Freedom Redefined

Until 22nd April 2007:

Until my 21st birthday, my opinion on the Indian National flag, were relatively mainstream. I strongly believed that "Flag Code of India – 2002" was correct and its punitive actions necessity. I argued, how could it be that those who were born under this very flag, can get away with showing disrespect. Furthermore, I was also proud of the Flag Code of India - 2002, as it allowed me a privilege which I wouldn't have been allowed under the previous "The Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950". Improper use of the National Emblem was (and is) an offence under the "THE PREVENTION OF INSULTS TO NATIONAL HONOUR ACT, 1971", and is punishable by a prison term of not more than a year. A similar law exists for the National Anthem. As the act says :

Whoever intentionally prevents the singing of the Indian National Anthem or causes disturbances to any assembly engaged in such singing shall be punished with
imprisonment for a term, which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both

I thought this was quite right. After all, these are the most potent symbols of nationalism, and if one isn't considerate enough to respect, nay, deify the flag and the anthem they were born under, they should be taught a lesson. In fact many a time I felt immensely pleased when I read/heard about articles in which ordinary Indian Citizens chided their fellow Indian citizens as they had shown scant respect for the flag.

On April 22 2007:

I celebrated my 21st birthday. Among the presents I got, were two books. One was "Bad President", written by RD Rosen, Harry Prichett and Rob Battles. The other was "The Argumentative Indian" written by Nobel Laureate, Amartya Sen. I got to reading the former book, and Pages 98 and 99 really pricked my conscience. I produce a snippet as follows:

In Summer 2003, President Bush endorsed amending the First Amendment to make desecrating the flag, unconstitutional.

I thought to myself, well GWB may be dumb-ish, but he's sort of on a good track here. Then i read this:

...We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in doing so we dilute the freedom that this cherised emblem represents....

This was a quote by Justice William J Brennan Reading this quote, I decided to let my brain ponder over it while I got some sleep.

April 23 2007 till present:

The next day, I read Amartya Sen's book, and I paid particular attention to his 5th Essay, entitled "Tagore and His India". In that essay, he mentions Tagore's extreme dislike of fervent nationalism. It mentions his novel The Home and the World where the protagonist Nikhil, says:

I am willing to serve my country; but my wirship I server for Right which is far greater than my country. To worship my country as a god is to bring a curse upon it.

My conscicence truly pricked, I went through the Wikipedia to find more information on the cases and other related cases. The information I gathered is here in 1, 2, 3, and 4 . Thus, I have realised one truth. I was wrong. In my opinion, punishing Indians for not standing up for the national anthem or for desecrating the flag, is as Justice Brennan said, diluting the freedom that the emblem represents. I am proud of my country, and of its national symbols, and I shall strive to give utmost respect it deserves. But to force my expression onto others is denying their right to expression, and that certainly is unconstitutional.

Thus I conclude, in apologising to anyone I have forced to respect the Flag of India. I am sorry

Rest In Peace

I pray that souls of Prof. G.V. Loganathan and Ms.Minal Panchal Rest In Peace.

They shall be remembered.

Lest we forget.

Wake up India!!!

Couple of days ago, I was watching the movie Krantiveer. For those who may not have seen it, allow me to give you a brief update. Nana Patekar, plays a man called Pratap, who has no aim or ambition in life. However, he is a good man at heart, and his observations, are acerbic, honest, and brutally truthful. The movie details incidents, which make Pratap from a man of no vision to a man with a mission and vision statement (if I may use that term). The movie isn't a master piece, but Nana Patekar's fiery acting, is just breathtaking. The observances he makes, are stark and without any sugarcoating. Of particular note is the outburst when a woman is screaming for male help as two male thugs try forcing her into prostitution. The other, and IMO by far a more powerful speech is at the end, delivered at Kranti Maidan, when he rightly points out our inherent deficiences. Although some parts of the monologue are heavily jignositic, it must not take away from the more poignant moments of the scene. It is simply brilliant.

Anyway, after watching Krantiveer, I sat back and I thought to myself, we as Indians haven't changed a bit. We boast about our culture, our family values, our "morality", our this and that, yet we are second in the world with AIDS, have largest amount of illiterates in the world, is home to a conflict that has taken over 60 years, yet shows no sign of resolution and much more. We are world leaders in many areas, but not all of them are ones to be proud of. For every Narayana Murthy, we have a Phoolan Devi, for every Ambani, Tata, Birla, we have a Laloo Prasad Yadav, Jagdish Tytler, Shibu Soren. Is this something I look at and say, I am proud to be Indian??

60 years ago, on August 15th 1947, Shri Jawaharlal Nehru said those immortal words in the Constituent Assembly "Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially ... The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future". Our freedom, as Amit Varma so often notices, can sometimes be very superficial. See this for more details. It is sad to note that while India's Constitution in Article 19(1) provides Fundamental Rights, it applies various restrictions in 19(2), with vague sounding definitions as "morality", "decency" etc. Contrast this to the American Bill of Rights, namely the First Amendment, stating "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances". Thats it. Nothing about morality, decency, public good, no Kantian ideals there. Just a simple rule. Is it any wonder why the call America the free country?

However, let us not rush into blame the Constitution for everything bad that has happened to India, neither should we blame the politicians. The Preamble of the Indian Constitution reads "We the People of the Sovreign ... Republic of India". Then why, when some scandal breaks, when we see riots, when violence breaks out, when India loses the cricket, why oh why do we friggin blame other people. Sure, those in power abuse their responsibility more often then not, so why the hell do we not say, "ENOUGH!!" We keep on voting the same or similar jackass to power, and then sit back and say "Politics has ruined our nation". I ask you this, has politics ruined USA? Australia? UK? New Zealand? If these countries are "untainted" by politics, on what basis of evidence can we say politics has ruined India. We are a nation of one billion people. Yes it is hard to represent them, as the demographics of US, Australia etc, are vastly different from the demographics of India. However, we Indians are used to slavery. As Pratap says in Krantiveer, we enjoyed firstly being enslaved by Kings, then the British, and now we love being enslaved by politicians. We revel in our ability to bend and evade rules, we bask in the glory of being able to pay off a cop, although we may have committed a serious traffic offence. Heck, if middle class and upper-middle class elitists like us, don't give a royal damn about the country, why on God's green earth should those, who don't even know if they are going to get two square meals a day do so? We blame poverty for all our ills, but what have we done to uproot the causes? The best way of eradicating poverty is by redistribution of wealth, and embrace of market reforms. However, we are lazy to implement that, but are active at crying ourselves hoarse.

One may argue, that all countries fight have their own fair share of problems. I concur. However, I am yet to see a country, so laid-back about its problems, that rather than facing them head on, we'd rather go to another country, and settle there for a "better future". All I say is, well with that attitude, we might as well invite a foreign ruler back. Or rather, should we be like the UNSC, and get the one of the P5 members to rule over us for a period of time before handing it over to the next member?