‘Freedom is being able to shout out on issues that concern us’
Thousands of fake images are being circulated on social media for publicity. Rightists claim the history of the leftists has been imposed on us, that the Left wants subaltern history. This got us thinking—what if images are for real but captions are fake? So we came up with this third option, where people can laugh irrespective of their political ideology.
It is freedom if we can give a shout-out to issues that are relevant to society in a way that doesn’t harm or aggravate the issue at hand. We use humour, sarcasm, quotes—or modified quotes—to best present our concern. That such a presentation can make people lighten up their otherwise stressful lives is a fulfilling feeling.
The purpose here is to highlight core issues; so, naturally, the ruling party often becomes the subject. Which is why we are judged as being politically affiliated. It is a deterrent, which is why we chose anonymity. We are trolled by people who have loyalties on either side of the political spectrum. They are offended when leaders or parties they support are the subject of a tweet or comment. The present situation is challenging as the overall atmosphere is delicate and deteriorating day by day.
But for the good of our democracy, freedoms should not be curbed. The beef ban is a perfect example. Past and present governments have used it for political mileage. And when the issue is raised, citizens are abused, threatened, called anti-national. This sort of situation begs for intervention.
This is not what the idea of India is. This is not what our forefathers fought the freedom struggle for. India must remain united in diversity. It has to learn to live and let live, and all within our constitutional framework. That should be the idea of a beautiful country such as ours.