to be responsible to look the good and bad of an event or an idea or an opinion or a viewpoint. Then only one can find a solution. Preconceived hard ideas cannot solve a problem!

Most of the politicians and lawyers employ a technique to achieve their goals. The technique is to simply crate fear in the minds of people. People with fear cannot be free. So they lose their freedom and never try to question. Such things are tried with individuals. At the same time, the fear is overlooked in a group of individuals. These groups revolt and question politicians and lawyers. In India, although it is free and democratic, freedom is somehow denied for a larger section of people even today. Only the braves stand up and question whereas the weak submit and keep quite. Probably that is the way of life – it appears!