FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
If you draw a crescent from the eastern tip of Europe right across South Asia to Japan, India stands out as an oasis of freedom. While other nations have dealt with monarchies, dictatorships and coups in which individual freedoms have been suspended, India, however messy it may seem at times, has managed to stay true to its democratic principles. The ideals enshrined in the Constitution have been followed for the past 69 years in spite of our fair share of venal politicians and unscrupulous bureaucrats.
Over 41 years of india today’s existence—except during the Emergency, which was an aberration—I’ve had the freedom to publish, within the confines of the law, without fear or favour. This Freedom of the Press, a derivative of the Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression, provided in Article 19 of the Constitution, is not to be taken lightly. In all these years, the State has never interfered in what we print, though large industrial houses have stopped giving advertisements to us when stories about them that they found unpalatable were printed. For the media to remain independent, it does not only require the protection of the Constitution, but also financial strength, which it gets from readers and advertisers who value the importance of a free press. I’ve always believed that you are only as vulnerable as you allow yourself to be.
The freedoms that we enjoy must constantly be fought for. There will always be thin-skinned politicians, fanatics, extremists and militants who will try to undermine them. World history is replete with examples of how some of the most popular democratically elected leaders develop autocratic tendencies and try to subvert democracy. It happened in India in 1975, when Indira Gandhi declared the Emergency. There will also be times when the State and society will try to curb individual rights. It is the duty of each one of us to protect our rights and to ensure that they are not trampled upon.
In this freedom special issue, curated by Editor (Special Projects) Kaveree Bamzai, we have selected individuals who have shown in their words and actions what it means to break shackles and uphold the idea of an inclusive India. Actor Irrfan Khan, who has challenged the rituals of his faith, writes, “The need for questioning exists within everybody, it’s just that sometimes people feel it is easier to suppress it .... But do we want to remain blind? What will we gain from it?” Carnatic musician T.M. Krishna, who has questioned the elitist nature of music sabhas, asks, “What does it mean to be independent and free? Independence is a collective experience; it is meant to be about others and not me, and imbued with the spirit of empathy, not condescension.” And 2016 Ramon Magsaysay award winner Bezwada Wilson, the national convenor of the Safai Karmachari Andolan, who fights to remove social hierarchies, says, “We are not identifying or recognising the things that continue to keep us captive. It is not just about freedoms for Dalits or untouchables. If you think I am lower than you, you are a slave.” Each one of them, and the others who have written in this issue, is fighting in their own way for the freedoms we must not take for granted. For if you’re free today, it doesn’t mean you will remain free tomorrow.
It is fitting that they’re all citizens of India because we are a unique country—one of the great experiments of history, connected in spite of religious, linguistic and social differences. There may be problems, but we are a vibrant nation where the pillars of society—a free press, an independent judiciary, an apolitical army—continue to hold firm. Every August 15, the day we made our ‘tryst with destiny’, gives us a chance to celebrate all that we have achieved, and all that we still have to strive for.
On that note, Happy Independence Day!