Liberalism is built around the centrality of
human beings: what is good for him or her is acceptable, what is not is not. In
a liberal state the individual is the supreme and the state must work to
enhance his or her potential. Therefore, the state will focus its activities on
maintaining law and order, defence, physical and social infrastructure, health,
education and a social safety net. In the words of Gopal Krishna Gokhle to be
liberal in India is - “I want our people to be in our country what other people
are in theirs. I want our men and women to be without distinction of caste and
creed, to have opportunity to grow to the full height of their stature,
unhampered by cramping and unnatural restrictions.”
In my belief, we Indians are a little too
rigid when it comes to moving ahead with the times. In an age when there are
bigger problems like pollution, population, inflation, etc. to deal with, we
are still stuck on issues that prevent us from being a truly free society. One
of them being the“dress-code”. Since ages haven’t we been advised what to wear
and what not to? It rather seems in India, that the amount of clothes that a
person puts on is directly proportional to his character. This brings to mind
an incident, where a Britisher advises Swami Vivekananda to wear decent clothes
to look like a gentleman. Swamiji, politely, replied, “In your culture, a
tailor makes a gentleman but in our culture a, character makes gentleman.”
Another important point here is to be liberal in terms of artistic expression.
Not everything the\at everyone says, writes, or shows in a film is always
accepted or wellreceived , but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have a right
to say it and we cannot go around calling bans or burning books in a “free”
society. For an instance, ‘Satanic Verses’ by Salman Rushdie is one of many
such books that created an outrage in public, just for the fact that the book
possessed the author’s own views about Islam.
Don’t we take great pride in calling
ourselves secular citizens of a secular country? But we are one in the truest
sense. Secular in layman’s sense is to be non-religious. But often we find
people, in their religious lives, being swamped by the 3-Bs i.e. belief,
behavior and belonging. By belief it means things like ritual performance,
observing fasts, feasts, prayers etc. and by belonging it simply means
identification with or membership with some groups. But to be secular means to
be free from those Bs. Annie Besant had said – “a common religion is not
possible in India, but a common basis for all religions and the growth of a
liberal, tolerant spirit of religious matters, are possible.” But the reality
remains that we are still striving for attaining our personal freedom. In India
we still have Blasphemy laws. We still cannot criticize religious thoughts and
beliefs because it might “offend” some cultures or communities. Why was Narendra
Dabholkar assassinated while he was out on his morning walk? Because he fought
superstitions. India has turned to a place where critical thinkers and
voice-raisers, have to live in a constant fear of violence, arrest,
molestation, or even death. India can be a free society only if every person
irrespective of his argument is given the right to criticize something she or
he doesn’t believe in.
Haven’t it led to number of fights due to
this one word ‘culture’? celebrating your culture is fine as long as you are
using it to curb others liberal way of thinking and acting. To display
dominance against someone who is different or to justify the criminal acts like
rape or honor-killing, culture is not a tool. For instance, (no offence)
Bajrang Dal, with its slogan calling “seva suraksha sanskruti” os service
safety and culture, directed violence at people celebrating Valentine’s Day in
Kanpur, UP and forced them to hold their ears and do sit-ups as punishment for
celebrating ‘western holiday’. isn’t it high time we change all those orthodox
ideas?
Egalitarianism is a trend of thought that
favors equality for all people. Egalitarian doctrine maintains that all humans
are equal in fundamental worth or social status and all have the right to
express. But for such a society to flourish, change is inevitable. Charles
Darwin said – “it’s not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most
intelligent , but the one most responsive to change.” What we need is being pro
to newness without rigidity, mentality to look ahead and to explore the
unknown, care about the welfare of people and to break free through the
stalemate and suspicions that bind us.
Ancient India was not only rich in its
heritage and culture but also in its thought and mindset. For instance – we had
‘Sanatan dharma’ that transcended the barrier of gender. In the age of the Mauryas,
remarriage was allowed and in Kalidasa’s ‘Raghuvansham’ dating was not regarded
as a taboo.
In a nutshell, if we are trying to make our
society a paella-plate of different identities, we'll only end up with
something where all ingredients lose their individual taste. To be truly
liberal, we need to shun this paella-plate funda and go for the salad bowl
instead, where everything does get mixed and yet they retain their unique color
and taste.
Namaste!
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